ZooKeeper Architecture - 4.4 | Module 3: Leader Election in Cloud, Distributed Systems and Industry Systems | Distributed and Cloud Systems Micro Specialization
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Interactive Audio Lesson

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Introduction to ZooKeeper and its Purpose

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0:00
Teacher
Teacher

Welcome, everyone! Today, we're diving into the architecture of Apache ZooKeeper. To start us off, can anyone tell me why coordination is essential in distributed systems?

Student 1
Student 1

Coordination is essential to handle shared resources and ensure that multiple processes can work together without conflicts.

Teacher
Teacher

Exactly! ZooKeeper acts as a centralized service for coordination in distributed environments, which is crucial given that distributed systems have no single point of control.

Student 2
Student 2

How does ZooKeeper ensure that it remains available and reliable?

Teacher
Teacher

Great question! ZooKeeper employs an ensemble of servers, typically in odd numbers, to maintain quorum-based fault tolerance and enhance availability. This is a core aspect of its design.

Student 3
Student 3

So, what are the main roles within the ZooKeeper ensemble?

Teacher
Teacher

We have the Leader, Followers, and optionally, Observers. The Leader processes write requests while Followers handle read requests. Observers can assist in scaling read performance.

Student 4
Student 4

And what happens if the Leader fails?

Teacher
Teacher

In case of a failure, a new leader is elected to ensure continuous availability. This whole process is vital for maintaining a stable system.

Teacher
Teacher

To sum up, ZooKeeper provides a centralized service for managing distributed coordination effectively, using a robust ensemble architecture to ensure reliability and availability.

ZooKeeper's Data Structure and Znodes

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Teacher
Teacher

Now, let's look at how ZooKeeper structures its data. Can anyone remind me what the basic unit of data is called in ZooKeeper?

Student 1
Student 1

It's called a Znode, right?

Teacher
Teacher

Correct! Each Znode can store data, have child nodes, and is identified by a unique path. This hierarchical structure resembles a file system.

Student 2
Student 2

What types of Znodes are there?

Teacher
Teacher

We have three types: Persistent Znodes, which stay until deleted; Ephemeral Znodes, which are deleted when the session expires; and Sequential Znodes, which are numbered sequentially to guarantee unique ordering.

Student 3
Student 3

How does this model help in leader election?

Teacher
Teacher

Great question! Processes can create ephemeral sequential Znodes to compete for the leadership role. The process creating the Znode with the lowest sequence number becomes the leader.

Student 4
Student 4

What if the leader fails?

Teacher
Teacher

If the leader fails, its ephemeral Znode is deleted, triggering others to check for the new lowest Znode and elect a new leader quickly.

Teacher
Teacher

In summary, ZooKeeper's data model facilitates efficient coordination through its hierarchical structure and types of Znodes, especially aiding in leader election.

ZooKeeper's Key Design Goals

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Teacher
Teacher

Moving on, let's discuss ZooKeeper's design goals. Can anyone name one principle that guides its architecture?

Student 1
Student 1

Simplicity, so it's easy to use and understand?

Teacher
Teacher

Exactly! Simplicity is crucial to allow developers to easily integrate ZooKeeper into their applications. What else?

Student 2
Student 2

High availability?

Teacher
Teacher

Correct! ZooKeeper is designed to maintain high availability by tolerating the failure of a minority of its servers through replication and quorum mechanisms.

Student 3
Student 3

What about performance?

Teacher
Teacher

ZooKeeper aims for high performance by optimizing read operations to be served locally by followers, while ensuring writes go through the leader for consistency.

Student 4
Student 4

It sounds like ZooKeeper prioritizes reliability too?

Teacher
Teacher

Absolutely! Once an update is committed, it is durable, ensuring data consistency across the distributed system.

Teacher
Teacher

To sum up, ZooKeeper's design goals include simplicity, high availability, performance, strict ordering guarantees, and reliability, all crucial for effective distributed coordination.

ZooKeeper Use Cases

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Teacher
Teacher

Lastly, let’s explore real-world applications of ZooKeeper. Who can give an example of how ZooKeeper is used in a distributed system?

Student 1
Student 1

It’s used in Apache Hadoop for managing the NameNode's high availability.

Teacher
Teacher

That's right! ZooKeeper aids in maintaining the active status of NameNode, ensuring that data access remains uninterrupted. What else?

Student 2
Student 2

Kafka uses it to manage broker discovery and topic configurations.

Teacher
Teacher

Exactly! ZooKeeper keeps track of the cluster state and configuration for Kafka, making it essential for its operation.

Student 3
Student 3

What about in the context of HBase?

Teacher
Teacher

In HBase, ZooKeeper is used for master election and region server management, providing coordination across its distributed architecture.

Student 4
Student 4

Are there any other uses beyond Apache projects?

Teacher
Teacher

Yes, organizations like Yahoo use ZooKeeper for message brokering, ensuring message handling with reliability and fault tolerance.

Teacher
Teacher

In summary, ZooKeeper has diverse applications across various distributed systems, providing essential coordination for high availability and reliability.

Introduction & Overview

Read a summary of the section's main ideas. Choose from Basic, Medium, or Detailed.

Quick Overview

This section provides an overview of the ZooKeeper architecture, explaining its components, functionality, and design principles that support distributed systems.

Standard

In this section, we explore the architecture of Apache ZooKeeper, detailing its components like leaders and followers, session management, and the protocols used for ensuring reliable distributed coordination. We also highlight key design goals and examine common use cases of ZooKeeper in real-world applications.

Detailed

ZooKeeper Architecture Overview

Apache ZooKeeper is a robust distributed coordination service designed to support high availability and reliability in distributed applications. The architecture consists of several key components:

  • Ensemble: A set of ZooKeeper servers, typically an odd number (3, 5, or 7), that work together to form the coordination service, ensuring a majority for decision-making and fault tolerance.
  • Leader: One designated server that processes all write requests from clients, using the Zab (ZooKeeper Atomic Broadcast) protocol to propagate updates and ensure consistent state across followers.
  • Followers: Servers that handle client read requests and forward write requests to the leader. They also participate in the consensus protocol.
  • Observers (optional): Servers that read requests but do not participate in the quorum, helping to scale read throughput.

Key Features

  • Sessions: Clients connect to ZooKeeper through logical sessions, which have timeouts, ensuring that resources are released if a client fails.
  • Znodes: The hierarchical data model used by ZooKeeper, where nodes can be persistent, ephemeral (deleted when the client disconnects), or sequential (with unique sequence numbers). This enables features like leader election and distributed locks.

Use Cases

ZooKeeper is widely utilized for various coordination tasks in distributed systems, including leader election, distributed locks, configuration management, naming services, group membership, and barrier synchronization.

The reliability and simplicity of ZooKeeper's architecture enable it to be a crucial component for building distributed applications that require coordination and consistency.

Audio Book

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ZooKeeper Deployment

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A ZooKeeper deployment consists of an ensemble of ZooKeeper servers.

Ensemble:

A set of ZooKeeper servers (typically an odd number like 3, 5, or 7) that work together to provide the coordination service. An odd number is used to maintain a quorum (majority) for decision-making.

Leader:

Within the ensemble, one server is elected as the "Leader." The Leader is responsible for processing all write requests (create, delete, setData) from clients. It ensures that these updates are propagated and committed consistently across all followers using the Zab (ZooKeeper Atomic Broadcast) protocol.

Followers:

The remaining servers in the ensemble are "Followers." Followers serve client read requests directly. When a client sends a write request to a Follower, the Follower forwards it to the Leader. Followers also participate in the Zab consensus protocol, acknowledging proposals from the Leader.

Observers (Optional):

In very large deployments, Observers can be used. Observers also receive updates from the Leader but do not participate in the quorum (voting). They primarily serve read requests and help scale read throughput without impacting write performance or the quorum size.

Clients:

Applications that connect to the ZooKeeper ensemble to perform coordination tasks. Clients can connect to any server in the ensemble (Leader or Follower) to perform reads. Write requests are always routed to the Leader.

Detailed Explanation

ZooKeeper is structured around a group of servers that work together for seamless coordination in distributed systems. This collection is called an 'ensemble.' An ensemble typically consists of an odd number of servers (like 3, 5, or 7), which is crucial for voting and ensuring that a majority is always available (quorum). Among these servers, one is designated as the 'Leader', which manages changes and consistency across the others. The other servers are 'Followers', which handle read requests and relay any necessary updates to the Leader. There are also optional 'Observers', which can handle read requests without affecting the overall decision-making process or quorum. Clients, or applications that need coordination, can connect to any server, but all writing actions must go through the Leader. This structure promotes reliability and efficiency.

Examples & Analogies

Think of the ZooKeeper ensemble as an office where different teams work together. The Leader is like the manager of the office who makes decisions and delegates tasks. The Followers are like team members who help with assignments but always check in with the manager for approvals. If there are many employees, some may act as Observers, simply watching the progress and sharing information without getting involved in decision-making. Clients are the projects that need the teamwork of this office to be successfully completed.

Client Sessions and States

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Client Sessions:

A client establishes a "session" with a ZooKeeper server when it connects. This session is a logical connection that represents the client's context and its ephemeral Znodes.

Session Timeout:

Each session has a timeout. If the ZooKeeper ensemble does not hear from a client within this timeout period, the session is declared expired. All ephemeral Znodes created by that session are automatically deleted. This mechanism is crucial for releasing locks and cleaning up state when a client crashes.

States:

A client's connection to ZooKeeper can be in various states: CONNECTING, CONNECTED, AUTH_FAILED, CLOSED, NOT_CONNECTED. The client library manages reconnects and state transitions.

Detailed Explanation

When a client connects to a ZooKeeper server, it establishes a session, which is essentially a connection that allows that client to interact with the ZooKeeper service and manage ephemeral Znodes. An ephemeral Znode is a temporary node that only exists as long as the session is active. If the ZooKeeper servers do not receive any communication from the client within a specific timeframe (session timeout), the session is considered expired, causing all ephemeral Znodes associated with that client to be removed. This cleanup is essential for maintaining system integrity. The client's connection can also fluctuate between states, such as connecting, connected, or even closed, depending on its interaction with the ZooKeeper servers. The client library oversees these transitions and ensures that the connection remains stable.

Examples & Analogies

Imagine a phone call where a person (the client) connects with a service (ZooKeeper server) for a conversation (session). As long as the call is active, the person can share information (ephemeral Znodes), but if they go silent for too long (timeout), the call drops, and all shared notes (ephemeral Znodes) vanish. Just like there are different statuses on a phone call (dialing, on hold, connected, disconnected), a client's connection with ZooKeeper can also change based on its interactions.

ZooKeeper Use Cases

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ZooKeeper is not a general-purpose database; it's a coordination service. Its primitives enable building complex distributed applications:

Leader Election:

As discussed, clients can use ephemeral sequential Znodes to elect a leader. The process with the Znode having the lowest sequence number becomes the leader. Other processes set watches on adjacent Znodes to notify them if a leader fails.

Distributed Locks:

Clients create ephemeral Znodes in a specific "lock" directory. The client that successfully creates the lowest sequential Znode acquires the lock. Others wait. This provides mutual exclusion in a distributed setting.

Configuration Management:

Applications store their configuration parameters in persistent Znodes. Clients set "watches" on these Znodes. When the configuration is updated, all watching clients are notified and can dynamically reload their configuration without restarting.

Naming Service:

Similar to DNS, but for distributed services. Services register their network locations (IPs, ports) in Znodes. Clients query ZooKeeper to discover available service instances.

Group Membership:

Processes in a distributed application create ephemeral Znodes under a common parent Znode. The presence of their Znode signifies their active membership in the group. If a process fails, its Znode is automatically deleted, and other members (who set watches) are notified of the change in group membership.

Barrier Synchronization:

Processes wait at a Znode until all participants have arrived, and then all proceed simultaneously.

Detailed Explanation

ZooKeeper is fundamentally a coordination service designed to assist complex distributed applications. Its key functionalities, or primitives, are tailored for essential tasks. For example, in leader election, the system allows processes to create ephemeral sequential Znodes, with the lowest-numbered Znode determining the leader, ensuring effective leadership transition. Moreover, ZooKeeper supports distributed locks, where only the client creating the lowest numbered Znode can gain access to a shared resource to prevent conflicts. Configuration management is simplified since applications can store configuration settings in persistent Znodes and utilize watches for updates. ZooKeeper also functions as a naming service, allowing services to register their location in a way similar to DNS, facilitating discovery. Group membership and barrier synchronization help manage dynamic process participation and coordinate actions within distributed systems respectively.

Examples & Analogies

Consider ZooKeeper as the conductor of an orchestra. Each musician (client) needs to know who leads, and the conductor (leader) ensures harmony. The conductor uses a distinctive baton (ephemeral sequential Znode) to signal their leadership. If the conductor steps down, the musician with the next lowest sequence number takes over. When musicians need to play together precisely and not fight for instruments, they must wait their turn (distributed locks). Additionally, if the orchestra's sheet music changes, all musicians must be informed immediately, so they adjust accordingly (configuration management). Like how musicians have their placements in the orchestra, their seats signify each player's role (group membership), while they might not start until everyone is ready (barrier synchronization).

Definitions & Key Concepts

Learn essential terms and foundational ideas that form the basis of the topic.

Key Concepts

  • Ensemble: A group of ZooKeeper servers ensuring fault tolerance and high availability.

  • Leader: The primary server within the ensemble responsible for coordinating writes.

  • Znodes: The fundamental data structure in ZooKeeper for managing distributed data.

  • Ephemeral Znodes: Temporary nodes that are deleted when the associated client disconnects.

  • Zab Protocol: The consensus algorithm ensuring consistency and reliable communication in ZooKeeper.

Examples & Real-Life Applications

See how the concepts apply in real-world scenarios to understand their practical implications.

Examples

  • ZooKeeper's ensemble can consist of an odd number of servers (e.g., 5) to ensure a majority for decision-making.

  • In HBase, when a new master is elected, it uses ZooKeeper to inform other region servers about the change.

Memory Aids

Use mnemonics, acronyms, or visual cues to help remember key information more easily.

🎡 Rhymes Time

  • In ZooKeeper land, the Leader stands, Making updates grand, with steady hands.

πŸ“– Fascinating Stories

  • Once in a distributed land, a powerful Leader was elected. All the Followers listened and obeyed, while the Observers watched from the sidelines, ensuring data flowed smoothly.

🧠 Other Memory Gems

  • For Znodes, remember: E for Ephemeral (temporary), P for Persistent (forever), S for Sequential (numbered).

🎯 Super Acronyms

ZELP

  • ZooKeeper
  • Ensemble
  • Leader
  • Znodes
  • Persistent.

Flash Cards

Review key concepts with flashcards.

Glossary of Terms

Review the Definitions for terms.

  • Term: Ensemble

    Definition:

    A group of ZooKeeper servers working together to provide coordination services.

  • Term: Leader

    Definition:

    The designated server in the ZooKeeper ensemble responsible for processing write requests.

  • Term: Follower

    Definition:

    Servers in the ZooKeeper ensemble that handle read requests and forward write requests to the Leader.

  • Term: Observer

    Definition:

    Optional ZooKeeper servers that receive updates from the Leader but do not participate in the quorum.

  • Term: Znode

    Definition:

    The basic unit of data in ZooKeeper, identified by a unique path.

  • Term: Ephemeral Znode

    Definition:

    A type of Znode that is deleted when the client session expires.

  • Term: Persistent Znode

    Definition:

    A type of Znode that exists until it is explicitly deleted.

  • Term: Sequential Znode

    Definition:

    A type of Znode with a unique sequential number appended to its name.

  • Term: Zab Protocol

    Definition:

    ZooKeeper Atomic Broadcast protocol used for leader election and data consistency.