Fallacy 5: Topology Doesn’t Change

Fallacy 1: The Network is Reliable

The deadliest mistake made in networks running distributed systems is the belief that the network will always be working without any problems....

Fallacy 2: Latency is Zero

The statement that the collected data is instantaneously transferred across the networks has no real representation....

Fallacy 3: Bandwidth is Infinite

In contrast, unlimited bandwidth can only connect the first few customers because, by the time it reaches the entire town, the consumers will have already received the product....

Fallacy 4: The Network is Secure

The network being believed to be an inherently safe one can introduce vulnerabilities in the systems deploying the nodes or does not protect them from their most daring threats....

Fallacy 5: Topology Doesn’t Change

A network’s topology, which represents the positioning of different entities within a network, is not an isolated element....

Fallacy 6: There is One Administrator

The idea of having one control center responsible for deploying the decentralized system all over is impracticable....

Fallacy 7: Transport Cost is Zero

Not being careful with the location of data may result in overcompensations and inefficiencies. Transmission costs that are a result of network bandwidth usage and power consumption are factors to be reckoned with in the system design. Data traffic streamlining, pointless cost cuts, and resource-friendly infrastructure are the key factors in good management of transport expenses....

Fallacy 8: The Network is Homogeneous

Networks are typically built from a variety of elements, which may be different in the way they are configured, operate, and perform....

Fallacy 9: The System is Monolithic

Distributed systems, in principle, consist of multiple interacting elements forming a separate and complex system as opposed to one monolithic entity. Modules have this ability, facilitating their assembly and customization for different applications, but require meticulous management of component interactions, dependencies, and integration points to maintain overall system uniformity and performance....

Fallacy 10: The System is Fully Observable

Achieving perfect listening to all distributed system components is really very difficult because of their inherent complexity and size....

Fallacy 11: The System is Always On

Contemporary stateful systems won’t have the status of being downtime-free or load-served around the clock. Scheduled maintenance, system spontaneous failures, and network matters can all result in downtime periods. Adequate architecture design, including redundancy, failover, and robust disaster recovery plans, is central to preventing unexpected service interruptions....

Fallacy 12: There is One Root Cause

Trying to ascertain that the issues in the distributed systems have one deep cause leads to a waste of time and could lead to substantial losses. Distributed systems are very interactive, and this often leads to multiple and associated causes of failure, which makes it difficult to determine the exact cause. It is necessary to have a variety of analytic tools and methodologies that enable pinpointing a number of different contributing factors for a complete and effective failure investigation....

Fallacy 13: Failures are Rare

Not only over- or under-evaluating the frequency of failures impairs disaster planning and response, but also underestimation. Critical failures can happen frequently in networks based on node dispersal, hard and software inventory, as well as network issues. Making systems survivable, e.g., with duplicate capacity, failover, and robust error correction, should be one of the priorities for making the best leverage of the recurring failure paradigm....