Database Design and Architecture Questions

Designing and architecting databases for production and cloud environments with attention to data modeling, schema design, and access pattern optimization. Topics include normalization and denormalization trade offs, schema versus query driven modeling, entity and relationship design for transactional and analytical workloads, indexing and query optimization techniques, partitioning and sharding design decisions, schema evolution and migration strategies, materialized views and caching strategies, selection of storage layers for different data shapes, and practical operational runbooks for provisioning, monitoring, alerting, backups, disaster recovery, and capacity planning. Candidates should justify schema and architecture choices with respect to latency, throughput, development and operational complexity, maintainability, and cost.

EasyTechnical

0 practiced

Describe the differences between a materialized view, an in-memory cache (e.g., Redis), and a normal index. For each, explain how freshness/staleness is handled, when you'd use each in a production architecture, and operational concerns like refresh cost and invalidation.

EasyTechnical

0 practiced

A mobile app has multiple client versions in the wild. Describe your strategy for evolving a JSON-backed schema stored in PostgreSQL (JSONB) such that older clients remain functional and new clients can use additional fields. Include migration strategy, API versioning, and roll-back considerations.

MediumSystem Design

0 practiced

Design a high-availability architecture for PostgreSQL that supports synchronous replication for critical data, read scaling via replicas, automated failover, and a documented failback plan. Include considerations for split-brain prevention, monitoring, and how to manage maintenance windows.

MediumTechnical

0 practiced

Discuss schema-first (normalized) versus query-driven / denormalized modeling for a microservice that must support ad-hoc queries from downstream analytics teams. As a Solutions Architect, recommend an approach and explain how you would balance developer productivity, query performance, and maintainability.

HardTechnical

0 practiced

Given a normalized OLTP schema that causes 'join explosion' for common read paths, propose a migration path to a polyglot persistence architecture combining relational, document, and columnar stores. Include mapping strategies, synchronization patterns (CDC, eventing), and how you'd keep data consistent for critical operations.

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