We must make strategic questions to design Discord for a Systems Design interview and assume it’s simple because the interview usually takes 45 minutes.
When we ask questions regarding Discord, we need to take notes of the essential features we need to consider so we can organize our ideas on how to design Discord.
In case you don’t know Discord, it’s a communication tool similar to Slack, where we can interact in different groups and channels, restrict channel access, send direct messages, and send a message to a group.
We need cloud knowledge to design a system and know what technologies we should use. Let’s first explore which questions we should ask to design Discord for a Systems Design interview.
Clarifying Questions to Design Discord
When designing Discord for a systems design interview, here are some clarifying questions you may want to ask:
- We will design only the essential features from Discord, right? Should we design the system to support the creation of Discord servers, direct messages, group messages, and group access?
- What is the expected number of concurrent users and servers should the system support?
- Are there any specific performance requirements, such as response time or throughput?
- Should the design be optimized for read-heavy or write-heavy workloads?
- Should I consider specific security and privacy considerations?
- Should the design support voice and video calls or focus solely on text-based communication, or will we stick to the basics?
- Is there a need for real-time updates and notifications?
- Are there any specific integrations or third-party services that the design should accommodate?
- What are the expected growth projections for the user base and usage patterns over time?
- Should the design be scalable across multiple regions or data centers?
These questions will help you gather important information about the requirements and constraints of the system, allowing you to design a more accurate and effective solution. Remember to clarify any ambiguous requirements and discuss potential trade-offs with the interviewer.
Cloud Technologies for Discord
When designing Discord for a systems design interview, you can consider using the following cloud components:
Virtual Machines (VMs): VMs can be used to host the Discord application servers, which handle user authentication, message processing, and other business logic.
Load Balancers: Load balancers distribute incoming traffic across multiple Discord application servers, ensuring scalability and high availability. To explore Load Balancer, check out the following article, Master the Principles of Load Balancer for Systems Design Interview.
Database Service: You can use a managed database service like Amazon RDS, Google Cloud SQL, or Azure Database for hosting user profiles, messages, and other persistent data.
Object Storage: Cloud object storage services like Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Azure Blob Storage can be used for storing media files, such as user avatars and attachments.
Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN can help optimize the delivery of static assets, such as images and emojis, to users across different regions.
Message Queues: Message queues such as Amazon SQS, Google Cloud Pub/Sub, or Azure Service Bus can be used to decouple components and handle asynchronous message processing, such as sending notifications or processing background tasks. If you are unfamiliar with message queues, check out the following article Message Brokers: Publish Subscribe Communication for Systems Design.
Caching Service: A caching service like Redis or Memcached can be employed to cache frequently accessed data, improving system performance and reducing database load. To learn more about cache, check out the following article Mastering the Fundamentals of Cache for Systems Design Interview.
Real-time Communication Infrastructure: To handle voice and video calls, you may need to utilize real-time communication infrastructure, such as WebRTC or a specialized service like Twilio.
Monitoring and Logging: Cloud monitoring and logging services like Amazon CloudWatch, Google Cloud Monitoring, or Azure Monitor can be used to gain insights into system health, performance, and troubleshooting. To learn more about monitoring and logging take a look at the following article Logging and Monitoring to Debug Cloud Services.
Containerization: You can use containerization technologies like Docker and container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes to manage and scale the Discord application containers.
Remember to evaluate each component’s pros and cons based on the Discord system design’s specific requirements and constraints.
Discord Implementation Technologies
Discord is primarily developed using various technologies, including JavaScript for the client-side application and Go for the server-side infrastructure.
The client-side application of Discord, which runs in web browsers and desktop applications, is built using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. It utilizes frameworks and libraries like React for the user interface components and Redux for state management.
On the server side, Discord uses Go, a programming language known for its performance and concurrency capabilities, to build the backend infrastructure. Go is used for handling real-time communication, managing user authentication, processing messages, and managing the overall system architecture.
While Java can be used for building large-scale applications, Discord’s development stack primarily consists of JavaScript and Go.
Basic Database model from Discord
Let’s look at how we can design a simple database model for Discord. It’s the same principle here when we are asking questions. We need to make it as simple as possible. Only the most essential tables are needed because we must explain where we use the following tables in the interview.
The following simplified DB model is intuitive; for each server, we can have many channels; in a channel, we can have many messages from many users, and we also have information from users inside a Discord server:
Summary
Clarifying Questions to Design Discord:
- Main features and functionalities
- Number of concurrent users and servers
- Performance requirements
- Read-heavy or write-heavy workload
- Security and privacy considerations
- Voice and video call support
- Real-time updates and notifications
- Integrations or third-party services
- User base growth projections
- Scalability across regions or data centers
Cloud Technologies for Discord:
- Virtual Machines (VMs)
- Load Balancers
- Database Service
- Object Storage
- Content Delivery Network (CDN)
- Message Queues
- Caching Service
- Real-time Communication Infrastructure
- Monitoring and Logging
- Containerization
Technologies Discord was developed With:
- Client-side: JavaScript, HTML, CSS, React, Redux
- Server-side: Go
Basic Database Model for Discord:
- User table
- Server table
- Server_Member table
- Channel table
- Message table
