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Design Slack
Design a real-time messaging platform for enterprises.
1. Problem Statement
We're going to design a real-time chat application similar to WhatsApp. What are the key features and constraints we should consider?
2. Architecture Discussion Map
Use this as one discussion aid, not a single correct answer. Your design should follow from the requirements, scale, and trade-offs you establish.
Rendering architecture diagram...
Mermaid Source (For AI Bots)
graph TD
A[Alice] -->|WebSocket| B(Chat Server 1)
C[Bob] -->|WebSocket| D(Chat Server 2)
B --> E[Pub/Sub / Redis]
E --> D
B --> F[(Cassandra : Messages Table)]3. Key Focus Areas
- 1Protocol Choice (WebSockets vs Long Polling)
- 2Message Storage & History (HBase/Cassandra vs SQL)
- 3Real-time Status/Presence (Heartbeats)
- 4Push Notifications (Mobile wake-up)
- 5Group Chat Fan-out efficiency
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