Distributed Systems Basics

Coming Soon

This lesson will introduce you to distributed Erlang systems and how to build scalable, fault-tolerant chat servers across multiple nodes. You’ll learn how to:

• Understand distributed Erlang fundamentals
• Set up node communication and clustering
• Handle network partitions and split-brain scenarios
• Implement distributed process management
• Build consensus algorithms for distributed state

What You’ll Build

By the end of this lesson, you’ll have implemented:

• Multi-node Erlang cluster setup
• Inter-node communication patterns
• Network partition detection and handling
• Distributed process registry
• Basic consensus mechanisms for distributed state

Key Concepts Preview

% Node connection
net_adm:ping('chat_server@node2.example.com'),
nodes(). % List connected nodes

% Distributed process spawning
Pid = spawn('chat_server@node2.example.com', chat_room, init, [RoomId]),
global:register_name({chat_room, RoomId}, Pid).

% Handling network partitions
net_kernel:monitor_nodes(true),
receive
    {nodeup, Node} -> handle_node_up(Node);
    {nodedown, Node} -> handle_node_down(Node)
end.

This lesson builds on the database integration from Lesson 24 and prepares you for the node discovery and clustering we’ll explore in Lesson 26.

This lesson is currently under development. Check back soon for the complete content!