The Chicago Ticket Drop

Sean and Allison are reviewing their infrastructure readiness late in the evening before a huge concert sale in Chicago.

The Chicago Ticket Drop

Listen and choose the right answer

What infrastructure component does Allison say will absorb the initial traffic burst?

• The caching layer
• The main firewall
• The backup generator

What hidden danger does Sean suddenly remember?

• A broken payment gateway API
• A forgotten morning cron job
• An expired SSL certificate

What would the forgotten job have caused alongside the concert buyers?

• A massive thundering herd
• A complete power outage
• A duplicate payment bug

How do Sean and Allison feel at the end of the conversation?

• Panicked and ready to quit
• Relieved and triumphant
• Bored and tired

Listen again and complete the sentences

• Allison: Honestly, Sean, I think we're prepared. Supposing traffic is ten times our normal peak load, our ____ will absorb the initial burst.
• Sean: That's what the design doc says, but what about the database? Can our ____ handle the seat selection queries?
• Allison: We scaled out the cluster yesterday, and otherwise, rate limiting will kick in to ____ any rogue bots.
• Sean: Exactly. It would have created a massive ____ alongside the concert buyers.

Sources: photo by Ron Lach on Pexels