> Term
Throughput
The rate of production or the rate at which a system can process a volume of data or requests over a specific period.
Detailed Explanation
Throughput defines the capacity of a system to handle a certain amount of work within a given time frame. It is typically measured in requests per second (RPS), bytes per second, or transactions per second (TPS).
While latency focuses on the speed of a single request, throughput measures the overall volume. A system can have high throughput but high latency (like a batch processing pipeline) or low latency but low throughput (like a highly optimized but resource-constrained API).
Why It Matters
It determines the maximum load a system can sustain before performance degrades or scaling interventions are required.
Common Failure Mode
Practical Example
Production Manifestation
The system stops accepting new connections, CPU or network utilization hits 100%, and incoming requests are queued or dropped.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Throughput in short?
The rate of production or the rate at which a system can process a volume of data or requests over a specific period.
What is the most common failure mode?
Reaching hard limits on network bandwidth, database connection limits, thread pool exhaustion, or locking contention under high concurrency.
AI Summary
The rate of production or the rate at which a system can process a volume of data or requests over a specific period. It determines the maximum load a system can sustain before performance degrades or scaling interventions are required.