Graceful degradation in Microservices - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What is graceful degradation in system design?

Graceful degradation means a system keeps working with reduced features or performance when parts fail, instead of completely stopping.

beginner

Why is graceful degradation important in microservices?

It helps the system stay available and responsive even if some microservices fail or slow down, improving user experience.

intermediate

Name a common technique to implement graceful degradation in microservices.

Using fallback methods or default responses when a microservice is unavailable is a common technique.

intermediate

How does circuit breaker pattern relate to graceful degradation?

Circuit breaker stops calls to failing services temporarily, allowing the system to degrade gracefully instead of waiting for timeouts.

advanced

Give an example of graceful degradation in a real-world microservice system.

If a recommendation service fails, the system can still show basic product info without recommendations, so users can continue shopping.

What does graceful degradation aim to achieve?

A Keep system running with reduced features during failures

B Immediately shut down the system on any failure

C Ignore failures and continue as normal

D Restart the entire system on failure

Graceful degradation means the system continues working with fewer features or lower performance instead of stopping.

Which pattern helps implement graceful degradation by stopping calls to failing services?

A Load balancer

B Database sharding

C Circuit breaker

D Service discovery

Circuit breaker prevents calls to failing services, allowing fallback and graceful degradation.

In microservices, what is a fallback?

A A backup microservice that replaces the main one

B A default response or alternative action when a service fails

C A security mechanism

D A load balancing technique

Fallback provides a default response or alternative when a service is unavailable, supporting graceful degradation.

Which of these is NOT a benefit of graceful degradation?

A Complete system shutdown on minor errors

B Improved user experience during partial failures

C Higher system availability

D Reduced impact of service failures

Graceful degradation avoids complete shutdown; it keeps the system running with reduced features.

What happens if a microservice fails and graceful degradation is NOT implemented?

A System continues normally without issues

B System improves performance

C System automatically fixes the failure

D System may become unresponsive or crash

Without graceful degradation, failures can cause unresponsiveness or crashes.

Explain graceful degradation and why it matters in microservices.

Think about how a system behaves when some parts fail but it still works.

Describe techniques to implement graceful degradation in a microservice architecture.

Consider patterns and fallback strategies that keep the system responsive.