Problems / Scaling, easy
Your startup runs on a single API server behind a load balancer. Launch-day traffic is 1,500 requests a second.
Free to open. Runs in your browser, no sign-up.
Keep success ≥ 99% and p99 ≤ 500 ms.
1,500 requests a second for 30 seconds: 90% reads, 10% writes.
What each component does in this design, and what calls it. The simulator mimics each one from these settings.
| Component | Its job here | Settings |
|---|---|---|
| Load balancerLoad balancer | Traffic enters here.Calls API.Layer 4 balancers route by IP and port; layer 7 balancers read HTTP and can route by path or header. | – |
| APIApp service | Load balancer forwards to it.Calls Postgres.Little's law: throughput ≈ concurrency ÷ latency. 200 slots at 50 ms serve about 4,000 req/s. | 1 replicas × 150 slots · timeout 1.0 s |
| PostgresSQL database | API calls it.Postgres runs one process per connection, which is why poolers like PgBouncer sit in front of busy databases. | 8 vCPU · 60 connections |
Try it first. Open one hint at a time if you get stuck.
Look at which card turns red first.
One replica has a fixed number of request slots and CPUs.
Stateless services scale out: add replicas.
Scale the API to 3 or more replicas ("scale the API to 4 replicas").