A distributed relational database — storing tables and rows queried with SQL across many nodes

A distributed message queue — buffering events between producers and consumers at high throughput

A distributed object cache — keeping hot data in memory to speed up reads from a slower backend

DevOps · Flashcard

What is etcd?

Why this is the answer

etcd is a strongly consistent, distributed key-value store used for config and coordination (it backs Kubernetes). It is not relational — there are no tables, rows or SQL; not a message queue — it stores state, not a stream of events; and not a cache — its data is the durable source of truth, not a disposable copy.

More etcd flashcards

How many member failures can a 5-member etcd cluster tolerate?
What does defragmentation do in etcd?
Which Kubernetes component talks to etcd?

Back to the etcd deck (60 flashcards)