What is Consistent Hashing? What Problem does it Solve?

How Consistent Hashing work and how it is used in Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and distributed caches.

Hello folks, if you are preparing for System design interviews then knowing popular System Design algorithms which is used to solve distributed system problems is mandatory. Consistent hashing is one such algorithms.

In the past, I have shared 10 System design concepts for developers and in this article, I am going to share what is Consistent Hashing, how it works, where it is used and pros and cons of this popular algorithms.

But first let’s understand why do we need consistent hashing? In modern distributed systems, data needs to be distributed among multiple nodes to ensure scalability, load balancing, and fault tolerance.

However, distributing data among nodes can be a challenging task, especially when nodes are added or removed from the system. One solution to this problem is Consistent Hashing, a popular technique used in many distributed systems.

Consistent Hashing provides a scalable and flexible solution for distributing data among nodes while ensuring uniform data distribution, fault tolerance, and load balancing.