Taming the Synchronized Demand Spike: A Principled Approach

Synchronized demand, where a large number of clients request service almost simultaneously, can overwhelm even well-resourced systems. This article presents a principled approach to mitigate this using randomized jitter to spread requests over time. By calculating a safe window size (W), requests are uniformly distributed, thus reducing peak arrival rate. The article further discusses leveraging server-side hints (like Retry-After headers) and rate limiting to refine the strategy, balancing system stability and fairness. The approach is framed as a control problem, emphasizing the need for telemetry-driven decision-making and verification.