How Fly.io Replicates SQLite Globally in Less Than 1 Second

Explore how Fly.io built Corrosion, a distributed, eventually consistent state replication engine using Rust and SQLite, to replace HashiCorp's Consul for managing 800+ nodes with sub-second latency in this 50-minute InfoQ conference talk. Discover why traditional consensus-based systems like Consul with Raft couldn't scale for Fly.io's global infrastructure and learn how they leveraged CRDTs (Conflict-free Replicated Data Types) and the SWIM gossip protocol to synchronize machine state globally without central consensus bottlenecks. Examine the technical implementation of cr-sqlite through live demonstrations, understand how gossip protocols enable state propagation across clusters, and see how subscription-based SQL queries provide real-time updates. Gain insights into handling network partitions, implementing security with TLS within clusters, and learn from real-world incidents like the "Broadcast Storm" that shaped their architecture decisions. Understand the rationale behind choosing Rust for modern distributed systems and explore practical considerations for handling transactions and network partitions in eventually consistent systems. Master the balance between the CAP theorem constraints while optimizing networking layers for resilient distributed systems architecture.