ETCD is a distributed key-value store used to store configuration data, metadata, and distributed system coordination information. It is highly available, consistent, and used extensively in cloud-native applications like Kubernetes.
Key Features of ETCD
- Strong Consistency: Uses the Raft consensus algorithm to ensure data consistency.
- High Availability: Supports leader election and fault tolerance.
- Lightweight & Fast: Optimized for read and write performance.
- Secure: Supports TLS encryption and authentication.
- Watch Mechanism: Clients can subscribe to changes in stored data
How ETCD Works
- Nodes (Cluster Members): ETCD runs on multiple nodes for redundancy.
- Leader-Follower Model: One node is elected as the leader to handle writes; other nodes replicate data.
- Key-Value Storage: Data is stored in a simple key-value format.