How to Build Your First Distributed System

Note: This is a tutorial to start building an example of a distributed system and is not intended for a production deployment.

🎯 What You'll Learn

• Build a RESTful API with Node.js and Express
• Manage long-running background processes
• Orchestrate distributed workloads across multiple nodes
• Containerize applications with Docker
• Deploy multi-container applications with Docker Compose
• Understand distributed systems concepts like polling, batching, and orchestration

Overview

In this hands-on tutorial, we’ll build a distributed Blender rendering system from scratch. You’ll learn how to split a rendering workload across multiple nodes, manage concurrent jobs, and deploy the system using Docker.

By the end of this tutorial, you’ll have:

• A rendering node that accepts Blender jobs via HTTP API
• An orchestrator that distributes work across multiple nodes
• A fully containerized deployment using Docker Compose
• Understanding of key distributed systems patterns

Tutorial Structure

0. Setting Up the Environment

Install prerequisites and prepare your development environment.

1. Part 1: Rendering Node

Create a web API that accepts Blender rendering jobs and manages background processes.

You’ll build:

• Express.js server with RESTful endpoints
• Job submission and status checking
• Process management for Blender renders

2. Part 2: Orchestrator

Build an orchestrator that distributes rendering workloads across multiple nodes.

You’ll learn:

• Work distribution and batching
• Parallel job execution with Promise.all()
• Aggregating status from multiple nodes

3. Part 3: Docker

Containerize the rendering node and orchestrator for consistent deployment.

You’ll create:

• Dockerfiles for server and orchestrator
• Docker networks for inter-container communication
• Container deployment strategies

4. Part 4: Docker Compose

Deploy the entire distributed system with a single command.

You’ll configure:

• Multi-container orchestration
• Service scaling (3 rendering nodes)
• Network isolation and service discovery

5. Enhancements and Future Improvements

Explore production-ready improvements and advanced patterns.

Topics include:

• Rate limiting and queue management
• Service discovery
• Production deployment strategies (Kubernetes)
• Monitoring and logging

Architecture Overview

graph TB
    Client[Client Application]
    Orch[Orchestrator<br/>Port 4000]
    Server1[Blender Server 1<br/>Port 3001]
    Server2[Blender Server 2<br/>Port 3002]
    Server3[Blender Server 3<br/>Port 3003]
    
    Client -->|POST /render<br/>frames 1-20| Orch
    Orch -->|Batch 1: frames 1-5| Server1
    Orch -->|Batch 2: frames 6-10| Server2
    Orch -->|Batch 3: frames 11-15| Server3
    
    Server1 -.->|Status| Orch
    Server2 -.->|Status| Orch
    Server3 -.->|Status| Orch
    
    Orch -.->|Aggregated Status| Client
    
    style Client fill:#e1f5ff
    style Orch fill:#fff4e1
    style Server1 fill:#e8f5e9
    style Server2 fill:#e8f5e9
    style Server3 fill:#e8f5e9

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v14 or higher)
• Blender (accessible via command line)
• Docker (for Parts 3 and 4)
• Basic knowledge of JavaScript and REST APIs

Getting Started

Ready to begin? Start with Setting Up the Environment →

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Start Tutorial →

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Having issues? Open an issue on GitHub