Highload Social Network Platform

A high-performance, scalable social network platform built with Go and a microservices architecture designed to handle intensive workloads and demonstrate advanced distributed systems concepts.

Project Overview

Highload is a production-ready social network platform that showcases enterprise-level architecture patterns and performance optimization techniques. The platform features:

• User Management: Authentication, profile management, and social relationships
• Content Sharing: Post creation and personalized feed generation
• Real-time Messaging: Scalable chat system with unread message tracking
• Live Updates: WebSocket-based real-time feed updates
• Activity Metrics: Distributed counter system for tracking user activities

System Architecture

The platform is built on a robust microservices architecture designed for high scalability, performance, and resilience:

Core Services Layer

• Web API Gateway: RESTful API service using Chi router with JWT authentication, serving as the entry point for all client requests
• Users Service: Manages user registration, authentication, profiles, and social relationships
• Posts Service: Handles content creation with feed generation through Kafka-based event processing
• Chats Service: Provides real-time messaging capabilities with horizontal database sharding
• Counters Service: Tracks activity metrics with Redis-backed storage for high performance

Data Storage Layer

• MySQL Cluster: Master-slave replication setup with semi-synchronous replication for data consistency

  • Read/write separation via HAProxy for optimal performance
  • Horizontal sharding for message storage across dedicated nodes

• Redis: Multi-purpose in-memory data store used for:

  • High-speed caching of frequently accessed data
  • Feed storage and retrieval
  • Distributed lock management
  • Counter and metrics storage

• Kafka: Event streaming platform for reliable asynchronous processing

  • Used primarily for feed updates and event-driven workflows

Infrastructure Components

• Docker & Docker Compose: Full containerization of all services for consistent deployment
• Nginx: Front-facing load balancer and reverse proxy
• HAProxy: Database connection pooling and traffic direction
• Centrifugo: WebSocket server enabling real-time updates to client applications
• Prometheus & Grafana: Comprehensive monitoring and performance visualization

Key Technical Features

Performance Optimizations

• Database Read/Write Splitting: Directs read operations to slave replicas, optimizing database load
• Multi-level Caching: Redis-based caching for frequently accessed data
• Connection Pooling: Efficient resource utilization across services
• Database Sharding: Horizontal data distribution for improved throughput
• Asynchronous Processing: Non-blocking operations via Kafka for improved responsiveness

High Availability & Resilience

• Semi-synchronous Replication: Prevents data loss during master database failures
• Service Replication: Multiple instances of critical services
• Circuit Breaking: Prevents cascading failures in the service mesh
• Saga Pattern: Maintains data consistency across distributed transactions
• GTID-based Replication: Simplifies failover and recovery processes

Security Implementation

• JWT-based Authentication: Secure, stateless authentication mechanism
• Password Hashing: Industry-standard bcrypt implementation
• HTTPS Support: TLS encryption for all client communication
• Secure Cookie Management: Protection against XSS and CSRF attacks
• Input Validation: Comprehensive request validation

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Go 1.24+
• Docker and Docker Compose
• Make

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/ravilushqa/highload.git
cd highload

Running the Project

Start the entire platform:

make setup

Start with monitoring enabled:

make setup-with-monitoring

Stop all services:

make down

Service Endpoints

• Web API: http://localhost:80
• Monitoring Dashboard: http://localhost:3000 (Grafana)
• Metrics: http://localhost:9090 (Prometheus)

Skills & Techniques Demonstrated

• Distributed Systems Design: Microservices with well-defined boundaries
• High-Load Handling: Database optimization, caching, connection pooling
• Go Programming: Idiomatic Go code with effective concurrency patterns
• Database Engineering: Replication, sharding, query optimization
• DevOps Practices: Containerization, orchestration, monitoring
• Messaging Patterns: Event sourcing with Kafka
• Caching Strategies: Multi-level caching with Redis