Design an Online Event Ticketing Platform
Design an online event ticketing platform similar to Ticketmaster. The system should allow users to:
- Browse and search for events, viewing seat maps or ticket inventory.
- Select seats (for reserved seating) or specify ticket quantity (for general admission).
- Complete a checkout and payment process.
- Receive confirmation of their purchase, including tickets or QR codes.
The system must be capable of handling high traffic volumes during "flash sales" for popular events, where a large number of users simultaneously attempt to purchase limited inventory.
Requirements
Functional Requirements:
- Event Discovery: List events, display event details, and show seating availability.
- Purchase Flow:
- Temporarily reserve seats during the checkout process.
- Confirm purchases after successful payment.
- Prevent overselling and double-booking of tickets.
- Cancellations and Timeouts: Implement mechanisms for seat holds to expire and inventory to be released.
- Anti-Abuse: Include hooks for rate limiting and bot mitigation.
Non-Functional Requirements:
- High Availability: Ensure the system remains operational during peak on-sale periods.
- Performance: Achieve low latency for browsing operations and guarantee correctness (no double-sells) for checkout.
- Scalability: Handle sudden spikes in concurrent users, potentially reaching hundreds of thousands to millions.
- Auditability and Supportability: Provide logging and reconciliation capabilities.
Deliverables
Discuss the following aspects:
- APIs
- Data model
- Core architecture and key components
- Concurrency control strategy for seat holds and purchases
- Caching, queues, and failure handling mechanisms
- Key metrics and operational considerations
AI interview prep
Core dilemma
Balancing the need for immediate, high-throughput inventory reservation and purchase confirmation under extreme concurrency against the requirement for strict data consistency to prevent overselling.
3 tradeoffs and 3 stress tests locked
Interview prep
Unlock the interviewer X-Ray rubric, tradeoff matrix, stress tests, clarifying questions, and key concepts.
Design an Online Event Ticketing Platform
Design an online event ticketing platform similar to Ticketmaster. The system should allow users to:
- Browse and search for events, viewing seat maps or ticket inventory.
- Select seats (for reserved seating) or specify ticket quantity (for general admission).
- Complete a checkout and payment process.
- Receive confirmation of their purchase, including tickets or QR codes.
The system must be capable of handling high traffic volumes during "flash sales" for popular events, where a large number of users simultaneously attempt to purchase limited inventory.
Requirements
Functional Requirements:
- Event Discovery: List events, display event details, and show seating availability.
- Purchase Flow:
- Temporarily reserve seats during the checkout process.
- Confirm purchases after successful payment.
- Prevent overselling and double-booking of tickets.
- Cancellations and Timeouts: Implement mechanisms for seat holds to expire and inventory to be released.
- Anti-Abuse: Include hooks for rate limiting and bot mitigation.
Non-Functional Requirements:
- High Availability: Ensure the system remains operational during peak on-sale periods.
- Performance: Achieve low latency for browsing operations and guarantee correctness (no double-sells) for checkout.
- Scalability: Handle sudden spikes in concurrent users, potentially reaching hundreds of thousands to millions.
- Auditability and Supportability: Provide logging and reconciliation capabilities.
Deliverables
Discuss the following aspects:
- APIs
- Data model
- Core architecture and key components
- Concurrency control strategy for seat holds and purchases
- Caching, queues, and failure handling mechanisms
- Key metrics and operational considerations