Definition
The relaxed alternative to ACID for high-availability distributed stores: Basically Available, Soft state, Eventually consistent.
How it works
Instead of blocking to stay perfectly consistent, a BASE system always answers (Basically Available), lets replicas disagree for a while (Soft state), and converges later (Eventual consistency). This is the trade Dynamo-style stores (Cassandra, DynamoDB) make to stay up across regions. ACID vs BASE is really the CAP trade-off — strong consistency vs availability — in two acronyms.
Common questions
What is BASE?
The relaxed alternative to ACID for high-availability distributed stores: Basically Available, Soft state, Eventually consistent.
How does BASE work?
Instead of blocking to stay perfectly consistent, a BASE system always answers (Basically Available), lets replicas disagree for a while (Soft state), and converges later (Eventual consistency). This is the trade Dynamo-style stores (Cassandra, DynamoDB) make to stay up across…
What is BASE used for in system design?
Instead of blocking to stay perfectly consistent, a BASE system always answers (Basically Available), lets replicas disagree for a while (Soft state), and converges later (Eventual consistency). This is the trade Dynamo-style stores (Cassandra, DynamoDB) make to stay up across…