AdvancedSystem-Design
45 min
Design an IoT Telemetry Ingestion Platform
IoTStreamingSecurityDevice Management
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Interview Question
Design a platform to ingest telemetry from millions of devices with intermittent connectivity, command/control, and fleet management.
Key Points to Cover
- Protocols (MQTT/HTTP), device identity and secure bootstrapping
- Ingestion & backpressure; buffering on device and server
- Command/control channel and QoS; offline retry semantics
- Data pipeline: hot storage vs cold storage; schema evolution
- Fleet management: OTA updates, rollout rings, health monitoring
- Multi-tenant isolation and rate limiting
Evaluation Rubric
Appropriate protocols & device identity25% weight
Reliable ingestion & backpressure25% weight
Robust command/control semantics25% weight
Fleet mgmt & multi-tenant concerns25% weight
Hints
- 💡Design OTA rollouts with staged rings & rollbacks.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- ⚠️Underestimating the complexity of state synchronization for intermittently connected devices.
- ⚠️Insufficient buffering strategies on both device and server, leading to data loss during network fluctuations.
- ⚠️Inadequate security measures during device bootstrapping and communication, leaving devices vulnerable to compromise.
- ⚠️Lack of robust backpressure handling in the ingestion pipeline, causing system instability and data bottlenecks.
- ⚠️Overlooking the importance of reliable command delivery and acknowledgment mechanisms for critical control operations.
Potential Follow-up Questions
- ❓How do you detect compromised devices?
- ❓How to handle device clock drift?
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