IntermediateScenario
10 min
Circuit Breaker Tripped
ResilienceReliabilityMicroservices
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Interview Question
A critical dependency is failing and your service’s circuit breaker has opened. How do you handle this situation?
Key Points to Cover
- Confirm dependency health and error rates
- Review circuit breaker metrics and thresholds
- Provide fallback or degraded functionality
- Tune thresholds or timeouts if misconfigured
- Work with dependency team on resolution
Evaluation Rubric
Confirms dependency failure correctly30% weight
Implements fallback/degraded mode30% weight
Considers breaker threshold tuning20% weight
Collaborates with dependency owners20% weight
Hints
- 💡Circuit breakers prevent cascading failures.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- ⚠️Failing to investigate the root cause of the dependency failure, focusing only on the circuit breaker.
- ⚠️Not having any fallback or degraded functionality defined, leading to a complete service outage.
- ⚠️Setting circuit breaker thresholds too high or too low, leading to either false positives or the breaker not opening when it should.
- ⚠️Rushing the reintegration of the service after the dependency is 'fixed' without proper validation.
- ⚠️Not communicating effectively with the dependency's owning team or stakeholders during the incident.
Potential Follow-up Questions
- ❓When should you bypass a breaker?
- ❓How do you set breaker thresholds?
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