2

Note: This is a follow-up question to this one.

I'm planning to practice some system design questions asked during tech interviews, and I'd like to get reviews/opinions on how I'd design some systems from the ServerFault/StackExchange community if I can.

Can I post these questions on Server Fault, or would some other StackExchange site be more appropriate for this?

3
  • 1
    What is it you're trying to design?
    – Michael Hampton Mod
    Commented Apr 19, 2015 at 23:49
  • 2
    Is the goal to help you get a job? Regardless of it isn't an actual problem you are facing then it has to fall into the good subjective rule which would be difficult from what you've described so far.
    – TheCleaner
    Commented Apr 19, 2015 at 23:56
  • I quite like System Design questions. I often use them as a springboard for blogposts.
    – Tom O'Connor Mod
    Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 11:29

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
8

Sadly, this sounds to me like something that might be closed as a duplicate of Can you help me with my capacity planning? Depending on how you define "system design," of course. I'm assuming this is a server system because you're on Server Fault, and you'd be talking about server hardware and operating systems and the like (possibly to support an application). Am I assuming correctly?

If the system is unix/linux, Unix and Linux might be a good choice.

If the system runs databases, DBA might be a good choice.

If the systems are desktops, SuperUser might be a good choice.

3

My gut feeling is that system design questions are not off-topic per se - they're a class of best-practice questions, which I recall a while back we decided to be more tolerant of.

But it's still perfectly possible to write a system design question that's off-topic for other reasons. For example, in my opinion:

  • What's the best way to design an online auction site - too broad

  • What's the best design for a home media server - not about managing information technology systems in a business environment

  • What's the best answer to this interview question - this is a hypothetical, not a concrete, issue

So, if you actually have a real system to design, and you've done your homework and narrowed things down to two or three options, but genuinely can't decide which one's best, then my personal feeling is that there might well be an interesting, on-topic question there. I can't speak for the community, though.

4
  • 1
    So, in essence - it's possible to write a systems design question which would be on-topic, but most of the questions we see aren't?
    – Jenny D
    Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 9:50
  • 3
    I'd hesitate to give a definitive answer without checking the data, but that's my gut feeling, yes.
    – MadHatter
    Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 10:26
  • 1
    Now I think about it, that pretty much goes for all topics on the site...
    – Jenny D
    Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 10:27
  • You might say that; I couldn't possibly comment.
    – MadHatter
    Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 10:39

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .