Perspectives on the CAP Theorem

Abstract

Almost twelve years ago, in 2000, Eric Brewer introduced the idea that there is a fundamental trade-off between consistency, availability, and partition tolerance. This trade-off, which has become known as the CAP Theorem, has been widely discussed ever since. In this paper, we review the CAP Theorem and situate it within the broader context of distributed computing theory. We then discuss the practical implications of the CAP Theorem, and explore some general techniques for coping with the inherent trade-offs that it implies.