Advanced · Module 8 · Lesson 8 of 11
Event-Driven Server Architectures: Reactor Patterns and Production Event Loops
Architect non-blocking event-driven network services using the Reactor pattern, manage connection state machines and outbound write buffers, and integrate timerfd and signalfd into unified epoll loops.
By the end you can
- Construct a single-threaded Reactor pattern comprising an Event Demultiplexer, Dispatcher, and Event Handlers
- Manage connection lifecycles via non-blocking state machines with dedicated input and output ring buffers
- Handle partial writes and output backpressure by dynamically arming and disarming EPOLLOUT
- Integrate timeouts and process termination signals into the event loop using timerfd and signalfd
Builds on Zero-Copy Data Pipelines: sendfile, splice, and Vectored I/O.
01 · A question first
Why do Nginx and Redis handle hundreds of thousands of concurrent requests using only a handful of threads, while traditional thread-per-client servers grind to a halt under load? The key lies in state-machine-driven event loops and unified kernel event demultiplexing.
Make a guess before you read on.
02 · The idea
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What's inside
- Start with the problem
- How the idea works
- Production Implementation: Complete Reactor Server
- Why it is correct
- What it costs
- Pitfalls and variations
- Where it is used
- Core Track: Modules 1–5 Complete
03 · Practice
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