Database Architecture

Explore how RocksDB’s LSM-tree compaction strategy manages write-heavy workloads by buffering mutations in memory and flushing sorted runs to disk, then merging them through configurable compaction paths with distinct amplification tradeoffs.

This post walks through the engineering of copy‑on‑write B‑trees for fast, crash‑consistent snapshots and PITR, highlighting architecture, implementation details, and real‑world trade‑offs.