Why Use ZooKeeper?

ZooKeeper is battle-test for distributed coordination problems without you needing to invent algorithms from scratch. Forget the haters who say it’s old.

Here’s what it’s good for:

👑 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 – Multiple servers want to be “the leader.” ZooKeeper ensures only one wins, so you don’t get split-brain writes.

📍 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 – Clients can find healthy servers by watching ZooKeeper for membership changes. If a node dies, the update is immediate.

🔒 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀 – Two users try booking the last concert ticket. ZooKeeper provides lock primitives that prevent double-booking across servers.

📂 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 – Keep config values (like rate limits) in one place. ZooKeeper pushes updates to all clients immediately.

⚠️ Interview Tip: Zookeeper is not for bulk data or high-throughput writes. Use it when you need coordination, not as a general-purpose database.