What's new with Robinhood, our in-house load balancing service

(dropbox.tech)

10 points | by ABS 3 days ago ago

11 comments

  • terramauthe 3 hours ago

    hopefully the author still works there.

  • leetrout an hour ago

    I am surprised to see zookeeper being used with etcd.

    Why use both?

    Why even consider ZK in 2024? Is it just popular in java shops?

    Maybe I am misunderstanding?

  • satvikpendem 3 hours ago

    I'm not sure why they'd name it identically to another company in the tech sector.

    • stavros 2 hours ago

      Probably because it takes from the rich and gives to the poor.

    • guessmyname an hour ago

      Round Robin [1] is a popular algorithm for load balancing.

      That’s the only reason they named the software “Robinhood”.

      [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round-robin_scheduling

      • Dalewyn an hour ago

        Why specifically "Robinhood", though? Robinhood is a fairly well known brokerage.

        Why not Robin Hood or some other unique or generic name?

        • CogitoCogito 27 minutes ago

          I don't think there are many people who will confuse an in-house load balancing service used at dropbox with a brokerage even if both are called Robinhood. Similarly, I don't think that people will confuse said brokerage with an old character of English folklore (and no I don't think it's the space that's important).

          Context matters. There simply isn't a risk for meaningful confusion here. So what's the issue exactly?

    • kergonath 2 hours ago

      You cannot avoid all names that were or will be ever used by anyone. Collisions will happen. And Robin Hood is not particularly obscure…