CDT Architecture & System Design 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which document management architecture pattern separates content storage from metadata indexing to optimize search performance?
- Monolithic repository
- Federated content store
- Decoupled content and index architecture (Correct answer)
- Flat file hierarchy
Correct answer: Decoupled content and index architecture
Decoupled content and index architecture stores binary content separately from searchable metadata, allowing each layer to be optimized independently.
Question 2: In a distributed document management system, what is the primary purpose of a content-addressable storage (CAS) layer?
- To enforce user access controls on documents
- To deduplicate files by storing them by their cryptographic hash (Correct answer)
- To route documents to the nearest geographic node
- To convert documents between file formats automatically
Correct answer: To deduplicate files by storing them by their cryptographic hash
CAS stores files indexed by a hash of their content, so identical files are stored only once, enabling automatic deduplication.
Question 3: A document system requires that all edits be reversible and auditable indefinitely. Which storage pattern best supports this requirement?
- Delta compression with periodic snapshots
- Append-only immutable versioning (Correct answer)
- In-place update with transaction logs
- Cyclic overwrite buffer
Correct answer: Append-only immutable versioning
Append-only immutable versioning never modifies existing records, ensuring every state is preserved and auditable.
Question 4: Which component in an enterprise content management (ECM) architecture is responsible for enforcing document retention schedules automatically?
- Rendition engine
- Records management module (Correct answer)
- OCR pipeline
- Full-text search index
Correct answer: Records management module
The records management module applies retention policies, triggering disposition actions (hold, archive, or delete) based on schedule rules.
Question 5: When designing a system for high-volume document ingestion, which queuing strategy prevents back-pressure from overwhelming downstream processors?
- Synchronous REST calls with retry logic
- Priority queue with dead-letter channel (Correct answer)
- Round-robin database insertion
- Direct socket streaming to all consumers
Correct answer: Priority queue with dead-letter channel
A priority queue with a dead-letter channel buffers incoming documents, routes failures for inspection, and absorbs ingestion bursts without dropping data.
Question 6: In document system design, what does 'eventual consistency' imply for a replicated content store?
- All nodes always reflect the latest write in real time
- Reads may return stale data until replication completes (Correct answer)
- Documents are locked during cross-node synchronization
- Only one node is authoritative and others are read-only
Correct answer: Reads may return stale data until replication completes
Eventual consistency allows replicas to diverge temporarily; given no new updates, all nodes will converge to the same state over time.
Question 7: Which architectural approach allows a document management system to support multiple client application types (web, mobile, desktop) without duplicating business logic?
- Fat client with embedded database
- API-first headless architecture (Correct answer)
- Monolithic server-side rendering
- Thick client with local document cache only
Correct answer: API-first headless architecture
An API-first headless architecture exposes business logic through standardized APIs, letting any client consume the same services without logic duplication.
CDT Architecture & System Design 2
Which document management architecture pattern separates content storage from metadata indexing to optimize search performance?