Build a Key-Value Database in Go: From Scratch to Production
Master Concurrency, Persistence, Networking, and Optimization Techniques
Learn to build a production-ready key-value database from the ground up using Go. You'll learn fundamental database concepts, master Go's concurrency patterns, and understand the engineering decisions behind real-world database systems.
What Makes This Course Different
Hands-On Learning
Build a complete database from scratch with real-world engineering decisions
Performance Focus
Learn optimization techniques used in production systems like Redis and etcd
Go Mastery
Master advanced Go patterns including concurrency, memory management, and profiling
Production Ready
Deploy with monitoring, security, and operational best practices
Distributed Systems
Understand replication, consensus, and high-availability patterns
Real-World Skills
Gain skills used by database engineers at top tech companies
Course Curriculum
This course is structured in 8 progressive modules, each building on the previous one:
Module 1: Foundation
Core Concepts & Architecture (Lessons 1-2)
Lesson 1: Introduction and Database Fundamentals
- • Understanding Key-Value Stores and their unique characteristics
- • Use cases and trade-offs vs relational databases
- • Real-world examples (Redis, etcd, Memcached)
- • Core Requirements Analysis and functional requirements
- • Architecture Planning and component identification
- • Interface design and API contracts
Hands-on Lab: Set up project repository and design initial API interface
Lesson 2: Building the Core Data Structure
- • HashMap Implementation and data structure choices
- • Go's native map vs custom implementation
- • Basic Operations (Get, Put, Delete) implementation
- • Value serialization strategies
- • Error handling patterns
- • Testing Strategy with unit tests and benchmarks
Hands-on Lab: Implement thread-unsafe in-memory key-value store
Module 2: Storage Engine
Core Data Structures & Concurrency (Lessons 3-4)
Lesson 3: Concurrency and Thread Safety
- • Concurrency Challenges and race conditions
- • Synchronization Primitives (mutexes, atomic operations)
- • Concurrent Operations and lock-free data structures
- • Sharding for parallelism and lock striping
- • Optimistic concurrency control
- • Performance benchmarking of concurrent operations
Hands-on Lab: Add thread-safe operations and implement sharded storage
Lesson 4: Append-Only Log (Write-Ahead Log)
- • WAL Fundamentals and durability guarantees
- • Implementation with fsync and OS buffer implications
- • Log Management and rotation policies
- • Segment files and compaction basics
- • Background processing patterns
- • Crash recovery mechanism
Hands-on Lab: Implement WAL with durability guarantees and crash recovery
Module 3: Persistence Layer
WAL, SSTables, and Compaction (Lessons 5-6)
Lesson 5: SSTables and LSM Trees
- • LSM Tree Architecture and memtable concepts
- • Memtable Implementation with sorted structures
- • SSTable Format and file layout design
- • Index structures (sparse index, Bloom filters)
- • Compression strategies and optimization
- • Background flushing and automatic management
Hands-on Lab: Build memtable with automatic flushing and SSTable writer
Lesson 6: Compaction and Optimization
- • Compaction Strategies (size-tiered, leveled, universal)
- • Implementation Details and merge iterators
- • Optimization Techniques and Bloom filters
- • Block cache for hot data and compression
- • Batched writes and resource throttling
- • Performance benchmarking and tuning
Hands-on Lab: Implement leveled compaction and add Bloom filters
Module 4: Networking Layer
TCP Server and Client Library (Lessons 7-8)
Lesson 7: TCP Server and Protocol Design
- • Network Protocol Design and request-response patterns
- • TCP Server in Go with connection handling
- • Request Parsing and efficient buffer management
- • Pipelining support and connection pooling
- • Protocol state machines and error handling
- • Performance optimization and scaling
Hands-on Lab: Build TCP server and implement Redis-compatible RESP protocol
Lesson 8: Client Library and Advanced Networking
- • Client Implementation and connection management
- • Advanced Features and pipelining for throughput
- • Error Handling and retry logic with exponential backoff
- • Connection pooling and circuit breaker patterns
- • Multiplexing connections and keep-alive mechanisms
- • Graceful degradation and timeout handling
Hands-on Lab: Build Go client library with connection pooling and retry logic
Module 5: Advanced Features
Transactions and Replication (Lessons 9-10)
Lesson 9: Transactions and ACID Properties
- • Transaction Fundamentals and ACID properties
- • Implementation with multi-version concurrency control
- • Optimistic Concurrency and version numbers
- • Conflict detection and deadlock prevention
- • Snapshot isolation and write skew prevention
- • Performance implications and optimization
Hands-on Lab: Implement multi-key transactions with snapshot isolation
Lesson 10: Replication and High Availability
- • Replication Strategies and leader-follower patterns
- • Basic Replication with asynchronous/synchronous options
- • Consistency Models and strong vs eventual consistency
- • Raft consensus algorithm implementation
- • Failover mechanisms and split-brain prevention
- • Monitoring replication lag and health
Hands-on Lab: Implement leader-follower replication with configurable consistency
Module 6: Production Readiness
Monitoring and Optimization (Lessons 11-12)
Lesson 11: Monitoring, Metrics, and Observability
- • Instrumentation with Prometheus metrics integration
- • Key Metrics and performance profiling (pprof)
- • Logging with structured logging (logrus, zap)
- • Health Checks and dependency monitoring
- • Distributed tracing and debug mode implementation
- • Grafana dashboard creation and alerting
Hands-on Lab: Add comprehensive metrics and create Grafana dashboard
Lesson 12: Performance Optimization and Tuning
- • Profiling and Benchmarking with pprof tools
- • Optimization Techniques and hot path optimization
- • Tuning Parameters and memory pooling
- • Load Testing and bottleneck identification
- • Zero-copy techniques and batch processing
- • Capacity planning and performance regression testing
Hands-on Lab: Profile and optimize critical paths, run comprehensive load tests
Module 7: Deployment and Operations
Configuration, Deployment, and Security (Lessons 13-14)
Lesson 13: Configuration and Deployment
- • Configuration Management with YAML/TOML
- • Deployment Options and standalone binary deployment
- • Backup and Recovery with snapshot mechanisms
- • Docker containerization and Kubernetes deployment
- • Systemd service setup and process management
- • Disaster recovery planning and testing
Hands-on Lab: Create Docker image and write Kubernetes manifests
Lesson 14: Security and Production Hardening
- • Security Fundamentals and authentication mechanisms
- • Hardening and input validation
- • Operational Safety and graceful shutdown
- • TLS/SSL encryption and certificate management
- • Rate limiting and DoS protection
- • Rolling upgrades and data migration strategies
Hands-on Lab: Add authentication, implement TLS, create upgrade procedures
Module 8: Capstone Project
Final Project and Beyond (Lesson 15)
Lesson 15: Final Project and Beyond
- • Feature Implementation and advanced features
- • Documentation and API documentation
- • Open Source Preparation and community guidelines
- • Final Project and comprehensive testing
- • Performance benchmarking and optimization
- • Production deployment and monitoring
Hands-on Lab: Implement chosen advanced features and prepare production deployment
Course Format
Video Lectures
30-45 minutes each
Written Docs
Comprehensive guides
Hands-on Labs
Practical exercises
Quiz
10 questions per lesson
Prerequisites
- • Basic Go knowledge
- • Understanding of data structures
- • Familiarity with command-line tools
What You'll Build
By the end of this course, you'll have built:
- • A high-performance, thread-safe in-memory key-value store
- • A durable persistence layer with Write-Ahead Log (WAL) and SSTables
- • A robust networking layer with a custom TCP server and client library
- • Support for multi-key transactions with ACID properties
- • A replicated, highly available database cluster
- • Comprehensive monitoring, logging, and security features
- • A production-ready deployment pipeline with Docker and Kubernetes
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this course about?
This course guides you through building a complete key-value database from scratch using Go, covering everything from core data structures and concurrency to persistence, networking, and production readiness.
Who is this course for?
This course is designed for intermediate to advanced Go developers, systems engineers, and anyone interested in understanding the internals of database systems and distributed storage.
What are the prerequisites?
You should have basic knowledge of Go programming, a good understanding of common data structures (like hash maps and sorted lists), and familiarity with command-line tools.
How long does the course take to complete?
The course is designed to take approximately 12-15 weeks, requiring 80-100 hours of dedicated study and hands-on lab work. You can, however, learn at your own pace.
What will I build?
You will build a high-performance, thread-safe key-value database with a durable persistence layer (WAL, SSTables), a robust networking layer, support for transactions, replication, and comprehensive monitoring and security features.
Ready to Build Your Own Database?
Dive deep into database internals and master Go's systems programming capabilities. This course will equip you with the knowledge and practical experience to design, build, and deploy a production-ready key-value store.
Start Building Now