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TOPIC #242Advanced 10 min read

Design a Ticket Booking System (Ticketmaster / BookMyShow)

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Core Architecture Summary

Prevent seat overbooking: Temporary reservation locks (10-minute hold), Distributed Redis locks with TTL, ACID seat inventory transactions, and Virtual Waiting Rooms.

Key Glossary Concepts in this TopicAll Glossary Terms

01.1. Functional & Non-Functional Requirements

A high-scale Ticket Booking System handles massive concurrent demand for limited physical seating inventory (concerts, sports events, cinema, airline seats) without double-booking or system crashes.

Functional Requirements

  1. Seat Selection & Visual Map: Browse stadium/venue layout and view real-time seat availability.
  2. Temporary Seat Hold (Reservation): When a user selects seats, place an exclusive 10-minute temporary hold to allow the user to complete payment.
  3. Payment & Confirmation: If payment succeeds within 10 minutes, permanently issue tickets.
  4. Auto-Release on Expiry: If the user abandons checkout or payment fails, immediately release the held seats back to the available inventory pool.

Non-Functional Requirements

  • Strict Concurrency Safety (Zero Double-Booking): Under no circumstances can two distinct customers purchase the same physical seat.
  • Extreme Peak Traffic Resilience: Handle 100,000+ users clicking "Book" simultaneously within a 5-second flash sale window.
  • High Consistency over Availability (CP System): Seat inventory must maintain absolute consistency (ACID) over eventual consistency.

Ticket Booking 10-Minute Seat Reservation Lifecycle 🎟️

PRO Architecture Blueprint

Ticket Booking 10-Minute Seat Reservation Lifecycle 🎟️

Virtual Waiting Room traffic serialization, distributed Redis reservation locks, conditional ACID database updates, and automated 10-minute hold expiration.

Ticket Booking 10-Minute Seat Reservation Lifecycle 🎟️
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