Airbnb runs distributed databases across multiple Kubernetes clusters - each tied to its own AWS Availability Zone. That setup isolates failures down to individual pods and keeps the whole system highly available.
They built a custom Kubernetes operator and leaned on EBS volumes with PVCs to smooth out node swaps. That way, even during shakeups - planned or not - quorum stays intact and the system holds steady.
System shift: Running stateful databases on Kubernetes isnβt just possible now. At scale, it's solid - thanks to smart cluster mapping, custom operators, and failover that actually respects storage.
