Architecture & System Design Flashcards
7 cards from real GMI practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Architecture & System Design flashcards as text
In GMI system design, what is the primary purpose of a metadata schema for measurement records?
Answer: To define and enforce consistent attributes across all measurement data entries
A metadata schema standardizes attributes such as instrument ID, timestamp, and substrate type, ensuring data can be reliably queried and compared.
Which redundancy strategy is most appropriate for a mission-critical graphic measurement server that cannot tolerate downtime?
Answer: Active-active clustering with load balancing
Active-active clustering keeps multiple nodes simultaneously processing requests, so any single node failure causes no downtime.
A GMI-compliant measurement database shows growing query latency as record count exceeds 50 million rows. The most effective architectural remedy is:
Answer: Partitioning the table by date range and adding composite indexes
Partitioning splits the large table into smaller segments and targeted indexes reduce full-table scans, directly addressing query latency at scale.
Which communication protocol is best suited for broadcasting real-time spectral measurement updates to multiple simultaneous dashboard clients?
Answer: Pub/sub messaging (e.g., MQTT or Redis Pub/Sub)
Pub/sub protocols decouple the publisher from subscribers and efficiently fan out updates to many clients simultaneously.
In a layered graphic measurement architecture, the 'presentation layer' is responsible for:
Answer: Rendering measurement results into user-consumable reports or visualizations
The presentation layer translates processed data into formats users can interpret, such as charts, delta-E reports, or print quality dashboards.
When integrating a spectrophotometer with a MIS (Management Information System), which data format is most commonly used for structured measurement interchange?
Answer: XML or JSON with an agreed schema
XML and JSON provide structured, human-readable, machine-parseable formats that both MIS vendors and instrument manufacturers support for data exchange.
A graphic measurement system must support offline operation when network connectivity is lost. Which architectural pattern handles this requirement?
Answer: Local data store with sync-on-reconnect pattern
A local data store captures measurements offline, and the sync-on-reconnect pattern reconciles local data with the central server when connectivity resumes.