Exponential Backoff
Exponential backoff grows the wait time exponentially between retries of a failing operation (e.g., 1s/2s/4s/8s), preventing retry storms from overwhelming downstream services.
Purpose
Smart retries that avoid overwhelming downstream services and retry storms.
Mechanism
The n-th retry waits base * 2^n + jitter (randomization avoids synchronized retries). Set max retry counts and timeouts. Pairs with circuit breakers: persistent failures trip the breaker. AWS SDKs build in exponential backoff.
Use cases
- Retry strategy
- Failure recovery
- Traffic control