Stability Patterns — Circuit Breaker
A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to
protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by over-current or overload or
short circuit. Its basic function is to interrupt current flow after protective
relays detect a fault. A circuit breaker can be reset (either manually or
automatically) to resume normal operation.
The software analogue as described in Release
it! chapter 5.2 can prevent repeated
calls to a failing service by detecting issues and providing a fallback, by
using this pattern it is possible to avoid cascading failures.