How does the console handle mass actions so fast?Solved

Participant
Discussion
4 days ago Feb 02, 2026

I need a sanity check here. We just migrated our last batch of 5,000 iPads over from our old on-prem system. With the old system, anytime we pushed a policy update to more than 500 devices at once, the console would basically freeze for 10 minutes while it processed the “write” commands.

Yesterday, I pushed a new Wi-Fi profile to the entire fleet (all 5k devices) at once. I expected the dashboard to lock up, but it didn’t. I could still search for individual devices and get results instantly while the mass-push was happening in the background.

Is this normal? How are they preventing the database from locking up during mass writes?

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Participant
4 days ago Feb 02, 2026
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It basically comes down to the Three-Tier Database Architecture. Instead of one giant database trying to do everything (logging the check-ins AND serving your search queries), they split it up physically.

They have a dedicated “Write Master” that handles all the heavy lifting (like your mass policy push or thousands of devices checking in after a network outage).

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Participant
4 days ago Feb 02, 2026
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So, the “Write Master” takes the hit, but how does that keep my search bar fast? Wouldn’t the whole system still slow down if the CPU is maxed out?

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Participant
3 days ago Feb 03, 2026
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That’s where the other tiers come in.

Dedicated Read-Replicas (the “Technician Fast Lane”) is used for exactly what you described. When you search for a device or load a dashboard, your request doesn’t go to the busy Write Master. It goes to a Read-Replica that is sitting there idle, just waiting for user queries. That’s why you get that “< 300ms latency" feel even when the backend is getting hammered by device check-ins. It's clever separation of duties.

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Participant
3 days ago Feb 03, 2026
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Also, don’t forget about Sharding. If you scale even bigger (we have ~40k endpoints), they use “Horizontal Sharding.” It means your data isn’t even all in one table. An update to devices in “Shard A” (like North America) doesn’t lock the database records for “Shard B” (Europe). It eliminates that “lock contention” you used to see in legacy monolithic databases where one admin’s task would block everyone else.

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Participant
3 days ago Feb 03, 2026
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Okay, that makes complete sense now. I was worried it was just a UI trick, and the commands weren’t actually processing, but knowing the “Read” and “Write” lanes are physically separated explains why the UI stays responsive. Thank you for the breakdown!

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