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Erlang / Erlang Advanced Interview questions

How does the global module handle process name registration across a cluster?

The global module extends Erlang's local process registry (register/2) across an entire distributed cluster: global:register_name/2 makes a PID discoverable by name from any connected node, not just the one it was spawned on.

global:register_name(payment_processor, self()),
%% from any node in the cluster:
Pid = global:whereis_name(payment_processor).

To keep the name table consistent across nodes, global synchronizes registrations between all connected nodes and resolves simultaneous registration conflicts (two nodes registering the same name at nearly the same time) by calling a configurable resolver function, defaulting to keeping whichever registration happened first and killing the later, conflicting one. This synchronization has a real cost: registering or looking up global names is significantly slower than local register/2, since it may require cluster-wide coordination.

What does global:register_name/2 provide over the local register/2?
What happens by default when two nodes try to register the same global name at nearly the same time?

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