What's the difference between rate and burst?

[birdycn]

    limit := redis_rate.Limit{
        Rate:   limitCfg.Burst,
        Burst:  limitCfg.Burst,
        Period: time.Duration(limitCfg.Second) * time.Second,
    }

Many times, the same values are used. What's the difference between them

[vmihailenco]

In the leaking bucket analogy the burst is the initial water level in the bucket. Without it the first call to the rate limiter will fail (bucket will be empty).

[jose-zenledger]

@vmihailenco in the analogy, wouldn't requests fail when the bucket is full? New requests raise the water level and leak out when complete? In that interpretation I think everything works.

Either way the result is that the rate limiter doesn't rate limit so shouldn't this be patched?

[aleksficek]

@jose-zenledger your analogy makes sense with how leaky bucket works, not sure what @vmihailenco is saying here

[whongki]

@vmihailenco in the analogy, wouldn't requests fail when the bucket is full? New requests raise the water level and leak out when complete? In that interpretation I think everything works.

Either way the result is that the rate limiter doesn't rate limit so shouldn't this be patched?

I feel like it's more a token bucket than a leaky bucket. That's why the water level is zero, you can not have request. the water level here works like a token.