title: Explaining Apache ZooKeeper
body: <p>I am trying to understand ZooKeeper, how it works and what it does. Is there any application which is comparable to ZooKeeper? </p>
  
  <p>If you know, then how would you describe ZooKeeper to a layman?</p>
  
  <p>I have tried apache wiki, zookeeper sourceforge...but I am still not able to relate to it.</p>
  
  <p>I just read thru <a href="http://zookeeper.sourceforge.net/index.sf.shtml" rel="noreferrer">http://zookeeper.sourceforge.net/index.sf.shtml</a>, so aren't there more services like this? Is it as simple as just replicating a server service?</p>