What is the difference between sharding and partitioning?

Partitioning and sharding are methods of data separation, but with different goals and scales.

Partitioning is the division of data within a single database or table into logical parts (partitions) based on a specific criterion (for example, by date, range of values). This helps improve query performance and simplifies data management, but all partitions are usually stored in one place or within one system.

Sharding is the horizontal division of data across different physical servers or nodes (shards). Each shard contains a part of the data, and together they form a complete database. Sharding is used to scale the system, distribute load, and increase storage capacity.

In summary:

• Partitioning is a logical division within a single database/server.
• Sharding is a physical distribution of data across different servers.

Example: an orders table can be partitioned by months and sharded by regions, where each region is a separate server.