Could you explain what is meant by expanding database capabilities as load increases?

Scaling a database as load increases is the process of enhancing its performance and throughput so it can efficiently handle more requests and data without slowing down.

There are two main approaches:

1. Vertical scaling (scale-up) — increasing the resources of a single server running the database: adding more RAM, processors, faster disks.

2. Horizontal scaling (scale-out) — adding new servers to the database cluster, distributing the load among them. This can include data replication, sharding (dividing data across different nodes).

For example, if your number of users and requests to the database is growing, you can first increase the server's capacity (vertically), and if that's not enough, move to a distributed architecture with multiple servers (horizontally).