Partitioning

Definitions

1. Splitting a large table into smaller, more manageable pieces (partitions) based on a key — typically date (range partitioning), category (list partitioning), or hash. Queries that filter on the partition key only scan relevant partitions (partition pruning). Enables efficient data lifecycle management (drop old partitions instead of DELETE).

   In plain English: Splitting a huge database table into smaller pieces so queries only look at the relevant piece.

   Example: "Partition the events table by month — queries for this week only scan one partition instead of the full 500GB table."

Related Terms

• Allocator
• Connection Pooling
• N+1 Query Problem
• Query Plan
• Index Scan vs Seq Scan
• Query Cache
• Query Optimizer
• Read Replica