Why Partition at All
Why replication alone runs out of road, what a partition actually is under six different names, and why choosing how to partition is independent of choosing how to replicate.
System Design › Partitioning
Partitioning
Splitting one dataset across many nodes — key ranges, hashing, and the skew that neither of them fully solves.
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Partitioning by Key Range
Assigning each partition a continuous span of the key space — why the boundaries have to follow the data, what it buys on range scans, and the hot spot a timestamp key walks straight into.
- 3
Partitioning by Hash of Key
Hashing the key to spread skewed data evenly — what a partitioning hash actually needs to be, why "consistent hashing" is the wrong name for it, and the range queries you give up to get the even distribution.
- 4
The Hot Key Hashing Can't Fix
Why a single very hot key defeats every partitioning scheme in this series, the random-suffix trick that splits it, and the read fan-out and bookkeeping you take on in exchange.