Sharding vs. partitioning: What’s the difference?

Sharding and partitioning are techniques used to divide and scale large databases. Sharding distributes data across multiple servers, while partitioning splits tables within one server. Both methods aim to improve performance, manageability, and availability of larger databases. Sharding is a form of horizontal scaling that divides the database schema into smaller parts stored on separate instances or servers. Partitioning involves splitting tables within the same database instance based on column values. Choosing between sharding and partitioning depends on factors such as data distribution, performance optimization, and manageability.