Definition
Splitting a massive database into smaller, more manageable pieces (shards) distributed across multiple servers. It's the database equivalent of not putting all your eggs in one basket, except the eggs are your users' data and the baskets are expensive servers.
Example Usage
Our user table hit 500 million rows, so we're implementing sharding by geographic region.
Origin
Term borrowed from 'shard' (a broken piece of pottery), popularized by Ultima Online developers in the late 1990s
Fun Fact
Ultima Online called each game server a 'shard' because the game's lore involved the shattering of a magical gem, making them perhaps the only developers to actually think about naming conventions.
Source: Database architecture and distributed systems literature
Related Terms
Translate This Term
See “sharding” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.
Try the Translator