Databases & Data Storage
Horizontal Scaling
Definition
Horizontal scaling, or scaling out, means adding more machines to your pool of resources to spread the load. For a database, this involves distributing the data and queries across multiple servers.
Why It Matters
Horizontal scaling is the key to achieving massive scalability. It allows a system to grow almost indefinitely by simply adding more commodity servers, which is the model used by large internet companies and cloud providers.
Contextual Example
A NoSQL database like Cassandra is designed to scale horizontally. As data volume and traffic grow, you can simply add more server nodes to the cluster to handle the increased load.
Common Misunderstandings
- Sharding is the primary technique for horizontal scaling of a database.
- It is contrasted with vertical scaling.