What is shard?

A shard is a small part of a larger whole, typically referring to a piece of a database within a distributed system. In distributed computing, a shard is a horizontal partition of data in a database or search engine. Each shard is held on a separate server, and can be queried independently of other shards. This allows for greater scalability and distribution of resources.

In addition to databases, sharding is used in other areas such as gaming, where it can refer to dividing players into smaller groups to reduce server load and improve performance. Sharding can also be used in blockchain technology, where it refers to dividing the blockchain network into smaller groups to improve scalability.

Overall, shard is a term used to describe a smaller part of a larger entity, and is commonly used in distributed computing to refer to a partition of data.