Partitioning
Partition Hotspots
IntermediateHow partition key design determines load distribution, how sequential keys create hotspot partitions, why hotspots cause cascading failures, and how to design partition keys that distribute load uniformly.
Step 1 of 5
Uniform Distribution: Ideal Partitioning
A well-designed partition key distributes writes uniformly across all partitions. Each partition receives roughly equal throughput, memory, and disk usage. In this state, adding capacity scales horizontally: more nodes, more partitions, proportionally more throughput. This is the baseline partitioned system should target.
P0
0x0000–0x1FFF
18%
P1
0x2000–0x3FFF
22%
P2
0x4000–0x5FFF
19%
P3
0x6000–0x7FFF
21%
P4
0x8000–0x9FFF
20%
P5
0xA000–0xBFFF
18%
P6
0xC000–0xDFFF
21%
P7
0xE000–0xFFFF
21%
Uniform distribution: load within 5% variance across all 8 partitions
Key Takeaways
- →Uniform distribution is the prerequisite for horizontal scale-out to actually work
- →Consistent hashing distributes by token range: the partition key's hash determines placement
1 / 5