Partitioning
In plain terms
Splitting a table's data into smaller, manageable pieces.
Going deeper
Partitioning divides a large table by a key (like date) so queries scan only relevant chunks, improving performance and maintenance. It's done within one database.
Under the hood
Range, list, and hash partitioning suit different access patterns; differs from sharding (across machines).
Examples
Time-based partitions, large tables, query pruning, archival, PostgreSQL partitions.
Think of it like...
Like splitting a giant ledger into monthly volumes so you only open the relevant one.