Sharding¶
Sharding distributes a single logical database system across a cluster of machines. Sharding uses range-based portioning to distribute documents based on a specific shard key.
For a general introduction to sharding, cluster operations, and relevant implications and administration see: FAQ: Sharding with MongoDB.
Sharded Cluster Use and Operation¶
The documents in this section introduce sharded clusters, their operation, functioning, and use. If you are unfamiliar with data partitioning, or MongoDB’s sharding implementation begin with these documents:
- Sharded Cluster Overview
- Sharded Cluster Administration
- Sharded Cluster Architectures
- Sharded Cluster Internals and Behaviors
Sharded Cluster Tutorials and Procedures¶
The documents listed in this section address common sharded cluster operational practices in greater detail.
Getting Started With Sharded Clusters¶
- Deploy a Sharded Cluster
- Add Shards to a Cluster
- View Cluster Configuration
Sharded Cluster Maintenance and Administration¶
- Manage the Config Servers
- Manage Chunks in a Sharded Cluster
- Manage Sharded Cluster Balancer
- Remove Shards from an Existing Sharded Cluster
Backup and Restore Sharded Clusters¶
- Backup a Small Sharded Cluster with mongodump
- Create Backup of a Sharded Cluster with Filesystem Snapshots
- Create Backup of a Sharded Cluster with Database Dumps
- Restore a Single Shard
- Restore Sharded Clusters
- Schedule Backup Window for Sharded Clusters
Application Development Patterns for Sharded Clusters¶
The following documents describe processes that application developers may find useful when developing applications that use data stored in a MongoDB sharded cluster. For some cases you will also want to consider the documentation of Data Center Awareness.
- Tag Aware Sharding
- Enforce Unique Keys for Sharded Collections
- Convert a Replica Set to a Replicated Sharded Cluster
Sharded Cluster Reference¶
Consider the following reference material relevant to sharded cluster use and administration.
- Sharding Commands
- Config Database Contents
- mongos
