A network partition is a division of a computer network into relatively independent subnets, either by design, to optimize them separately, or due to the failure of network devices. Distributed software must be designed to be partition-tolerant, that is, even after the network is partitioned, it still works correctly.
For example, in a network with multiple subnets where nodes A and B are located in one subnet and nodes C and D are in another, a partition occurs if the network switch device between the two subnets fails. In that case nodes A and B can no longer communicate with nodes C and D, but all nodes A-D work the same as before.
As a CAP trade-off
The CAP theorem is based on three trade-offs: consistency, availability, and partition tolerance. Partition tolerance, in this context, means the ability of a data processing system to continue processing data even if a network partition causes communication errors between subsystems.1
External links
- Partition of the Large Network doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.20183.06565/6
References
Stonebraker, Michael (April 5, 2010). "Errors in Database Systems, Eventual Consistency, and the CAP Theorem". Communications of the ACM. http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/83396-errors-in-database-systems-eventual-consistency-and-the-cap-theorem/fulltext ↩