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
A network switch (also called switching hub, bridging hub, Ethernet switch, and, by the IEEE, MAC bridge) is networking hardware that connects devices on a computer network by using packet switching to receive and forward data to the destinat ...
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.
External links
Partition of the Large Network doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.20183.06565/6
References
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Hardware partitioning
Networking hardware
Decomposition methods