Blockchain Sharding: What is it and Its Significance?

Sharding is a partitioning concept that we heard of related to database management systems. But this concept also holds a significant role in the world of Blockchain. How? We'll dig deeper into this topic today here. But before moving on to the actual topic, let me remind you about the last article where we discussed another interesting topic of Blockchain technology i.e., Blockchain Gas Fee, which you can read here. Sharding, basically means partitioning databases into smaller and more manageable parts and yes, it is quite similar to fragmentation. But you might be wondering, how is it significant for technology like Blockchain. Let's get started, and get to know all about it today! ?

What is Sharding in Blockchain?

Sharding is a type of technique of database partitioning technique that is used by Blockchain companies to scale up its scalability and manageability. It helps in managing more transactions per second due to smaller and more manageable fragments. But Blockchain is not just a collection of data such as a database and is a network of immutable, decentralized, and distributed ledgers. So sharding in Blockchain refers to partitioning the whole network into smaller networks, known as "shards".?One shard is uniquely identified among other existing shards due to the unique data it stores.

In short, Sharding is a database partitioning technique that is used to divide a blockchain network into smaller shards so that each node doesn't need to carry the load of managing the transactions of the entire network. The best use case of Blockchain Sharding is the Ethereum network because it was designed with the fundamentals to create a platform that can foster an ecosystem to host, grow as well as manage decentralized apps. Having said that, there is no denying the fact that Ethereum was developed with a vision beyond just developing new currencies.?

The Working of Sharding

Sharding allows the distribution of data storage requirements by dividing the given network into smaller modules that involve a few essential components and features as explained in the points further.?

Nodes

Nodes are autonomous entities that store the data of the given decentralized network and each node process the transaction volume of the network. We can understand Blockchain is a network of shared databases and distributed ledgers. As more & more data is added, sharding can be quite helpful in maintaining the scalability of the network.??

Horizontal Partitioning?

In horizontal partitioning, the rows are divided into sections and each section (known as shards) is uniquely identified by its feature. Also, partitioning is done as per the type of data or digital assets stored in them.

The Significance of Sharding

Given the basic architecture of Blockchain technology, the network can only process a limited number of transactions as all the nodes are required to establish a consensus on the validity of a transaction before its processing. The significance of Sharding can be well understood by the following advantages of the same.

1. Better Accessibility?

Sharding facilitates better accessibility to users by increasing network usage due to accurate partitioning of the given network. The process of sharding eventually reduces the need for hardware to run the client, which in turn leads to enhanced participation of more individuals.??

2. Data Compression?

The process of Sharding allows network nodes to not download the whole history of the blockchain. And hence, it improves the network performance to a great extent. Sharding comes with the added benefit of expanding its usage to a wide number of users.?

3. Scalability?

Scalability is another crucial advantage of Sharding. With the use of Sharding, a blockchain network can link additional nodes and store a wide set of information.?

Final Words

In this article, we learned what is sharding and how is it significant for a blockchain world. But it is vital to note that Sharding is not a hard & fast solution for network stability. Although it comes with various benefits and scalability is one of them, developers are still working on various aspects to obtain scalability in the true sense.?You should also be aware of the fact that Sharding is still in its testing phase and there are plenty of details that need to be addressed before considering this concept an ultimate solution.?