System Design – Sharding
Practice system design interview questions focused on sharding. Cover horizontal partitioning, shard keys, and trade-offs. Answer questions and receive feedback on clarity and reasoning. Ideal for software engineer system design prep. First 2 questions are free with full feedback.
- Level Intermediate
- Questions 12
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Sample system design – sharding interview questions
Preview 6 questions from this track in quiz order. In the full quiz you answer one at a time — type or speak — then get a score and feedback.
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What is database sharding?
What a strong answer includes
Horizontal partitioning of data across multiple databases.
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Why would you shard a database?
What a strong answer includes
Scale beyond a single machine.
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What is a shard key?
What a strong answer includes
The field used to determine which shard holds a row.
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How do you choose a good shard key?
What a strong answer includes
High cardinality and even distribution.
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What is a hotspot in sharding?
What a strong answer includes
One shard receives disproportionate traffic.
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Explain range-based vs hash-based sharding.
What a strong answer includes
Range can create hotspots; hash distributes more evenly.