Physical Partition
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Category: Data Modeling & Partitioning
Summary: Underlying infrastructure unit hosting one or more logical partitions.
Overview
A physical partition is the underlying infrastructure unit (a set of compute and storage resources) that Azure Cosmos DB uses to store and serve one or more logical partitions. Azure Cosmos DB automatically manages the number of physical partitions and how logical partitions are mapped to them, splitting physical partitions as storage or throughput needs grow.
More Info & Links
DP-420 Style Practice Questions
Q1. Who is responsible for managing the number and splitting of physical partitions in Azure Cosmos DB?
- A. Azure Cosmos DB automatically manages this
- B. The developer must manually configure physical partitions
- C. Physical partitions are fixed for the lifetime of the container
- D. Physical partitions must be created via a stored procedure
Q2. What is the relationship between logical and physical partitions?
- A. One or more logical partitions are mapped onto a physical partition
- B. A physical partition always maps to exactly one logical partition
- C. Physical partitions exist only for serverless accounts
- D. Logical partitions span multiple physical partitions
Answer Key
Answers are listed at the very end so you can attempt the questions first.
- Q1 (Physical Partition): A. Azure Cosmos DB automatically manages this — Azure Cosmos DB automatically manages physical partitions, splitting them as storage or throughput demands increase.
- Q2 (Physical Partition): A. One or more logical partitions are mapped onto a physical partition — A physical partition can host one or more logical partitions, but a single logical partition's data always resides on one physical partition.
DP-420: Designing and Implementing Cloud-Native Applications Using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB — term detail page
