Partitioning stores related groups of data in physical proximity to improve the performance of queries likely to require that data. To satisfy a query, Vantage can use partition elimination to limit data searches to partitions containing data relevant to the query.
A row-partitioned table assigns rows to a particular partition within an AMP based on the value of a user-defined partitioning expression that defines how to group the rows for storage (horizontal partitioning). The partitioning expression is defined when a table is created or altered.
Tables without primary indexes can also be partitioned by column (vertical partitioning). Column partitioning stores sets of one or more columns in separate partitions. Column partitioning can improve performance for some queries by searching only columns relevant to the queries.