Clarify Statement

[doyinosin]

The below statement right after the Lookup Strategy image is unclear to me:

The mapping between the shard key and the physical storage can be based on physical shards where each shard key maps to a physical partition

• I presume the 'mapping' here is the indication of which physical storage contains the data associated with respective distinct shard key values. Please confirm.
• Are 'shard', 'partition' and 'storage' used interchangeably? If so, consistent use within the same statement would make it easier to understand. Switching terms might suggest separate concepts are being referenced.
• If interchangeable, I understand:
  • The mapping is between the shard key (distinct value) and a physical shard where each shard key (distinct value) is associated with a physical shard
• Why I specify shard key (distinct value)
• I understand the shard key to be the basis of the scheme by which data is distributed among shards. In certain contexts, it makes more sense to distinguish the shard key (the column/field) from its values. I fail to see how the shard key itself maps to a physical partition. Am I right to think this refers to distinct shard key values instead (not the shard key itself)?

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Document Details

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• ID: 050bb1fd-56ca-63bc-b105-17a56e3b0362
• Version Independent ID: ce84d0a7-3596-e259-dfc3-a9789efd9948
• Content: Sharding pattern - Azure Architecture Center
• Content Source: docs/patterns/sharding.yml
• Service: architecture-center
• Sub-service: azure-guide
• GitHub Login: @martinekuan
• Microsoft Alias: architectures

[AjayBathini-MSFT]

@doyinosin
Thanks for your feedback! We will investigate and update as appropriate.