In the context of the CAP Theorem, a partition refers to a network failure that results in the loss of communication between nodes in a distributed system. This means that the system is split into multiple isolated sub-systems that cannot communicate with each other. Despite these partitions, the system must continue to operate and provide service, which is known as partition tolerance.
Partition tolerance is crucial because network partitions are inevitable in distributed systems due to various reasons such as network congestion, hardware failures, or software bugs. A system that is partition-tolerant can continue to function and uphold its availability and consistency guarantees even when some nodes ...
