Property Sharding in Infinigraph: Smarter Scaling for Rich Graph Databases

Neo4j introduces property sharding as a solution for scaling rich graph databases without compromising performance or ease of use. As graph datasets grow to include billions of nodes and relationships, the properties associated with these elements become a scalability bottleneck. Property sharding addresses this by distributing properties across multiple database shards while maintaining the integrity of the graph structure. This method allows for efficient management of nodes and relationships with extensive property payloads, ensuring that operations remain ACID compliant and transparent to users through standard Cypher queries. The system operates within an autonomous cluster using a Raft group to manage graph shards and property shards independently, enhancing high availability and operational flexibility. However, the initial version lacks automatic rebalancing, which will be introduced later, and the solution is most effective for property-heavy graphs. Property sharding is currently available in Neo4j's Early Access Program for users dealing with significant property workloads.