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## Unplanned Network Partitions

A shard can be split into two, non-communicating networks. Such an event can occur when a piece of network hardware, such as a router, fails in some way that divides the shard. The store’s response to such an event depends on how the network partition divides the shard’s Replication Nodes as in these three cases:

A single Replication Node is isolated from the rest of the shard. If the Replication Node is a read-only replica, the shard continues operating as normal, but without the read throughput capacity caused by the loss of a single machine. See Loss of a Read-Only Replica Node for more details.

A single Replication Node becomes isolated from the rest of the shard. If the Replication Node is a master, the shard handles the event in the same way as if it had lost a master. The shard holds an election to select a new master and then continues operating as normal. See Loss of a Read/Write Master for further information.

The new network partition divides the shard into two or more groups of machines. In this case, there will be at least one minority node partition. A minority node partition contains less than a majority of the Replication Nodes in the shard. There could also be a majority node partition. A majority node partition has the majority of nodes in the shard —. However, a majority node partition is not a given, especially if the new network partition creates more than two sets of Replication Nodes.

How failover is handled in this scenario depends on whether a majority node partition does exist, and if the master exists in that partition. There are also other issues to consider, such as the durability and consistency policies that were in use at the time the new network partition was created.