AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL:Terms

The following table lists the basic terms of AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL.

Term	Description
Massively Parallel Processing (MPP)	A distributed shared-nothing computing architecture. MPP uses a large number of nodes that do not share resources with each other to perform parallel computing and improve performance. An AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL instance is composed of multiple compute nodes in the MPP architecture.
compute node	The unit for allocating resources in AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL. An instance is composed of multiple compute nodes. When the number of compute nodes increases, the storage capacity scales out but the query response time does not change. A compute node is a unit of computing resources that includes fixed CPU cores, memory, and storage. Each compute node contains a data partition in the MPP architecture.
number of compute nodes	The number of compute nodes purchased for an instance. A single instance supports up to 4,096 nodes. The storage capacity and computing resources of instances increase linearly with the number of compute nodes.
data distribution	Table data is distributed in different data partitions by partition key. A data partition is a unit for computing and storing data in the MPP architecture. Common data distribution methods include hash distribution, random distribution, and replication distribution.