Media / Content

MongoDB sharding rebuild for a content platform

Template engagement: shard-key redesign for a 1.4 TB MongoDB cluster, eliminating jumbo chunks and balancing write load across all shards.

Representative engagement template — replace with a publishable client narrative when ready.

The original shard key concentrated writes on the most recent calendar period, producing jumbo chunks every quarter. We modeled the access pattern, proposed a hashed shard key over a stable composite, and rehearsed the live re-shard against a staging copy of the cluster.

Before and after performance comparison

Outcomes

  • Hashed shard key replaced range key
  • Live re-sharding rehearsed in staging
  • Cutover ran with zero application downtime