Partitioning refers to splitting what is logically one large table into smaller physical pieces. Partitioning can provide several benefits: • Query performance can be improved dramatically in certain situations, particularly when most of the heavily accessed rows of the table are in a single partition or a small number of partitions. • When queries or updates access a large percentage of a single partition, performance can be improved by taking advantage of sequential scan of that partition instead of using an index and random access reads scattered across the whole table. • Bulk loads and deletes can be accomplished by adding or removing partitions, if that requirement is planned into the partitioning design. Doing ALTER TABLE DETACH PARTITION or dropping an individual partition using DROP TABLE is far faster than a bulk operation. These commands also entirely avoid the VACUUM overhead caused by a bulk DELETE. • Seldom-used data can be migrated to cheaper and slower...