--- title: Distributed Databases: An Overview | daily.dev description: Distributed databases store data across multiple networked nodes managed as a single logical system. Two primary architectures exist: primary/secondary... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/distributed-databases-an-overview-lt971mfq9 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Distributed Databases: An Overview | daily.dev og:description: Distributed databases store data across multiple networked nodes managed as a single logical system. Two primary architectures exist: primary/secondary... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/distributed-databases-an-overview-lt971mfq9 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/lt971MfQ9.png og:image:alt: Distributed Databases: An Overview og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Distributed Databases: An Overview **[Couchbase](https://daily.dev/sources/couchbase)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Distributed databases store data across multiple networked nodes managed as a single logical system. Two primary architectures exist: primary/secondary (master/slave), where one node handles all writes with secondaries as read replicas, and shared-nothing, where data is partitioned across all nodes for linear write and read scalability. Shared-nothing systems use sharding to split data into partitions distributed across nodes, with replicas maintained for high availability. Relational databases struggle with distribution due to tightly coupled table structures, making NoSQL a common choice for clustered deployments. Couchbase implements shared-nothing architecture using 1024 vBuckets per bucket, each assigned as active and replica copies across nodes, with a vBucket map enabling SDK clients to route requests directly to the correct node without a central proxy. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Distributed Database Explained for Real-Time Analytics](https://daily.dev/posts/distributed-database-explained-for-real-time-analytics-epsz9pgvy) · CrateDB · 4 upvotes · 0 comments - [Scaling the data storage layer in system design](https://daily.dev/posts/scaling-the-data-storage-layer-in-system-design-80lqs6gec) · The Polymathic Engineer · 16 upvotes · 0 comments - [Breaking the ‘Shared-Nothing’ Bottleneck: A NoSQL Paradigm](https://daily.dev/posts/breaking-the-shared-nothing-bottleneck-a-nosql-paradigm-c9mlxsjts) · The New Stack · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Database Sharding: How It Works and When You Actually Need It](https://daily.dev/posts/database-sharding-how-it-works-and-when-you-actually-need-it-wbf2g1gif) · Last9 · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#nosql](https://daily.dev/tags/nosql), [#couchbase](https://daily.dev/tags/couchbase) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/distributed-databases-an-overview-lt971mfq9) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Distributed Databases: An Overview","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/distributed-databases-an-overview-lt971mfq9","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/distributed-databases-an-overview-lt971mfq9"},"datePublished":"2026-07-09T07:51:54.018Z","dateModified":"2026-07-09T07:52:46.920Z","description":"Distributed databases store data across multiple networked nodes managed as a single logical system. 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