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How do you design MySQL for horizontal scalability?

Senior MySQL
Quick Answer Horizontal MySQL scaling: read replicas (distribute SELECT queries across multiple replicas). Sharding (split data across multiple MySQL instances by user_id range, geography, or hash). ProxySQL for intelligent query routing. Vitess for automated sharding and replication management at scale. Application-level sharding with consistent hashing. Sharding adds complexity - start with replicas and vertical scaling first.

Answer

Use sharding, replicas, partitioning, and stateless application logic. Avoid cross-shard joins and rely on denormalized or distributed data models.
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