# Shard Splits with Consistent Snapshots

DevFeed: [Shard Splits with Consistent Snapshots](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/shard-splits-with-consistent-snapshots-15848.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://developer.squareup.com/blog/shard-splits-with-consistent-snapshots>)

Author: Andrés Taylor

Published: 2018-12-04T17:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Square Corner Blog RSS Feed](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/square-corner-blog-rss-feed.md>)

Topics: [vitess](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/vitess.md>), [MySQL](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/mysql.md>), [Databases](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/databases.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/data.md>), [Algorithm](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/algorithm.md>)

Tags: [algorithm](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/algorithm.md>), [customers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/customers.md>), [database](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/database.md>), [databases](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/databases.md>), [engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/engineering.md>), [locks](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/locks.md>), [mysql](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mysql.md>), [vitess](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/vitess.md>)

## AI overview

This tutorial explains how Square performs gradual MySQL shard splits using Vitess while data continues changing. It covers online cloning, inconsistent destination copies, and consistent snapshots to reduce application impact during the process.

## Source excerpt

How to take a copy of something too large to fit in a single shot