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Partitioned deduplication provides higher scalability and deduplication efficiency by allowing more than one Deduplication Database (DDB) partition to exist within a single deduplication engine. It works by logically dividing signatures between multiple databases. If two deduplication partitions are used, it effectively doubles the size of the deduplication store. Currently Commvault® software supports up to four database partitions.
How Partitioned Databases Work
During data protection jobs, partitioned DDBs and the data protection operation work using the following logic:
- Signature is generated at the source - For primary data protection jobs using client-side deduplication, the source location is the client. For auxiliary DASH copy jobs, the source MediaAgent generates signatures.
- Based on the generated signature it is sent to its respective database. The database compares the signature to determine if the block is duplicate or unique.
- The defined storage policy data path is used to protect data – regardless of which database the signature is compared in, the data path remains consistent throughout the job. If GridStor® Round-Robin has been enabled for the storage policy primary copy, jobs will load balance across MediaAgents.
Partition Deduplication showing data path and signature lookup paths 
Partitioned Databases and Network-Attached Storage (NAS)
If partitioned deduplication is going to be implemented using two MediaAgents, it is recommended to use a shared disk library with a Network-attached Storage (NAS) device. The NAS storage allows either MediaAgent to recover data even if the other MediaAgent is not available.