What does “Region” in HBase refer to?

In HBase, a Region refers to the basic unit for storing data. Each HBase table is divided into multiple Regions, with each Region responsible for storing a portion of the table’s data. The size of a Region is dynamically adjusted based on data growth and workload, leading to splitting and merging. Each Region is managed and handles data operations by a designated Region Server.

The splitting and merging of Regions in HBase is automatically done by monitoring the data size and load of Regions. This allows HBase to dynamically adjust the number and size of Regions to achieve load balancing and efficient data storage. By splitting and merging Regions, HBase can achieve horizontal scalability and high availability to ensure the security and reliability of data.