Temporal splitting might yield better results and changing the granularity (years/quarters/months...) is easier to manage than with things like country of origin. The partitioning/joining logic remains the same, all that changes is a few parameters in the code module that handles it, and a few filenames known only to this module and the DBA. ;-) Temporal splitting also makes it very easy to use split criteria that are independent from the partition keying logic - you could set a new split whenever the youngest partition has grown to 700 MB, for example (to allow CD-ROM archival).

Also, it works very well for phasing out data that is no longer needed. Simply unregister the tables by bumping up the StartOfTimeAsWeKnowIt value in the network master config table/.ini and wait for the last client to let go of the tables in question ...

We have several such 'virtual' tables - the largest about 80 GB - and it works like a charm. However, partitioning cannot help you if a single query result approaches or exceeds the 2 GB. But if that happens then you will have probably have a number of other problems anyway. *g*