The ring power determines the partition to which each resource (account, container, or object) is mapped. Because the partition is part of the storage path, changing the partition power requires relocating all resources to new paths.

In a heavily populated cluster, a relocation process is time consuming. To avoid downtime, relocate resources while the cluster is still operating. You must do this without temporarily losing access to data or compromising the performance of processes, such as replication and auditing. For assistance with increasing ring partition power, contact Red Hat Support.

When you use separate nodes for the Object Storage service (swift), use a higher partition power value.

The Object Storage service distributes data across disks and nodes by using modified hash rings. There are three rings by default: one for accounts, one for containers, and one for objects. Each ring uses a fixed parameter called partition power. This parameter sets the maximum number of partitions that can be created.