The response.xml silent file is written by the installation process when recording a sharded installation. The file specifies the database account information for each of the allowable data tables that you use: Metadata, Statistics, System Configuration, Master, and Transaction.
It also shows parameters for specifying multiple passwords and their effective dates so that you can predefine passwords for a given pool months in advance. These passwords will change automatically without a server restart.
In a sharded database installation, you must deploy the same database vendor and version across deployments.
Silent install file parameters explains the sharded parameters in response.xml.