diff --git a/deploy-cluster-aws/awsdeploy.sh b/deploy-cluster-aws/awsdeploy.sh
index b68b0a5e..6290d01e 100755
--- a/deploy-cluster-aws/awsdeploy.sh
+++ b/deploy-cluster-aws/awsdeploy.sh
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ if [ "$WHAT_TO_DEPLOY" == "servers" ]; then
     # this will only be sent to one of the nodes, see the
     # definition of init_bigchaindb() in fabfile.py to see why.
     fab init_bigchaindb
-    fab configure_sharding:$NUM_NODES
+    fab set_shards:$NUM_NODES
 else
     # Deploying clients
     # The only thing to configure on clients is the api_endpoint
diff --git a/deploy-cluster-aws/fabfile.py b/deploy-cluster-aws/fabfile.py
index 581a1c1b..9e4a1d47 100644
--- a/deploy-cluster-aws/fabfile.py
+++ b/deploy-cluster-aws/fabfile.py
@@ -166,10 +166,11 @@ def init_bigchaindb():
     run('bigchaindb init', pty=False)
 
 
+# Set the number of shards (in the backlog and bigchain tables)
 @task
 @hosts(public_dns_names[0])
-def configure_sharding(num_shards):
-    run('bigchaindb sharding {}'.format(num_shards))
+def set_shards(num_shards):
+    run('bigchaindb set-shards {}'.format(num_shards))
 
 
 # Start BigchainDB using screen
diff --git a/docs/source/bigchaindb-cli.md b/docs/source/bigchaindb-cli.md
index 43f8dbb0..ad9fd5a0 100644
--- a/docs/source/bigchaindb-cli.md
+++ b/docs/source/bigchaindb-cli.md
@@ -44,9 +44,9 @@ This command is used to run benchmarking tests. You can learn more about it usin
 $ bigchaindb load -h
 ```
 
-### bigchaindb sharding
+### bigchaindb set-shards
 
-This command is used to configure the number of shards in the underlying datastore, for example:
+This command is used to set the number of shards in the underlying datastore. For example, the following command will set the number of shards to four:
 ```text
-$ bigchaindb sharding 3
+$ bigchaindb set-shards 4
 ```
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/test_commands.py b/tests/test_commands.py
index 4b35edbb..12c1350e 100644
--- a/tests/test_commands.py
+++ b/tests/test_commands.py
@@ -227,11 +227,11 @@ def test_start_rethinkdb_exits_when_cannot_start(mock_popen):
         utils.start_rethinkdb()
 
 
-def test_configure_sharding(b):
+def test_set_shards(b):
     import rethinkdb as r
     from bigchaindb.commands.bigchain import run_set_shards
 
-    # change number of shards
+    # set the number of shards
     args = Namespace(num_shards=3)
     run_set_shards(args)
 
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ def test_configure_sharding(b):
                         .filter(r.row['db'] == b.dbname)
                         .run(b.conn))
 
-    # check shard configuration
+    # check that the number of shards got set to the correct value
     for table in table_config:
         if table['name'] in ['backlog', 'bigchain']:
             assert len(table['shards']) == 3