Implementation Techniques for Main Memory Database Systems

摘要

With the availability of very large, relatively inexpensive main memories, it is becoming possible to keep large databases resident in main memory. This paper considers the changes necessary to permit a relational database system to take advantage of large amounts of main memory. The authors evaluate AVL vs. B+- tree access methods for main memory databases, hash-based query processing strategies vs. sort-merge, and study recovery issues when most or all of the database fits in main memory. As expected, B+- trees are the preferred storage mechanism unless more than 80-90% of the database fits in main memory. A somewhat surprising result is that hash based query processing strategies are advantageous for large memory situations. Keywords: Access; Algorithms. (Author)