Question

Database Indexes

I am preparing for interviews and wondering to see if I can collect some consolidated knowledge on database indexes ?

Just wondering if some one can answer or point to appropriate resources for the the following -

Indexing
Types of Indexing
Clustered Indexing
Indexing Algorithms for database
Differences and Advantages and disadvantages of each.

Thank You,
Jagadeesh.

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Asked On
2009-09-24 at 21:08:57ID24760769
Tags

database indexes

Topics

Databases Miscellaneous

,

Oracle 11.x Database

,

Oracle 10.x

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: mrjoltcolaPosted on 2009-09-24 at 21:29:15ID: 25420030

Unless you have some specific questions, the best book I can recommend is "anything by Tom Kyte", I own all of them.

Expert Oracle Database Architecture, Tom Kyte
http://www.amazon.com/Expert-Oracle-Database-Architecture-Programming/dp/1590595300

I promise you, if you order it, wait the 3-4 days for shipping, then spend a couple of evenings reading it, you'll learn all you want to know.

Otherwise some basics.

1) The standard index is the B-Tree
2) Clustered indexing in Oracle is a bit different than other databases. Oracle has Index Organized Tables (IOT) which is akin to SQL Server / Sybase's single table cluster index. It is the ordering of table rows by the index key. In Oracle an index cluster can be a multi-table cluster that stores rows of multiple tables by a shared key (so table joins can actually use a single scan).
3) Hash indexing can result in faster random access, but less efficient in range searches and more storage overhead. B-Tree indexes are ordered by key, so work well for range scans when ordering by the index key. Bitmap indexing works well for low-cardinality columns but are bad for concurrent access and also may need frequent rebuilding after a lot of changes

 

by: mrjoltcolaPosted on 2009-09-24 at 21:31:27ID: 25420039

Also, a great resource is the Oracle Concepts Guide:

Specifically the section on Intro to Indexes
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14220/schema.htm#sthref893

 

by: shru_0409Posted on 2009-09-24 at 23:17:00ID: 25420352

 

by: schwertnerPosted on 2009-09-25 at 00:26:22ID: 25420659

There are some tips (not so known!) about indexing:
1. Indexes speed up SELECT but speed down DML operations
2. When not to use indexes: small tables, more then 2-4% of the rows extracted by the SELECT, rare used SELECT
3. Indexes do not work (are not considered by the Optimizer) prior collecting statistics over the table and the indexes
4. After bulk changes the DBA should collect statistics again

There are other details, but the above mentioned (by the Experts) sources are good base.

 

by: sdstuberPosted on 2009-09-25 at 06:18:03ID: 25422597

I concur with mrjoltcola on Tom Kyte books.

Another great author, particularly on indexes is Richard Foote

http://richardfoote.wordpress.com/articles-demos/

in particular, I recommend this (it's gets pretty deep, but well worth the effort)
http://richardfoote.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/index-internals-rebuilding-the-truth.pdf

 

by: jagadeesh_motamarriPosted on 2009-09-25 at 07:55:21ID: 31633387

The books you pointed out is very helpful and contains all the information i need. I was able to get a pdf version online.

Thank You,
Jagadeesh

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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