Improve the performance of relational databases with indexes designed for today's hardware
Over the last few years, hardware and software have advanced beyond all recognition, so it's hardly surprising that relational database performance now receives much less attention. Unfortunately, the reality is that the improved hardware hasn't kept pace with the ever-increasing quantity of data processed today. Although disk packing densities have increased enormously, making storage costs extremely low and sequential read very fast, random reads are still painfully slow. Many of the old design recommendations are therefore no longer valid—the optimal point of indexing has come a long way. Consequently many of the old problems haven't actually gone away—they have simply changed their appearance.
This book provides an easy but effective approach to the design of indexes and tables. Using lots of examples and case studies, the authors describe how the DB2, Oracle, and SQL Server optimizers determine how to access data, and how CPU and response times for the resulting access paths can be quickly estimated. This enables comparisons to be made of the various designs, and helps you choose available choices for the most appropriate design.
This book is intended for anyone who wants to understand the issues of SQL performance or how to design tables and indexes effectively. With this title, readers with many years of experience of relational systems will be able to better grasp the implications that have been brought into play by the introduction of new hardware.
About the Author
TAPIO LAHDENMÄKI, MSc, consults on database performance and teaches product-independent index design courses. He worked for IBM for more than thirty years as a database specialist and was IBM's principal author of the company's global courses for DB2 (for z/OS) performance.
MICHAEL LEACH, BSc, is a relational database consultant. He retired from IBM with twenty years' experience teaching application and database classes at IBM locations worldwide. Both authors have seen their material translated into many languages for widespread use. Their approach to index design has been successfully applied in numerous performance-critical systems.
