Importance

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Abstract

The system, method, and program product of this invention allows a database management system to internally use direct and indirect pointing to locate targeted data elements that are logically related to another data element or are a target of a secondary index. By using direct and indirect pointing, the number of steps involved in a reorganization of the database can be reduced. After a reorganization, the database management system does not go back, in a separate process, to update all of the direct pointers that have pointed to segments that have moved as a result of the reorganization. Instead, the direct pointer is updated, by using the indirect pointer, only upon a first reference to the targeted data element that has moved. As such, each data element, that points to a targeted data element, has a direct pointer associated with it having a unique identifier of the targeted data element, assigned by the DBMS at the time a data element is created, a partition id of the targeted segment, a reorganization number, and a pointer to a location of the targeted data element. Each targeted data element has an entry in an indirect index where the unique identifier is the key into the index. Each entry is updated, with a new location, whenever the targeted data element is moved. The DBMS also maintains, in memory, a current reorganization number for each partition. Upon reference to a targeted element, the reorganization number in memory is compared with the reorganization number in the direct pointer. If they match, the direct pointer is used to locate the targeted element. If they do not match, the indirect index is used by indexing into it by using the unique id in the direct pointer. The current location and current reorg number from the indirect index are used to update the direct pointer. The direct pointer can then be used, directly, to locate the targeted data element on subsequent references until a next reorganization involves the targeted data segment.

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First Claim