Index Building Concurrent with Table Modifications and Supporting Long Values

• US 20150100557A1
• Filed: 10/09/2013
• Published: 04/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sybase Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Sybase Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Inventors: GOLOD, Daniil, Bumbulis, Peter, Smirnios, John, Goel, Anil Kumar
• Granted Patent: US 9,424,297 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/696
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2272 Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2343 Locking methods, e.g. distributed locking or locking implementation details
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24558 Binary matching operations

Abstract

Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for constructing an index for a database table. An index that comprises a data structure may be created. The index can then be populated with data from the database table. When a request to modify the database table is received, the method may determine that the request to modify the database table relates to a portion of the database table corresponding to a portion of the index that has yet to be populated. An entry indicating the requested modification can be inserted into the portion of the index that has yet to be populated.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

populating an index with data from a database table;

determining, responsive to receipt of a requested modification to the database table while populating the index, that the requested modification is to a portion of the database table corresponding to a portion of the index that has yet to be populated; and

inserting an entry in the portion of the index that has yet to be populated to indicate the requested modification.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second request to modify the database table;

determining that the second request to modify the database table relates to a portion of the database table corresponding to a portion of the index that has already been populated; and

updating the portion of the index that has already been populated with information relating to the second requested modification.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

temporarily locking the database table prior to populating the index with data from the database table.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein populating the index with data from the database table comprises:

identifying a portion of the database table yet to be indexed; and

determining whether a corresponding entry for the identified portion of the database table to be indexed already exists in the index.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

performing no operation on the index corresponding to the identified portion of the database table when it is determined that a corresponding entry exists in the index.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

deleting, in response to determining that a corresponding entry already exists in the index, the corresponding entry from the index.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the modification comprises deleting a row from the database table.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the inserted entry comprises an indication that the row of the database table is to be deleted.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the modification comprises adding a row to the database table.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the entry comprises indexing information for the added row of the database table.

11. A database system, comprising:

a data storage comprising a database table; and

a database management entity configured to;

populate an index with data from the database table;

receive a request to modify the database table;

determine, responsive to a receiving a requested modification to the database table while populating the index, that the requested modification relates to a portion of the database table corresponding to a portion of the index that has yet to be populated; and

insert an entry in the portion of the index that has yet to be populated to indicate the requested modification.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the database management entity is further configured to:

receive a second request to modify the database table;

determine that the second request to modify the database table relates to a portion of the database table corresponding to a portion of the index that has already been populated; and

update the portion of the index that has already been populated with information relating to the second requested modification.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the database management entity is further configured to:

temporarily lock the database table prior to populating the index with data from the database table.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the database management entity is configured to populate by:

identifying a portion of the database table to be indexed; and

determining whether a corresponding entry for the identified portion of the database table to be indexed already exists in the index.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the database management entity is configured to perform no operation on the index corresponding to the identified portion of the database table when it is determined that a corresponding entry exists in the index.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the database management entity is configured to add data to the index that corresponds to the identified portion of the database table when it is determined that no corresponding entry exists in the index.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the modification comprises deleting a row from the database table.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the database entity is configured to insert an entry that comprises an indication that the row of the database table is to be deleted.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the modification comprises adding a row to the database table.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the database management entity is configured to insert an entry that comprises indexing information for the added row of the database table.

21. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform process steps, comprising:

populating an index with data from a database table;

determining, responsive to receipt of a requested modification to the database table while populating the index, that the requested modification is to a portion of the database table corresponding to a portion of the index that has yet to be populated; and

inserting an entry in the portion of the index that has yet to be populated to indicate the requested modification.