Adjusting Extension Size of a Database Table Using a Volatile Database Table Attribute

• US 20160171000A1
• Filed: 12/10/2014
• Published: 06/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Konik, Rafal P., Mittelstadt, Roger A., Muras, Brian R., Theuer, Mark W.
• Granted Patent: US 10,078,640 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/116 Details of conversion of file system types or formats
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/119 Details of migration of file systems migration mechanisms in storage systems G06F3/0647
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/219 Managing data history or versioning querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2282 Tablespace storage structures; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2393 Updating materialised views
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24542 Plan optimisation

Abstract

A respective volatility attribute associated with each of one or more tables of a computerized database is used to adjust an extension file size value associated with a database table file space. Various optional additional uses of a volatility attribute to manage a database are disclosed. Preferably, database parameters are automatically monitored over time and database table volatility state is automatically determined and periodically adjusted.

Claims

1. A method for managing a computerized database, comprising the following executed by at least one computer system:

storing at least one respective volatility attribute for each of at least one database table of said computerized database, each volatility attribute expressing volatility of at least a portion of a respective database table of said computerized database;

determining an extension file size of at least a portion of a first database table of said at least one database table of said computerized database using the at least one volatility attribute corresponding to the first database table

responsive to a need to increase the file size allocation of the at least a portion of the first database table, increasing the file size allocation of the at least a portion of the first database table by the amount of the extension file size determined by said determining an extension file size of at least a portion of a first database table.

2. The method for managing a computerized database of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring at least one respective parameter of each said database table of said computerized database over at least one time interval and saving monitored parameter data with respect to the respective database table; and

determining a respective volatility state of each said database table using the saved monitored parameter data to automatically generate said at least one respective volatility attribute for each said database table.

3. The method for managing a computerized database of claim 2, further comprising:

computing a respective figure of merit representing volatility of the at least a portion of the respective database table for each of said at least one time interval.

4. The method for managing a computerized database of claim 1, wherein said computerized database supports the SQL database language and said at least volatility attribute comprises an SQL VOLATILE attribute.

5. The method for managing a computerized database of claim 1, wherein said determining an extension file size of at least a portion of a first database table of said at least one database table of said computerized database using the at least one volatility attribute corresponding to the first database table comprises:

determining an initial extension file size of the at least a portion of a first database table for use when the at least a portion of a first database table is first extended; and

subsequently adjusting said initial extension file size of the at least a portion of a first database table after the at least a portion of a first database table is first extended to produce an adjusted extension file size for use in one or more subsequent extensions;

wherein at least one of the initial extension file size and the adjusted extension file size is determined using the at least one volatility attribute corresponding to the first database table.

6. The method for managing a computerized database of claim 5, wherein said determining an initial extension file size of the at least a portion of a first database table is performed using at least one quantitative volatility attribute.

7. The method for managing a computerized database of claim 5, wherein said subsequently adjusting said initial extension file size of the at least a portion of a first database table is performed using a change in volatility from a previous value of the at least one volatility attribute to a current value of the at least one volatility attribute corresponding to the first database table.

8. The method for managing a computerized database of claim 5, wherein said subsequently adjusting said initial extension file size of the at least a portion of a first database table is performed using a combination of:

(a) a time elapsed since a previous extension of the at least a portion of a first database table; and

(b) at least one volatility attribute corresponding to the first database table.

9. The method for managing a computerized database of claim 1, further comprising:

with respect to each of one or more at least a portion of a database table of said at least one database table of said computerized database, receiving a user input specifying whether extension size of the respective at least a portion of a database table is to be manually specified or automatically determined by said at least one computer system; and

wherein determining an extension file size of at least a portion of a database table of said at least one database table of said computerized database using at least one volatility attribute corresponding to the database table is performed only if said user input specifies that the extension size of the respective at least a portion of a database table is to be automatically determined.

10. The method for managing a computerized database of claim 1, wherein said volatility attribute comprises a quantitative value.

11-20. -20. (canceled)