Wednesday, 7 September 2011

Partitioned Table and Index Strategies Using SQL Server 2008

Partitioned Table and Index Strategies Using SQL Server 2008


Partitioning makes large tables or indexes more manageable, because partitioning enables you to manage and access subsets of data quickly and efficiently, while maintaining the integrity of a data collection. By using partitioning, an operation such as loading data from an OLTP to an OLAP system takes only seconds, instead of the minutes and hours the operation takes in earlier versions of SQL Server. Maintenance operations that are performed on subsets of data are also performed more efficiently because these operations target only the data that is required, instead of the whole table.



The data of partitioned tables and indexes is divided into units that can be spread across more than one filegroup in a database. The data is partitioned horizontally, so that groups of rows are mapped into individual partitions. The table or index is treated as a single logical entity when queries or updates are performed on the data. All partitions of a single index or table must reside in the same database.
Partitioned tables and indexes support all the properties and features associated with designing and querying standard tables and indexes, including constraints, defaults, identity and timestamp values, and triggers. Therefore, if you want to implement a partitioned view that is local to one server, you might want to implement a partitioned table instead.
Deciding whether to implement partitioning depends primarily on how large your table is or how large it will become, how it is being used, and how well it is performing against user queries and maintenance operations.
Generally, a large table might be appropriate for partitioning if both of the following are true:
  • The table contains, or is expected to contain, lots of data that are used in different ways.
  • Queries or updates against the table are not performing as intended, or maintenance costs exceed predefined maintenance periods.

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190787.aspx


No comments:

Post a Comment