CH 12 Updated
CH 12 Updated
Ordered Indices
● In an ordered index, index entries are stored on the search key value. E.g., author
catalog in library.
● Primary index: in a sequentially ordered file, the index whose search key specifies
the sequential order of the file.
● Also called clustering index
● The search key of a primary index is usually but not necessarily the primary key.
● Secondary index: an index whose search key specifies an order different from the
sequential order of the file. Also called non-clustering index.
● Index-sequential file: ordered sequential file with a primary index.
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Dense Index Files
● Dense index — Index record appears for every search-key value in the file. In the following
example, indexing is done on the branch_name field, therefore index entry for each unique
branch_name will be created and the each index entry will point to the first record occurrence of
that branch.
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Sparse Index Files
● Sparse Index: contains index records for only some search-key values.
● Applicable when records are sequentially ordered on search-key
● To locate a record with search-key value K we:
● Find index record with largest search-key value < K
● Search file sequentially starting at the record to which the index record points
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Sparse Index Files (Cont.)
● Compared to dense indices:
● Less space and less maintenance overhead for insertions and deletions.
● Generally slower than dense index for locating records.
● Good tradeoff: sparse index with an index entry for every block in file,
corresponding to least search-key value in the block.
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Multilevel Index
● If primary index does not fit in memory, access becomes expensive.
● Solution: treat primary index kept on disk as a sequential file and construct
a sparse index on it.
● outer index – a sparse index of primary index
● inner index – the primary index file
● If even outer index is too large to fit in main memory, yet another level of
index can be created, and so on.
● Indices at all levels must be updated on insertion or deletion from the file.
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Multilevel Index (Cont.)
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Index Update: Deletion
● If deleted record was the only record in the file with its particular search-key value, the
search-key is deleted from the index also.
● Single-level index deletion:
● Dense indices – deletion of search-key: similar to file record deletion.
● Sparse indices –
if an entry for the search key exists in the index, it is deleted by replacing the
entry in the index with the next search-key value in the file (in search-key
order). For ex., if the index entry of search-key “Brighton” is removed, it is
replaced with index entry for the next search-key “Downtown”.
If the next search-key value already has an index entry, the entry is deleted
instead of being replaced.
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Index Update: Insertion
● Single-level index insertion:
● Perform a lookup using the search-key value appearing in the record to be
inserted.
● Dense indices – if the search-key value does not appear in the index, insert it.
● Sparse indices – if index stores an entry for each block of the file, no change
needs to be made to the index unless a new block is created.
If a new block is created, the first search-key value appearing in the new
block is inserted into the index.
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Secondary Indices
● Frequently, one wants to find all the records whose values in a certain field
(which is not the search-key of the primary index) satisfy some condition.
● Example 1: In the account relation stored sequentially by account number, we
may want to find all accounts in a particular branch
● Example 2: as above, but where we want to find all accounts with a specified
balance or range of balances
● We can have a secondary index with an index record for each search-key value
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Secondary Indices Example
● Index record points to a bucket that contains pointers to all the actual records with
that particular search-key value.
● Secondary indices have to be dense (i.e., index entry required for each
unique search key value.)
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Primary and Secondary Indices
● Indices offer substantial benefits when searching for records.
● BUT: Updating indices imposes overhead on database modification --when a file is
modified, every index on the file must be updated,
● Sequential scan using primary index is efficient, but a sequential scan using a
secondary index is expensive because
● Each record access may fetch a new block from disk
● Block fetch requires about 5 to 10 milliseconds
versus about 100 nanoseconds for memory access
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B+-Tree Index Files
● B+-tree indices are an alternative to indexed-sequential files.
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B+-Tree Index Files (Cont.)
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B+-Tree Node Structure
● Typical node
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Leaf Nodes in B+-Trees
Properties of a leaf node:
● For i = 1, 2, . . ., n–1, pointer Pi either points to a file record with search-key value Ki,
or to a bucket of pointers to file records, each record having search-key value Ki. Only
need bucket structure if search-key does not form a primary key.
● If Li, Lj are leaf nodes and i < j, Li’s search-key values are less than Lj’s search-key
values
● Pn points to next leaf node in search-key order
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Non-Leaf Nodes in B+-Trees
● Non leaf nodes form a multi-level sparse index on the leaf nodes. For a non-leaf
node with m pointers:
● All the search-keys in the subtree to which P1 points are less than K1
● For 2 ≤ i ≤ n – 1, all the search-keys in the subtree to which Pi points have
values greater than or equal to Ki–1 and less than Ki
● All the search-keys in the subtree to which Pn points have values greater than or
equal to Kn–1
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Example of a B+-tree
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Example of B+-tree
● Leaf nodes must have between 2 and 4 values ((n–1)/2 and n –1, with n
= 5).
● Non-leaf nodes other than root must have between 3 and 5 children
((n/2) and n with n =5).
● Root must have at least 2 children.
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Observations about B+-trees
● Since the inter-node connections are done by pointers, “logically” close blocks need
not be “physically” close.
● The non-leaf levels of the B+-tree form a hierarchy of sparse indices.
● The B+-tree contains a relatively small number of levels
Level below root has at least 2* ⎡n/2⎤ values
Next level has at least 2* ⎡n/2⎤ * ⎡n/2⎤ values
.. etc.
● If there are K search-key values in the file, the tree height is no more than ⎡
log⎡n/2⎤(K)⎤
● thus searches can be conducted efficiently.
● Insertions and deletions to the main file can be handled efficiently, as the index can
be restructured in logarithmic time (as we shall see).
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Queries on B+-Trees
● Find all records with a search-key value of k.
1. N=root
2. Repeat
1.Examine N for the smallest search-key value > k.
2.If such a value exists, assume it is Ki. Then set N = Pi
3.Otherwise k ≥ Kn–1. Set N = Pn
Until N is a leaf node
3. If for some i, key Ki = k follow pointer Pi to the desired record or bucket.
4. Else no record with search-key value k exists.
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Queries on B+-Trees (Cont.)
● If there are K search-key values in the file, the height of the tree is no
more than log⎡n/2⎤(K).
● A node is generally the same size as a disk block, typically 4 kilobytes and n is
typically around 100 (Order-100 tree). With 1 million search key values
(k=1,000,000) and n = 100 at most log50(1,000,000) = 4 nodes are accessed in a
lookup.
● Contrast this with a balanced binary tree (B tree) with 1 million search key values
— around 20 nodes are accessed in a lookup
● above difference is significant since every node access may need a disk I/O,
costing around 20 milliseconds
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Updates on B+-Trees: Insertion
1. Find the leaf node in which the search-key value would appear
2. If the search-key value is already present in the leaf node
1. Add record to the file
2. If necessary add a pointer to the bucket.
3. If the search-key value is not present, then
1. add the record to the main file (and create a bucket if necessary)
2. If there is room in the leaf node, insert (key-value, pointer) pair in the
leaf node
3. Otherwise, split the node (along with the new (key-value, pointer) entry)
as discussed in the next slide.
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Updates on B+-Trees: Insertion (Cont.)
Mianus
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Multiple-Key Access
● Use multiple indices (different indices created for different fields) for certain types
of queries.
● Example:
select account_number
from account
where branch_name = “Perryridge” and balance = 1000
● Possible strategies for processing a query using indices on single attributes:
1. Use index on branch_name to find accounts with branch name Perryridge; test
balance = 1000
2. Use index on balance to find accounts with balances of $1000; test
branch_name = “Perryridge”.
3. Use branch_name index to find pointers to all records pertaining to the
Perryridge branch. Similarly use index on balance. Take intersection of both
sets of pointers obtained.
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Indices on Multiple Keys
● Composite search keys are search keys containing more than one attribute
● E.g. (branch_name, balance)
● Lexicographic (alphabetic) ordering: (a1, a2) < (b1, b2) if either
● a1 < b1, or
● a1=b1 and a2 < b2
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Indices on Multiple Attributes
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Hashing
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Static Hashing
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Example of Hash File Organization
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Example of Hash File Organization
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Hash Functions
● Worst hash function maps all search-key values to the same bucket; this makes
access time proportional to the number of search-key values in the file.
● An ideal hash function is uniform, i.e., each bucket is assigned the same number of
search-key values from the set of all possible values.
● Ideal hash function is random, so each bucket will have the same number of records
assigned to it irrespective of the actual distribution of search-key values in the file.
● Typical hash functions perform computation on the internal binary representation of
the search-key.
● For example, for a string search-key, the binary representations of all the
characters in the string could be added and the sum modulo the number of
buckets could be returned.
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Handling of Bucket Overflows
● Bucket overflow can occur because of
● Insufficient buckets
● Skew in distribution of records. This can occur due to two reasons:
• multiple records have same search-key value
• chosen hash function produces non-uniform distribution of key values
● Although the probability of bucket overflow can be reduced, it cannot be
eliminated; it is handled by using overflow buckets.
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Handling of Bucket Overflows (Cont.)
● Overflow chaining – the overflow buckets of a given bucket are chained together in a
linked list.
● Above scheme is called closed hashing which is suitable for database applications because of frequent
insert/delete operations.
• An alternative, called open hashing, which does not use overflow buckets, is suitable
to construct symbol tables for compilers and assemblers because they perform only
search and insertion operations on their symbol tables. If a bucket is full, the system
inserts records in the next bucket (in cyclic order) that has space.
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Hash Indices
● Hashing can be used not only for file organization, but also for index-structure
creation.
● A hash index organizes the search keys, with their associated record pointers, into
a hash file structure.
● Strictly speaking, hash indices are always secondary indices
● if the file itself is organized using hashing, a separate primary hash index on it
using the same search-key is unnecessary.
● However, we use the term hash index to refer to both secondary index
structures and hash organized files.
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Example of Hash Index
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Deficiencies of Static Hashing
● In static hashing, function h maps search-key values to a fixed set of B of bucket
addresses. Databases grow or shrink with time.
● If initial number of buckets is too small, and file grows, performance will degrade
due to too much overflows.
● If space is allocated for anticipated growth, a significant amount of space will be
wasted initially (and buckets will be underfull).
● If database shrinks, again space will be wasted.
● One solution: periodic re-organization of the file with a new hash function
● Expensive, disrupts normal operations
● Better solution: allow the number of buckets to be modified dynamically.
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Dynamic Hashing
● Good for database that grows and shrinks in size
● Allows the hash function to be modified dynamically
● Extendable hashing – one form of dynamic hashing
● Hash function generates values over a large range — typically b-bit integers, with
b = 32.
● At any time use only a prefix of the hash function to index into a table of bucket
addresses.
● Let the length of the prefix be i bits, 0 ≤ i ≤ 32.
• Bucket address table size = 2i. Initially i = 0
• Value of i grows and shrinks as the size of the database grows and shrinks.
● Multiple entries in the bucket address table (pointers) may point to single bucket
(why?)
● Thus, actual number of buckets is < 2i
• The number of buckets also changes dynamically due to merging and splitting
of buckets.
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General Extendable Hash Structure
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Insertion in Extendable Hash Structure (Cont)
To split a bucket j when inserting record with search-key value Kj:
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Example (Cont.)
Hash structure after insertion of Mianus record
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Example (Cont.)
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Example (Cont.)
● Hash structure after insertion of Redwood and Round Hill records
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Extendable Hashing vs. Other Schemes
● Benefits of extendable hashing:
● Hash performance does not degrade with growth of file
● Minimal space overhead
● Disadvantages of extendable hashing
● Extra level of indirection to find desired record
● Bucket address table may itself become very big (larger than memory)
• Cannot allocate very large contiguous areas on disk either
• Solution: B+-tree structure to locate desired record in bucket address table
● Changing size of bucket address table is an expensive operation
● Linear hashing (Buckets are generated as per the hash function. After applying hash
functions, values are stored in the buckets directly like static hashing but when the
bucket is full, the values are stored into overflow bucket which is linked with the
bucket of same hash key.) is an alternative mechanism
● Allows incremental growth of its directory (equivalent to bucket address table)
● At the cost of more bucket overflows
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Comparison of Ordered Indexing and Hashing
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Bitmap Indices
● Bitmap indices are a special type of index designed for efficient querying on
multiple keys
● Records in a relation are assumed to be numbered sequentially from, say, 0
● Given a number n it must be easy to retrieve record n
• Particularly easy if records are of fixed size
● Applicable on attributes that take on a relatively small number of distinct values
● E.g. gender, country, state, …
● E.g. income-level (income broken up into a small number of levels such as 0-
9999, 10000-19999, 20000-50000, 50000- infinity)
● A bitmap is simply an array of bits
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Bitmap Indices (Cont.)
● In its simplest form a bitmap index on an attribute has a bitmap for each value of
the attribute
● Bitmap has as many bits as records
● In a bitmap for value v, the bit for a record is 1 if the record has the value v for
the attribute, and is 0 otherwise
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Bitmap Indices (Cont.)
● Bitmap indices are useful for queries on multiple attributes
● not particularly useful for single attribute queries
● Queries are answered using bitmap operations
● Intersection (and)
● Union (or)
● Complementation (not)
● Each operation takes two bitmaps of the same size and applies the operation on
corresponding bits to get the result bitmap
● E.g. 100110 AND 110011 = 100010
100110 OR 110011 = 110111
NOT 100110 = 011001
● Males with income level L1: 10010 AND 10100 = 10000 (What is 10010 OR
10100)
• Can then retrieve required tuples.
• Counting number of matching tuples is even faster
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Bitmap Indices (Cont.)
● Bitmap indices generally very small compared with relation size
● E.g. if record is 100 bytes, space for a single bitmap is 1/800 of space used by
relation if number of distinct attribute values is 8. Bitmap is only 1% of relation size
● Should keep bitmaps for all values, even null value
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Index Definition in SQL
● Create an index
create index <index-name> on <relation-name>
(<attribute-list>)
E.g.: create index b-index on branch(branch_name)
● Use create unique index to indirectly specify and enforce the condition that the
search key is a candidate key.
● Not really required if SQL unique integrity constraint is supported
● To drop an index
drop index <index-name>
● Most database systems allow specification of type of index, and clustering.
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End of Chapter
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