IntroductiontoTeradata>DataDistributionandDataAccessMethods

ComparisonofIndexTypes
TeradataDatabasedoesnotrequireorallowuserstoexplicitlydictatehowindexesshouldbeusedforaparticularquery.
TheOptimizercostsallofthereasonablealternativesandselectstheonethatisestimatedtobetheleastexpensive.
Theobjectofanyqueryplanistoreturnaccurateresultsasquicklyaspossible.Therefore,theOptimizerusesanindexor
indexesonlyiftheindexspeedsupqueryprocessing.Insomecases,theOptimizerprocessesthequerywithoutusingany
index.
Optimizerindexselectionforaqueryplan:

CanhaveadirectimpactonoverallTeradataDatabaseperformance.

Isnotalwaysastraightforwardprocess.

Isbasedpartlyonusageexpectations.

ThefollowingtableassumesexecutionofasimpleSELECTstatementandexplainsthestrengthsandweaknessesofsome
ofthevariousindexingmethods.

Andthefollowingpossible
drawbacks

Thisaccessmethod

Hasthefollowingstrengths

UniquePrimaryIndex(UPI)

isthemostefficientaccessmethod
whentheSQLstatementcontainsthePI
value

involvesoneAMPandonerow

requiresnospoolfile(forasimple
SELECT)

canobtainthemostgranularlocks

providesefficientaccesswhentheSQL
statementcontainsthePIvalue

mayslowdownINSERTsforaSET
tablewithnoUSIs.

involvesoneAMP

canobtaingranularlocks

maynotrequireaspoolfileaslongas
thenumberofrowsreturnedissmall

maydecreasetheefficiencyof
SELECTscontainingthePIvaluewhen
somevaluesarerepeatedinmany
rows.

providesefficientaccesswhentheSQL
statementcontainstheUSIvalues,and
youdonotspecifyPIvalues

involvestwoAMPsandonerow

requiresnospoolfile(forasimple
SELECT)

providesefficientaccesswhenthe
numberofrowspervalueinthetableis
relativelysmall

requiresadditionaloverheadfor
INSERT,UPDATE,MERGE,and
DELETEstatements.

involvesallAMPSandprobablymultiple
rows

providesaccessusinginformationthat
maybemorereadilyavailablethana

willnotbeusedbytheOptimizerifthe
numberofdatablocksaccessedisa
significantpercentageofthedatablocks
inthetablebecausetheOptimizerwill
determinethatafulltablescanis

NonuniquePrimaryIndex(NUPI)

UniqueSecondaryIndex(USI)

NonuniqueSecondaryIndex(NUSI)

none,inthecontextofaSELECTstatement
specifyingaPIvalue.However,apoorly
chosenPIcancausepooroverall
performanceinalargeworkload.

requiresadditionaloverheadforINSERT,
UPDATE,MERGE,andDELETE
statements.

UPIvalue,suchasemployeelastname,
comparedtoanemployeenumber

Fulltablescan

Multitablejoinindex(JI)

Singletablejoinindex(JI)

mayrequireaspoolfile

accesseseachrowonlyonce

examineseveryrow.

providesaccessusinganyarbitraryset
ofcolumnconditions

usuallyrequiresaspoolfilepossiblyas
largeasthebasetable.

caneliminatetheneedtoperform
certainjoinsandaggregatesrepetitively

maybeabletosatisfyaquerywithout
referencingthebasetables

requiresadditionaloverheadfor
INSERT,UPDATE,MERGE,and
DELETEstatementsforanyofthebase
tablesthatcontributetothemultitableJI.

canhaveadifferentPIfromthatofthe
basetable

canreplaceanNUSIoraUSI

usuallyisnotsuitablefordataintables
subjectedtoalargenumberofdaily
INSERT,UPDATE,MERGE,and
DELETEstatements.

imposessomerestrictionsonoperations
performedonthebasetable.

canisolatefrequentlyusedcolumns(or
theiraggregatesforJIsonly)fromthose
thatareseldomused

requiresadditionaloverheadfor
INSERT,UPDATE,MERGE,and
DELETEstatements.

canreducenumberofphysicalI/Os
whenonlycommonlyusedcolumnsare
referenced

imposessomerestrictionsonoperations
performedonthebasetable.

canhaveadifferentPIfromthatofthe
basetable

canbestoredinlessspacethanan
ordinaryJI

reducestheadditionaloverhead
associatedwithINSERT,UPDATE,
MERGE,andDELETEstatementsto
thebasetablewhencomparedwithan
ordinaryJI

requiresadditionaloverheadfor
INSERT,UPDATE,MERGE,and
DELETEstatementstothebasetable.

imposessomerestrictionsonoperations
performedonthebasetable.

or
hashindex

Sparsejoinindex(JI)

cheaper.

canexcludecommonvaluesthatoccur
inmanyrowstohelpensurethatthe
OptimizerchoosestousetheJIto
accesslesscommonvalues