Frame-sliced partitioned parallel signature files
Fabio Chiodo Grandi, Paolo Tiberio, Pavel Zezula · 1992
The retrieval capabilities of the signature file access method have become very attractive for many data processing applications dealing with both formatted and unformatted data. However, performance is still a problem, mainly when large files are used and fast response required. In this paper, a high performance signature file organization is proposed, integrating the latest developments both in storage structure and parallel computing architectures. It combines horizontal and vertical approaches to the signature file fragmentation. In this way, a new, mixed decomposition scheme, particularly suitable for parallel implementation, is achieved. The organization, based on this fragmentation scheme, is called Fragmented Signature File. Performance analysis shows that this organization provides very good and relatively stable performance, covering the full range of possible queries. For the same degree of parallelism, it outperforms any other parallel signature file organization that has been defined so far. The proposed method also has other important advantages concerning processing of dynamic files, adaptability to the number of available processors, load balancing, and, to some extent, fault-tolerant query processing.