Parallel database systems: the future of high performance database systems

The success of these systems refutes a 1983 paper predicting the demise of database machines [3]. Ten years ago the future of highly parallel database machines seemed gloomy, even to their staunchest advocates. Most database machine research had focused on specialized, often trendy, hardware such as CCD memories, bubble memories, head-per-track disks, and optical disks. None of these technologies fulfilled their promises; so there was a sense that conventional CPUs , electronic RAM, and mcving-head magnetic disks would dominate the scene for many years to come. At that time, disk throughput was predicted to double while processor speeds were predicted to increase by much larger factors. Consequently , critics predicted that multiprocessor systems would scxm be I/O limited unless a solution to the I/O bottleneck was found. Whiie these predictions were fairly accurate about the future of hardware, the critics were certainly wrong about the overall future of parallel database systems. Over the last decade 'Eradata, Tandem, and a host of startup companies have successfully developed and marketed highly parallel machines.

[1]  Patricia G. Selinger,et al.  Access path selection in a relational database management system , 1979, SIGMOD '79.

[2]  David J. DeWitt,et al.  Database Machines: An Idea Whose Time Passed? A Critique of the Future of Database Machines , 1989, IWDM.

[3]  E. F. Codd,et al.  A relational model of data for large shared data banks , 1970, CACM.

[4]  Michael Stonebraker,et al.  Implementation techniques for main memory database systems , 1984, SIGMOD '84.

[5]  Michael Stonebraker,et al.  The Case for Shared Nothing , 1985, HPTS.

[6]  David J. DeWitt,et al.  GAMMA - A High Performance Dataflow Database Machine , 1986, VLDB.

[7]  Randy H. Katz,et al.  A case for redundant arrays of inexpensive disks (RAID) , 1988, SIGMOD '88.

[8]  Dina Bitton,et al.  Disk Shadowing , 1988, VLDB.

[9]  Tom W. Keller,et al.  Data placement in Bubba , 1988, SIGMOD '88.

[10]  Michael Stonebraker,et al.  The Design of XPRS , 1988, VLDB.

[11]  William Alexander,et al.  Process and dataflow control in distributed data-intensive systems , 1988, SIGMOD '88.

[12]  David J. DeWitt,et al.  A performance evaluation of four parallel join algorithms in a shared-nothing multiprocessor environment , 1989, SIGMOD '89.

[13]  Problems and Peculiarities of Arabic Databases , 1989, IEEE Data Eng. Bull..

[14]  Karen Ward,et al.  Dynamic query evaluation plans , 1989, SIGMOD '89.

[15]  Masaru Kitsuregawa,et al.  Evaluation of 18-stage Pipeline Hardware Sorter , 1989, IWDM.

[16]  David J. DeWitt,et al.  Hybrid-Range Partitioning Strategy: A New Declustering Strategy for Multiprocessor Database Machines , 1990, VLDB.

[17]  Hansjörg Zeller,et al.  An Adaptive Hash Join Algorithm for Multiuser Environments , 1990, VLDB.

[18]  Jim Gray,et al.  A benchmark of NonStop SQL release 2 demonstrating near-linear speedup and scaleup on large databases , 1990, SIGMETRICS '90.

[19]  Donovan A. Schneider,et al.  The Gamma Database Machine Project , 1990, IEEE Trans. Knowl. Data Eng..

[20]  David J. DeWitt,et al.  Tradeoffs in Processing Complex Join Queries via Hashing in Multiprocessor Database Machines , 1990, VLDB.

[21]  David J. DeWitt,et al.  A multiuser performance analysis of alternative declustering strategies , 1990, [1990] Proceedings. Sixth International Conference on Data Engineering.

[22]  Philip S. Yu,et al.  An effective algorithm for parallelizing sort merge joins in the presence of data skew , 1990, DPDS '90.

[23]  Masaru Kitsuregawa,et al.  Bucket Spreading Parallel Hash: A New, Robust, Parallel Hash Join Method for Data Skew in the Super Database Computer (SDC) , 1990, VLDB.

[24]  Patrick Valduriez,et al.  Prototyping Bubba, A Highly Parallel Database System , 1990, IEEE Trans. Knowl. Data Eng..

[25]  Goetz Graefe,et al.  Encapsulation of parallelism in the Volcano query processing system , 1990, SIGMOD '90.

[26]  Shreekant S. Thakkar,et al.  Performance of an OLTP application on symmetry multiprocessor system , 1990, ISCA '90.

[27]  Alfred G. Dale,et al.  A Taxonomy and Performance Model of Data Skew Effects in Parallel Joins , 1991, VLDB.

[28]  Kien A. Hua,et al.  Handling Data Skew in Multiprocessor Database Computers Using Partition Tuning , 1991, VLDB.