Model for Database Reference Strings Based on Behavior of Reference Clusters

The observation that references to a particular page are clustered (in time) in typical database reference strings is used as the intuitive motivation for a model of page reference activity in an interactive database system. The model leads to a two-parameter form for the (Denning) working-set functions associated with a page. Methods for estimating parameter values from measurements or from logical descriptions of applications are discussed. Results from the model are shown to agree well with measurements from two database systems.