Physical Database Design

The rapidly increasing volume of information contained in relational databases places a strain on databases, performance, and maintainability: DBAs are under greater pressure than ever to optimize database structure for system performance and administration.

Physical Database Design discusses the concept of how physical structures of databases affect performance, including specific examples, guidelines, and best and worst practices for a variety of DBMSs and configurations. Something as simple as improving the table index design has a profound impact on performance. Every form of relational database, such as Online Transaction Processing (OLTP), Enterprise Resource Management (ERP), Data Mining (DM), or Management Resource Planning (MRP), can be improved using the methods provided in the book.

"I highly recommend Physical Database Design by Lightstone, Teorey, and Nadeau. The book covers fine aspects of physical design — issues such as the effects of different approaches to indexes, tradeoffs in materializing views, and details of physical data layout. Unlike other books, it does not focus on a particular product, but instead covers the deep principles that cut across products. The book addresses both transaction intensive applications (OLTP) as well as data warehouses (OLAP). Their new book is a welcome addition to the literature."—Michael Blaha, OMT Associates, Inc.

"This is an excellent book on physical database design, giving pragmatic models and advice. It has a wealth of information for both the student and for the practitioner — presenting analytic models and practical tips that are demonstrated with examples using Oracle, DB2, and Microsoft SQL Server."—Jim Gray, Microsoft Research