Abstract: A method and apparatus for batch processing of updates to indexes is provided. A plurality of index update records are generated that identify a plurality of index update operations to be made to an index. The plurality of index entry records are sorted and then applied, in an order that corresponds to the sort order, in batches to their respective indexes. As a result of performing batch processing of updates to indexes, the number of disk I/Os will be greatly reduced, freeing database system resources to perform other tasks. The overall efficiency of index maintenance is also improved, as is the recovery of the database system after a failure, resultant from an ordering of the index maintenance operations and a partial ordering of the persistent redo log file.

Abstract: A pluggable tablespace is enabled by logically partitioning a database into a set of tablespaces and storing all of the tablespaces disk pointers in tablespace-relative format. A pluggable set of tablespaces is unplugged by exporting the associated metadata, and making a binary copy of the tablespaces. The pluggable set of tablespaces is plugged into a target database by making the pluggable set accessible to the target database and importing the associated metadata, without patching any of the disk pointers.

Abstract: A pluggable tablespace is enabled by logically partitioning a database into a set of tablespaces. A pluggable set of tablespaces is stored on a transportable medium in which all the disk pointers of the pluggable set is stored in tablespace-relative format. In addition, the pluggable set includes exported associated metadata about objects contained in the pluggable set. The pluggable set is plugged into a target database by making the pluggable set accessible to the target database and importing the associated metadata, without patching any of the disk pointers.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for implementing segmented arrays in a database system. According to one embodiment of the invention, rather than allocating a contiguous block of memory for each array, the memory for storing at least selected arrays is broken into smaller pieces of memory referred to herein as memory segments. When the memory for an array is broken into memory segments, the array is referred to herein as a "segmented array." Each memory segment associated with a segmented array is divided into one or more memory areas, each of which represent an element of that array. The memory segments associated with a segmented array need not be contiguous. According to another aspect of the invention, the number of segments allocated for a segmented array can be increased or decreased during execution. According to yet another aspect of the invention, only some of the memory segments required to store a segmented array are initially allocated.