Querying fragmented relations in a distributed database (Q797313)

The paper discusses the query optimization problem in a distributed database system supporting a complex fragmentation schema. The global relations can be fragmented horizontally and vertically; in addition, the fragmentation predicate of a fragment can be expressed in terms of attributes which are not contained in the fragment itself, and different fragments can share the same set of data, since no hypothesis of mutual exclusiveness is set on fragmentation predicates and fragment attribute lists. Several copies of the same fragment can be stored redundantly at the sites of the computer network on which the database is distributed. The fragmentation and the distribution of data are assumed to be transparent to the user, which queries the database in terms of the global relations. In this context, the problem of optimizing the processing of a query stated on a single fragmented relation is discussed, and a method for its solution is presented. The method is based on an algorithm which calculates a set of virtual fragments that can alternatively be used to answer the query. A virtual fragment is a relation obtained by combining the fragments derived from the queried global relation.