The Gamma database machine project

Author

DeWitt, David J. ; Ghandeharizadeh, Shahram ; Schneider, Donovan A. ; Bricker, Allan ; Hsiao, Hui-I ; Rasmussen, Rick

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. Sci., Wisconsin Univ., Madison, WI, USA

Volume

2

Issue

1

fYear

1990

fDate

3/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

44

Lastpage

62

Abstract

The design of the Gamma database machine and the techniques employed in its implementation are described. Gamma is a relational database machine currently operating on an Intel iPSC/2 hypercube with 32 processors and 32 disk drives. Gamma employs three key technical ideas which enable the architecture to be scaled to hundreds of processors. First, all relations are horizontally partitioned across multiple disk drives, enabling relations to be scanned in parallel. Second, parallel algorithms based on hashing are used to implement the complex relational operators, such as join and aggregate functions. Third, dataflow scheduling techniques are used to coordinate multioperator queries. By using these techniques, it is possible to control the execution of very complex queries with minimal coordination. The design of the Gamma software is described and a thorough performance evaluation of the iPSC/s hypercube version of Gamma is presented

Keywords

information retrieval; parallel algorithms; parallel machines; relational databases; Gamma database machine project; Gamma software; Intel iPSC/2 hypercube; aggregate functions; complex queries; complex relational operators; dataflow scheduling techniques; hashing; horizontally partitioned; iPSC/s hypercube version; join; minimal coordination; multioperator queries; multiple disk drives; parallel algorithms; performance evaluation; relational database machine; Centralized control; Concurrent computing; Database machines; Delay; Disk drives; Hypercubes; Parallel algorithms; Parallel processing; Partitioning algorithms; Relational databases;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Knowledge and Data Engineering, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-4347

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/69.50905

Filename

50905