Skip to main content
Log in

TheSB-tree an index-sequential structure for high-performance sequential access

  • Published:
Acta Informatica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A variant of aB-tree known as anSB-tree is introduced, with the object of offering high-performance sequential disk access for long range retrievals. The key to this efficiency is a structure that supports multi-page reads (or writes) during sequential access to any node level below the root, even following significant node splitting. In addition, theSB-tree will support a policy to ‘stripe’ successive multi-page blocks on multiple disks to achieve maximum parallelism. Compared to traditionalB-tree structures,SB-tree performance characteristics are less subject to degradation resulting from modifications entailed in growing and shrinking;SB-trees are therefore more appropriate for use in situations where frequent reorganization is not possible. A performance analysis reveals the strengths of theSB-tree by comparing its performance under various circumstances to theB +-tree and the bounded disorder (BD) file of [11]. The performance analysis formulates a new useful concept, the ‘effective depth’ of anSB- orB +-tree, defined as the expected number of pages read from disk to perform a random retrieval search given standard buffering behavior. A graph of effective depth against tree size is shown to have a scalloped appearance, reflecting the changing effectiveness of incremental additions to buffer space.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Baeza-Yates, R.A.: Expected behavior ofB +-trees under random insertion. Acta Inf.26, 439–471 (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bayer, R., McCreight, E.M.: Organization and maintenance of large ordered indices. Acta Inf.1, 173–189 (1972)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bayer, R., Unterauer, K.: PrefixB-trees. ACM Trans. Database Syst.2 (1), 11–26 (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Chen, P.M., Gibson, G.A., Katz, R.A., Patterson, D.A.: An evaluation of redundant arrays of disks using an Amdahl 5890. Proceedings of the 1990 SIGMETRICS Conference on Measuring and Modeling of Computer Systems, May 1989

  5. Chen, P.M., Patterson, D.A.: Maximizing performance in a striped disk array. 17th International Symposium on Computer Architecture (SIGARCH 1990)

  6. Comer, D.: The ubiquitousB-tree. Comput. Surv.11, 121–137 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Gawlick, D.: DEC, private communication (March 1989)

  8. Gray, J.: “DISCS”, Notes for talk Sponsored by DEC Cambridge Research Lab and Greater Boston SIGMOD, Cambridge, MA, February 6, 1989

  9. Gray, J., Putzolu, F.: The five minute rule for trading memory for disk accesses and the 10 byte rule for trading memory for CPU time. Proceedings of the 1987 ACM SIGMOD Conference, pp. 395–398

  10. INGRES SQL Reference Manual. Relational Technology, Alameda, CA

  11. Lomet, D.B.: A simple bounded disorder file organization with good performance. ACM Trans. Database Syst.13 (4), 525–551 (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  12. O'Neil, P.E.: Revisiting DBMS benchmarks. Datamation September 15, 47–53 (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  13. O'Neil, P.E.: The set query benchmark. The performance handbook for database and transaction processing systems. Hove: Morgan Kaufmann 1991

    Google Scholar 

  14. Teng, J.Z., Gumaer, R.A.: Managing IBM database 2 buffers to maximize performance. IBM Syst. J.23 (2), 211–218 (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Wiederhold, G.: Database design. London: McGraw Hill 1983

    Google Scholar 

  16. Wodnicki, J.M., Kurtz, S.C.: GPD performance evaluation lab database 2 version 2 utility analysis. IBM Document Number GG09-1031-0, September 28, 1989

  17. Zhang, B., Hsu, M.: Unsafe operations inB-trees. Acta Inf.26, 421–438 (1989)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

O'Neil, P.E. TheSB-tree an index-sequential structure for high-performance sequential access. Acta Informatica 29, 241–265 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01185680

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01185680

Keywords

Navigation