18 Partitioned Tables and Indexes

This chapter describes partitioned tables and indexes. It covers the following topics:

• Introduction to Partitioning
• Overview of Partitioning Methods
• Overview of Partitioned Indexes
• Partitioning to Improve Performance

Note:

This functionality is available only if you purchase the Partitioning option.

Introduction to Partitioning
Partitioning addresses key issues in supporting very large tables and indexes by letting
you decompose them into smaller and more manageable pieces called partitions. SQL
queries and DML statements do not need to be modified in order to access partitioned
tables. However, after partitions are defined, DDL statements can access and manipulate
individuals partitions rather than entire tables or indexes. This is how partitioning can
simplify the manageability of large database objects. Also, partitioning is entirely
transparent to applications.

Each partition of a table or index must have the same logical attributes, such as column
names, datatypes, and constraints, but each partition can have separate physical attributes
such as pctfree, pctused, and tablespaces.

Partitioning is useful for many different types of applications, particularly applications

that manage large volumes of data. OLTP systems often benefit from improvements in
manageability and availability, while data warehousing systems benefit from
performance and manageability.

Note:

All partitions of a partitioned object must reside in tablespaces of a single block size.

See Also:

• "Multiple Block Sizes"

• Oracle Database Data Warehousing Guide and Oracle Database Administrator's
Guide for more information about partitioning

Partitioning offers these advantages:

 • Partitioning enables data management operations such data loads, index creation
and rebuilding, and backup/recovery at the partition level, rather than on the entire
table. This results in significantly reduced times for these operations.
• Partitioning improves query performance. In many cases, the results of a query
can be achieved by accessing a subset of partitions, rather than the entire table.
For some queries, this technique (called partition pruning) can provide order-of-
magnitude gains in performance.
• Partitioning can significantly reduce the impact of scheduled downtime for
maintenance operations.

Partition independence for partition maintenance operations lets you perform

concurrent maintenance operations on different partitions of the same table or
index. You can also run concurrent SELECT and DML operations against partitions
that are unaffected by maintenance operations.

• Partitioning increases the availability of mission-critical databases if critical tables

and indexes are divided into partitions to reduce the maintenance windows,
recovery times, and impact of failures.
• Partitioning can be implemented without requiring any modifications to your
applications. For example, you could convert a nonpartitioned table to a
partitioned table without needing to modify any of the SELECT statements or DML
statements which access that table. You do not need to rewrite your application
code to take advantage of partitioning.

Figure 18-1 offers a graphical view of how partitioned tables differ from nonpartitioned
tables.

Figure 18-1 A View of Partitioned Tables

Description of "Figure 18-1 A View of Partitioned Tables"

Partition Key

Each row in a partitioned table is unambiguously assigned to a single partition. The

partition key is a set of one or more columns that determines the partition for each row.
Oracle automatically directs insert, update, and delete operations to the appropriate
partition through the use of the partition key. A partition key:

• Consists of an ordered list of 1 to 16 columns

• Cannot contain a LEVEL, ROWID, or MLSLABEL pseudocolumn or a column of type
ROWID
• Can contain columns that are NULLable

Partitioned Tables

Tables can be partitioned into up to 1024K-1 separate partitions. Any table can be
partitioned except those tables containing columns with LONG or LONG RAW datatypes. You
can, however, use tables containing columns with CLOB or BLOB datatypes.

Note:

To reduce disk use and memory use (specifically, the buffer cache), you can store tables
and partitioned tables in a compressed format inside the database. This often leads to a
better scaleup for read-only operations. Table compression can also speed up query
execution. There is, however, a slight cost in CPU overhead.
See Also:

"Table Compression"

Partitioned Index-Organized Tables

You can partition index-organized tables by range, list, or hash. Partitioned index-
organized tables are very useful for providing improved manageability, availability, and
performance for index-organized tables. In addition, data cartridges that use index-
organized tables can take advantage of the ability to partition their stored data. Common
examples of this are the Image and interMedia cartridges.

For partitioning an index-organized table:

• Partition columns must be a subset of primary key columns

• Secondary indexes can be partitioned — locally and globally
• OVERFLOW data segments are always equipartitioned with the table partitions

Overview of Partitioning Methods

Oracle provides the following partitioning methods:

• Range Partitioning
• List Partitioning
• Hash Partitioning
• Composite Partitioning

Figure 18-2 offers a graphical view of the methods of partitioning.

Figure 18-2 List, Range, and Hash Partitioning

Description of "Figure 18-2 List, Range, and Hash Partitioning"

Composite partitioning is a combination of other partitioning methods. Oracle supports

range-hash and range-list composite partitioning. Figure 18-3 offers a graphical view of
range-hash and range-list composite partitioning.

Figure 18-3 Composite Partitioning

Description of "Figure 18-3 Composite Partitioning"

Range Partitioning

Range partitioning maps data to partitions based on ranges of partition key values that
you establish for each partition. It is the most common type of partitioning and is often
used with dates. For example, you might want to partition sales data into monthly
partitions.
When using range partitioning, consider the following rules:

• Each partition has a VALUES LESS THAN clause, which specifies a noninclusive
upper bound for the partitions. Any values of the partition key equal to or higher
than this literal are added to the next higher partition.
• All partitions, except the first, have an implicit lower bound specified by the
VALUES LESS THAN clause on the previous partition.
• A MAXVALUE literal can be defined for the highest partition. MAXVALUE represents a
virtual infinite value that sorts higher than any other possible value for the
partition key, including the null value.

A typical example is given in the following section. The statement creates a table
(sales_range) that is range partitioned on the sales_date field.

Range Partitioning Example

CREATE TABLE sales_range

(salesman_id NUMBER(5),
salesman_name VARCHAR2(30),
sales_amount NUMBER(10),
sales_date DATE)
PARTITION BY RANGE(sales_date)
(
PARTITION sales_jan2000 VALUES LESS
THAN(TO_DATE('02/01/2000','MM/DD/YYYY')),
PARTITION sales_feb2000 VALUES LESS
THAN(TO_DATE('03/01/2000','MM/DD/YYYY')),
PARTITION sales_mar2000 VALUES LESS
THAN(TO_DATE('04/01/2000','MM/DD/YYYY')),
PARTITION sales_apr2000 VALUES LESS
THAN(TO_DATE('05/01/2000','MM/DD/YYYY'))
);

List Partitioning

List partitioning enables you to explicitly control how rows map to partitions. You do this
by specifying a list of discrete values for the partitioning key in the description for each
partition. This is different from range partitioning, where a range of values is associated
with a partition and from hash partitioning, where a hash function controls the row-to-
partition mapping. The advantage of list partitioning is that you can group and organize
unordered and unrelated sets of data in a natural way.

The details of list partitioning can best be described with an example. In this case, let's
say you want to partition a sales table by region. That means grouping states together
according to their geographical location as in the following example.

List Partitioning Example

CREATE TABLE sales_list

(salesman_id NUMBER(5),
salesman_name VARCHAR2(30),
sales_state VARCHAR2(20),
sales_amount NUMBER(10),
sales_date DATE)
PARTITION BY LIST(sales_state)
(
PARTITION sales_west VALUES('California', 'Hawaii'),
PARTITION sales_east VALUES ('New York', 'Virginia', 'Florida'),
PARTITION sales_central VALUES('Texas', 'Illinois'),
PARTITION sales_other VALUES(DEFAULT)
);

A row is mapped to a partition by checking whether the value of the partitioning column
for a row falls within the set of values that describes the partition. For example, the rows
are inserted as follows:

• (10, 'Jones', 'Hawaii', 100, '05-JAN-2000') maps to partition sales_west

• (21, 'Smith', 'Florida', 150, '15-JAN-2000') maps to partition sales_east
• (32, 'Lee', 'Colorado', 130, '21-JAN-2000') maps to partition sales_other

Unlike range and hash partitioning, multicolumn partition keys are not supported for list
partitioning. If a table is partitioned by list, the partitioning key can only consist of a
single column of the table.

The DEFAULT partition enables you to avoid specifying all possible values for a list-
partitioned table by using a default partition, so that all rows that do not map to any other
partition do not generate an error.

Hash Partitioning

Hash partitioning enables easy partitioning of data that does not lend itself to range or list
partitioning. It does this with a simple syntax and is easy to implement. It is a better
choice than range partitioning when:

• You do not know beforehand how much data maps into a given range
• The sizes of range partitions would differ quite substantially or would be difficult
to balance manually
• Range partitioning would cause the data to be undesirably clustered
• Performance features such as parallel DML, partition pruning, and partition-wise
joins are important

The concepts of splitting, dropping or merging partitions do not apply to hash partitions.
Instead, hash partitions can be added and coalesced.

See Also:
Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for more information about partition tasks such as
splitting partitions

Hash Partitioning Example

CREATE TABLE sales_hash

(salesman_id NUMBER(5),
salesman_name VARCHAR2(30),
sales_amount NUMBER(10),
week_no NUMBER(2))
PARTITION BY HASH(salesman_id)
PARTITIONS 4
STORE IN (ts1, ts2, ts3, ts4);

The preceding statement creates a table sales_hash, which is hash partitioned on

salesman_id field. The tablespace names are ts1, ts2, ts3, and ts4. With this syntax,
we ensure that we create the partitions in a round-robin manner across the specified
tablespaces.

Composite Partitioning

Composite partitioning partitions data using the range method, and within each partition,
subpartitions it using the hash or list method. Composite range-hash partitioning provides
the improved manageability of range partitioning and the data placement, striping, and
parallelism advantages of hash partitioning. Composite range-list partitioning provides
the manageability of range partitioning and the explicit control of list partitioning for the
subpartitions.

Composite partitioning supports historical operations, such as adding new range

partitions, but also provides higher degrees of parallelism for DML operations and finer
granularity of data placement through subpartitioning.

Composite Partitioning Range-Hash Example

CREATE TABLE sales_composite

(salesman_id NUMBER(5),
salesman_name VARCHAR2(30),
sales_amount NUMBER(10),
sales_date DATE)
PARTITION BY RANGE(sales_date)
SUBPARTITION BY HASH(salesman_id)
SUBPARTITION TEMPLATE(
SUBPARTITION sp1 TABLESPACE ts1,
SUBPARTITION sp2 TABLESPACE ts2,
SUBPARTITION sp3 TABLESPACE ts3,
SUBPARTITION sp4 TABLESPACE ts4)
(PARTITION sales_jan2000 VALUES LESS
THAN(TO_DATE('02/01/2000','MM/DD/YYYY'))
PARTITION sales_feb2000 VALUES LESS
THAN(TO_DATE('03/01/2000','MM/DD/YYYY'))
 PARTITION sales_mar2000 VALUES LESS
THAN(TO_DATE('04/01/2000','MM/DD/YYYY'))
PARTITION sales_apr2000 VALUES LESS
THAN(TO_DATE('05/01/2000','MM/DD/YYYY'))
PARTITION sales_may2000 VALUES LESS
THAN(TO_DATE('06/01/2000','MM/DD/YYYY')));

This statement creates a table sales_composite that is range partitioned on the

sales_date field and hash subpartitioned on salesman_id. When you use a template,
Oracle names the subpartitions by concatenating the partition name, an underscore, and
the subpartition name from the template. Oracle places this subpartition in the tablespace
specified in the template. In the previous statement, sales_jan2000_sp1 is created and
placed in tablespace ts1 while sales_jan2000_sp4 is created and placed in tablespace
ts4. In the same manner, sales_apr2000_sp1 is created and placed in tablespace ts1
while sales_apr2000_sp4 is created and placed in tablespace ts4. Figure 18-4 offers a
graphical view of the previous example.

Figure 18-4 Composite Range-Hash Partitioning

Description of "Figure 18-4 Composite Range-Hash Partitioning"

Composite Partitioning Range-List Example

CREATE TABLE bimonthly_regional_sales

(deptno NUMBER,
item_no VARCHAR2(20),
txn_date DATE,
txn_amount NUMBER,
state VARCHAR2(2))
PARTITION BY RANGE (txn_date)
SUBPARTITION BY LIST (state)
SUBPARTITION TEMPLATE(
SUBPARTITION east VALUES('NY', 'VA', 'FL') TABLESPACE ts1,
SUBPARTITION west VALUES('CA', 'OR', 'HI') TABLESPACE ts2,
SUBPARTITION central VALUES('IL', 'TX', 'MO') TABLESPACE ts3)
(
PARTITION janfeb_2000 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-MAR-2000','DD-MON-
YYYY')),
PARTITION marapr_2000 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-MAY-2000','DD-MON-
YYYY')),
PARTITION mayjun_2000 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-JUL-2000','DD-MON-
YYYY'))
);

This statement creates a table bimonthly_regional_sales that is range partitioned on

the txn_date field and list subpartitioned on state. When you use a template, Oracle
names the subpartitions by concatenating the partition name, an underscore, and the
subpartition name from the template. Oracle places this subpartition in the tablespace
specified in the template. In the previous statement, janfeb_2000_east is created and
placed in tablespace ts1 while janfeb_2000_central is created and placed in
tablespace ts3. In the same manner, mayjun_2000_east is placed in tablespace ts1
while mayjun_2000_central is placed in tablespace ts3. Figure 18-5 offers a graphical
view of the table bimonthly_regional_sales and its 9 individual subpartitions.

Figure 18-5 Composite Range-List Partitioning

Description of "Figure 18-5 Composite Range-List Partitioning"

When to Partition a Table

Here are some suggestions for when to partition a table:

• Tables greater than 2GB should always be considered for partitioning.

• Tables containing historical data, in which new data is added into the newest
partition. A typical example is a historical table where only the current month's
data is updatable and the other 11 months are read only.
Overview of Partitioned Indexes
Just like partitioned tables, partitioned indexes improve manageability, availability,
performance, and scalability. They can either be partitioned independently (global
indexes) or automatically linked to a table's partitioning method (local indexes). In
general, you should use global indexes for OLTP applications and local indexes for data
warehousing or DSS applications. Also, whenever possible, you should try to use local
indexes because they are easier to manage. When deciding what kind of partitioned index
to use, you should consider the following guidelines in order:

1. If the table partitioning column is a subset of the index keys, use a local index. If
this is the case, you are finished. If this is not the case, continue to guideline 2.
2. If the index is unique, use a global index. If this is the case, you are finished. If
this is not the case, continue to guideline 3.
3. If your priority is manageability, use a local index. If this is the case, you are
finished. If this is not the case, continue to guideline 4.
4. If the application is an OLTP one and users need quick response times, use a
global index. If the application is a DSS one and users are more interested in
throughput, use a local index.

See Also:

Oracle Database Data Warehousing Guide and Oracle Database Administrator's Guide
for more information about partitioned indexes and how to decide which type to use

Local Partitioned Indexes

Local partitioned indexes are easier to manage than other types of partitioned indexes.
They also offer greater availability and are common in DSS environments. The reason for
this is equipartitioning: each partition of a local index is associated with exactly one
partition of the table. This enables Oracle to automatically keep the index partitions in
sync with the table partitions, and makes each table-index pair independent. Any actions
that make one partition's data invalid or unavailable only affect a single partition.

Local partitioned indexes support more availability when there are partition or
subpartition maintenance operations on the table. A type of index called a local
nonprefixed index is very useful for historical databases. In this type of index, the
partitioning is not on the left prefix of the index columns.

See Also:

Oracle Database Data Warehousing Guide more information about prefixed indexes

You cannot explicitly add a partition to a local index. Instead, new partitions are added to
local indexes only when you add a partition to the underlying table. Likewise, you cannot
explicitly drop a partition from a local index. Instead, local index partitions are dropped
only when you drop a partition from the underlying table.

A local index can be unique. However, in order for a local index to be unique, the
partitioning key of the table must be part of the index's key columns. Unique local
indexes are useful for OLTP environments.

Figure 18-6 offers a graphical view of local partitioned indexes.

Figure 18-6 Local Partitioned Index

Description of "Figure 18-6 Local Partitioned Index"

Global Partitioned Indexes

Oracle offers two types of global partitioned index: range partitioned and hash
partitioned.

Global Range Partitioned Indexes

Global range partitioned indexes are flexible in that the degree of partitioning and the
partitioning key are independent from the table's partitioning method. They are
commonly used for OLTP environments and offer efficient access to any individual
record.

The highest partition of a global index must have a partition bound, all of whose values
are MAXVALUE. This ensures that all rows in the underlying table can be represented in the
index. Global prefixed indexes can be unique or nonunique.

You cannot add a partition to a global index because the highest partition always has a
partition bound of MAXVALUE. If you wish to add a new highest partition, use the ALTER
INDEX SPLIT PARTITION statement. If a global index partition is empty, you can
explicitly drop it by issuing the ALTER INDEX DROP PARTITION statement. If a global
index partition contains data, dropping the partition causes the next highest partition to be
marked unusable. You cannot drop the highest partition in a global index.
Global Hash Partitioned Indexes

Global hash partitioned indexes improve performance by spreading out contention when
the index is monotonically growing. In other words, most of the index insertions occur
only on the right edge of an index.

Maintenance of Global Partitioned Indexes

By default, the following operations on partitions on a heap-organized table mark all

global indexes as unusable:

ADD (HASH)
COALESCE (HASH)
DROP
EXCHANGE
MERGE
MOVE
SPLIT
TRUNCATE

These indexes can be maintained by appending the clause UPDATE INDEXES to the SQL
statements for the operation. The two advantages to maintaining global indexes:

• The index remains available and online throughout the operation. Hence no other
applications are affected by this operation.
• The index doesn't have to be rebuilt after the operation.

Example:

ALTER TABLE DROP PARTITION P1 UPDATE INDEXES;

Note:

This feature is supported only for heap-organized tables.

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Reference for more information about the UPDATE INDEXES clause

Figure 18-7 offers a graphical view of global partitioned indexes.

Figure 18-7 Global Partitioned Index

Description of "Figure 18-7 Global Partitioned Index"

Global Nonpartitioned Indexes

Global nonpartitioned indexes behave just like a nonpartitioned index. They are
commonly used in OLTP environments and offer efficient access to any individual
record.

Figure 18-8 offers a graphical view of global nonpartitioned indexes.

Figure 18-8 Global Nonpartitioned Index

Description of "Figure 18-8 Global Nonpartitioned Index"

Miscellaneous Information about Creating Indexes on Partitioned Tables

You can create bitmap indexes on partitioned tables, with the restriction that the bitmap
indexes must be local to the partitioned table. They cannot be global indexes.

Global indexes can be unique. Local indexes can only be unique if the partitioning key is
a part of the index key.

Using Partitioned Indexes in OLTP Applications

Here are a few guidelines for OLTP applications:

• Global indexes and unique, local indexes provide better performance than
nonunique local indexes because they minimize the number of index partition
probes.
• Local indexes offer better availability when there are partition or subpartition
maintenance operations on the table.
• Hash-partitioned global indexes offer better performance by spreading out
contention when the index is monotonically growing. In other words, most of the
index insertions occur only on the right edge of an index.

Using Partitioned Indexes in Data Warehousing and DSS Applications

Here are a few guidelines for data warehousing and DSS applications:

• Local indexes are preferable because they are easier to manage during data loads
and during partition-maintenance operations.
• Local indexes can improve performance because many index partitions can be
scanned in parallel by range queries on the index key.

Partitioned Indexes on Composite Partitions

Here are a few points to remember when using partitioned indexes on composite
partitions:

• Subpartitioned indexes are always local and stored with the table subpartition by
default.
• Tablespaces can be specified at either index or index subpartition levels.

Partitioning to Improve Performance

Partitioning can help you improve performance and manageability. Some topics to keep
in mind when using partitioning for these reasons are:

• Partition Pruning
• Partition-wise Joins
• Parallel DML

Partition Pruning

The Oracle database server explicitly recognizes partitions and subpartitions. It then
optimizes SQL statements to mark the partitions or subpartitions that need to be accessed
and eliminates (prunes) unnecessary partitions or subpartitions from access by those SQL
statements. In other words, partition pruning is the skipping of unnecessary index and
data partitions or subpartitions in a query.
For each SQL statement, depending on the selection criteria specified, unneeded
partitions or subpartitions can be eliminated. For example, if a query only involves March
sales data, then there is no need to retrieve data for the remaining eleven months. Such
intelligent pruning can dramatically reduce the data volume, resulting in substantial
improvements in query performance.

If the optimizer determines that the selection criteria used for pruning are satisfied by all
the rows in the accessed partition or subpartition, it removes those criteria from the
predicate list (WHERE clause) during evaluation in order to improve performance.
However, the optimizer cannot prune partitions if the SQL statement applies a function to
the partitioning column (with the exception of the TO_DATE function). Similarly, the
optimizer cannot use an index if the SQL statement applies a function to the indexed
column, unless it is a function-based index.

Pruning can eliminate index partitions even when the underlying table's partitions cannot
be eliminated, but only when the index and table are partitioned on different columns.
You can often improve the performance of operations on large tables by creating
partitioned indexes that reduce the amount of data that your SQL statements need to
access or modify.

Equality, range, LIKE, and IN-list predicates are considered for partition pruning with
range or list partitioning, and equality and IN-list predicates are considered for partition
pruning with hash partitioning.

Partition Pruning Example

We have a partitioned table called cust_orders. The partition key for cust_orders is
order_date. Let us assume that cust_orders has six months of data, January to June,
with a partition for each month of data. If the following query is run:

SELECT SUM(value)
FROM cust_orders
WHERE order_date BETWEEN '28-MAR-98' AND '23-APR-98';

Partition pruning is achieved by:

• First, partition elimination of January, February, May, and June data partitions.
Then either:
o An index scan of the March and April data partition due to high index
selectivity

or

o A full scan of the March and April data partition due to low index
selectivity
Partition-wise Joins

A partition-wise join is a join optimization for joining two tables that are both partitioned
along the join column(s). With partition-wise joins, the join operation is broken into
smaller joins that are performed sequentially or in parallel. Another way of looking at
partition-wise joins is that they minimize the amount of data exchanged among parallel
slaves during the execution of parallel joins by taking into account data distribution.

See Also:

Oracle Database Data Warehousing Guide for more information about partitioning
methods and partition-wise joins

Parallel DML

Parallel execution dramatically reduces response time for data-intensive operations on

large databases typically associated with decision support systems and data warehouses.
In addition to conventional tables, you can use parallel query and parallel DML with
range- and hash-partitioned tables. By doing so, you can enhance scalability and
performance for batch operations.

The semantics and restrictions for parallel DML sessions are the same whether you are
using index-organized tables or not.

Managing Partitioned Tables and

Indexes
This chapter describes various aspects of managing partitioned tables and indexes, and
contains the following topics:

• About Partitioned Tables and Indexes

• Partitioning Methods
• Creating Partitioned Tables
• Maintaining Partitioned Tables
• Partitioned Tables and Indexes Example
• Viewing Information About Partitioned Tables and Indexes

About Partitioned Tables and Indexes

Modern enterprises frequently run mission-critical databases containing upwards of
several hundred gigabytes and, in many cases, several terabytes of data. These enterprises
are challenged by the support and maintenance requirements of very large databases
(VLDB), and must devise methods to meet those challenges.
One way to meet VLDB demands is to create and use partitioned tables and indexes.
Partitioned tables allow your data to be broken down into smaller, more manageable
pieces called partitions, or even subpartitions. Indexes can be partitioned in similar
fashion. Each partition is stored in its own segment and can be managed individually. It
can function independently of the other partitions, thus providing a structure that can be
better tuned for availability and performance.

If you are using parallel execution, partitions provide another means of parallelization.
Operations on partitioned tables and indexes are performed in parallel by assigning
different parallel execution servers to different partitions of the table or index.

Partitions and subpartitions of a table or index all share the same logical attributes. For
example, all partitions (or subpartitions) in a table share the same column and constraint
definitions, and all partitions (or subpartitions) of an index share the same index options.
They can, however, have different physical attributes (such as TABLESPACE).

Although you are not required to keep each table or index partition (or subpartition) in a
separate tablespace, it is to your advantage to do so. Storing partitions in separate
tablespaces enables you to:

• Reduce the possibility of data corruption in multiple partitions

• Back up and recover each partition independently
• Control the mapping of partitions to disk drives (important for balancing I/O load)
• Improve manageability, availability, and performance

Partitioning is transparent to existing applications and standard DML statements run

against partitioned tables. However, an application can be programmed to take advantage
of partitioning by using partition-extended table or index names in DML.

You can use SQL*Loader and the import and export utilities to load or unload data stored
in partitioned tables. These utilities are all partition and subpartition aware.

See Also:

• Chapter 13, " Managing Space for Schema Objects" is

recommended reading before attempting tasks described in this
chapter.
• Oracle Database Concepts contains more information about
partitioning. Before the first time you attempt to create a
partitioned table or index, or perform maintenance operations on
any partitioned table, it is recommended that you review the
information contained in that book.
• Oracle Data Warehousing Guide and Oracle Database
Concepts contain information about parallel execution
 • Oracle Database Utilities describes SQL*Loader and the import
and export utilities.

Partitioning Methods
There are several partitioning methods offered by Oracle Database:

• Range partitioning
• Hash partitioning
• List partitioning
• Composite range-hash partitioning
• Composite range-list partitioning

Indexes, as well as tables, can be partitioned. A global index can be partitioned by the
range or hash method, and it can be defined on any type of partitioned, or nonpartitioned,
table. It can require more maintenance than a local index.

A local index is constructed so that it reflects the structure of the underlying table. It is
equipartitioned with the underlying table, meaning that it is partitioned on the same
columns as the underlying table, creates the same number of partitions or subpartitions,
and gives them the same partition bounds as corresponding partitions of the underlying
table. For local indexes, index partitioning is maintained automatically when partitions
are affected by maintenance activity. This ensures that the index remains equipartitioned
with the underlying table.

The following sections can help you decide on a partitioning method appropriate for your
needs:

• When to Use Range Partitioning

• When to Use Hash Partitioning
• When to Use List Partitioning
• When to Use Composite Range-Hash Partitioning
• When to Use Composite Range-List Partitioning

When to Use Range Partitioning

Use range partitioning to map rows to partitions based on ranges of column values. This
type of partitioning is useful when dealing with data that has logical ranges into which it
can be distributed; for example, months of the year. Performance is best when the data
evenly distributes across the range. If partitioning by range causes partitions to vary
dramatically in size because of unequal distribution, you may want to consider one of the
other methods of partitioning.
When creating range partitions, you must specify:

• Partitioning method: range

• Partitioning column(s)
• Partition descriptions identifying partition bounds

The example below creates a table of four partitions, one for each quarter of sales. The
columns sale_year, sale_month, and sale_day are the partitioning columns, while
their values constitute the partitioning key of a specific row. The VALUES LESS THAN
clause determines the partition bound: rows with partitioning key values that compare
less than the ordered list of values specified by the clause are stored in the partition. Each
partition is given a name (sales_q1, sales_q2, ...), and each partition is contained in a
separate tablespace (tsa, tsb, ...).

CREATE TABLE sales

( invoice_no NUMBER,
sale_year INT NOT NULL,
sale_month INT NOT NULL,
sale_day INT NOT NULL )
PARTITION BY RANGE (sale_year, sale_month, sale_day)
( PARTITION sales_q1 VALUES LESS THAN (1999, 04, 01)
TABLESPACE tsa,
PARTITION sales_q2 VALUES LESS THAN (1999, 07, 01)
TABLESPACE tsb,
PARTITION sales_q3 VALUES LESS THAN (1999, 10, 01)
TABLESPACE tsc,
PARTITION sales_q4 VALUES LESS THAN (2000, 01, 01)
TABLESPACE tsd );

A row with sale_year=1999, sale_month=8, and sale_day=1 has a partitioning key of

(1999, 8, 1) and would be stored in partition sales_q3.

See Also:

"Using Multicolumn Partitioning Keys"

When to Use Hash Partitioning

Use hash partitioning if your data does not easily lend itself to range partitioning, but you
would like to partition for performance and manageability reasons. Hash partitioning
provides a method of evenly distributing data across a specified number of partitions.
Rows are mapped into partitions based on a hash value of the partitioning key. Creating
and using hash partitions gives you a highly tunable method of data placement, because
you can influence availability and performance by spreading these evenly sized partitions
across I/O devices (striping).
To create hash partitions you specify the following:

• Partitioning method: hash

• Partitioning column(s)
• Number of partitions or individual partition descriptions

The following example creates a hash-partitioned table. The partitioning column is id,
four partitions are created and assigned system generated names, and they are placed in
four named tablespaces (gear1, gear2, ...).

CREATE TABLE scubagear

(id NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2 (60))
PARTITION BY HASH (id)
PARTITIONS 4
STORE IN (gear1, gear2, gear3, gear4);

See Also:

"Using Multicolumn Partitioning Keys"

When to Use List Partitioning

Use list partitioning when you require explicit control over how rows map to partitions.
You can specify a list of discrete values for the partitioning column in the description for
each partition. This is different from range partitioning, where a range of values is
associated with a partition, and from hash partitioning, where the user has no control of
the row to partition mapping.

The list partitioning method is specifically designed for modeling data distributions that
follow discrete values. This cannot be easily done by range or hash partitioning because:

• Range partitioning assumes a natural range of values for the partitioning column.
It is not possible to group together out-of-range values partitions.
• Hash partitioning allows no control over the distribution of data because the data
is distributed over the various partitions using the system hash function. Again,
this makes it impossible to logically group together discrete values for the
partitioning columns into partitions.

Further, list partitioning allows unordered and unrelated sets of data to be grouped and
organized together very naturally.

Unlike the range and hash partitioning methods, multicolumn partitioning is not
supported for list partitioning. If a table is partitioned by list, the partitioning key can
consist only of a single column of the table. Otherwise all columns that can be partitioned
by the range or hash methods can be partitioned by the list partitioning method.

When creating list partitions, you must specify:

• Partitioning method: list

• Partitioning column
• Partition descriptions, each specifying a list of literal values (a value list), which
are the discrete values of the partitioning column that qualify a row to be included
in the partition

The following example creates a list-partitioned table. It creates table

q1_sales_by_region which is partitioned by regions consisting of groups of states.

CREATE TABLE q1_sales_by_region

(deptno number,
deptname varchar2(20),
quarterly_sales number(10, 2),
state varchar2(2))
PARTITION BY LIST (state)
(PARTITION q1_northwest VALUES ('OR', 'WA'),
PARTITION q1_southwest VALUES ('AZ', 'UT', 'NM'),
PARTITION q1_northeast VALUES ('NY', 'VM', 'NJ'),
PARTITION q1_southeast VALUES ('FL', 'GA'),
PARTITION q1_northcentral VALUES ('SD', 'WI'),
PARTITION q1_southcentral VALUES ('OK', 'TX'));

A row is mapped to a partition by checking whether the value of the partitioning column
for a row matches a value in the value list that describes the partition.

For example, some sample rows are inserted as follows:

• (10, 'accounting', 100, 'WA') maps to partition q1_northwest

• (20, 'R&D', 150, 'OR') maps to partition q1_northwest
• (30, 'sales', 100, 'FL') maps to partition q1_southeast
• (40, 'HR', 10, 'TX') maps to partition q1_southwest
• (50, 'systems engineering', 10, 'CA') does not map to any partition in the table and
raises an error

Unlike range partitioning, with list partitioning, there is no apparent sense of order
between partitions. You can also specify a default partition into which rows that do not
map to any other partition are mapped. If a default partition were specified in the
preceding example, the state CA would map to that partition.

When to Use Composite Range-Hash Partitioning

Range-hash partitioning partitions data using the range method, and within each partition,
subpartitions it using the hash method. These composite partitions are ideal for both
historical data and striping, and provide improved manageability of range partitioning
and data placement, as well as the parallelism advantages of hash partitioning.

When creating range-hash partitions, you specify the following:

• Partitioning method: range

• Partitioning column(s)
• Partition descriptions identifying partition bounds
• Subpartitioning method: hash
• Subpartitioning column(s)
• Number of subpartitions for each partition or descriptions of subpartitions

The following statement creates a range-hash partitioned table. In this example, three
range partitions are created, each containing eight subpartitions. Because the
subpartitions are not named, system generated names are assigned, but the STORE IN
clause distributes them across the 4 specified tablespaces (ts1, ...,ts4).

CREATE TABLE scubagear (equipno NUMBER, equipname VARCHAR(32), price

NUMBER)
PARTITION BY RANGE (equipno) SUBPARTITION BY HASH(equipname)
SUBPARTITIONS 8 STORE IN (ts1, ts2, ts3, ts4)
(PARTITION p1 VALUES LESS THAN (1000),
PARTITION p2 VALUES LESS THAN (2000),
PARTITION p3 VALUES LESS THAN (MAXVALUE));

The partitions of a range-hash partitioned table are logical structures only, as their data is
stored in the segments of their subpartitions. As with partitions, these subpartitions share
the same logical attributes. Unlike range partitions in a range-partitioned table, the
subpartitions cannot have different physical attributes from the owning partition,
although they are not required to reside in the same tablespace.

When to Use Composite Range-List Partitioning

Like the composite range-hash partitioning method, the composite range-list partitioning
method provides for partitioning based on a two level hierarchy. The first level of
partitioning is based on a range of values, as for range partitioning; the second level is
based on discrete values, as for list partitioning. This form of composite partitioning is
well suited for historical data, but lets you further group the rows of data based on
unordered or unrelated column values.

When creating range-list partitions, you specify the following:

• Partitioning method: range

• Partitioning column(s)
• Partition descriptions identifying partition bounds
 • Subpartitioning method: list
• Subpartitioning column
• Subpartition descriptions, each specifying a list of literal values (a value list),
which are the discrete values of the subpartitioning column that qualify a row to
be included in the subpartition

The following example illustrates how range-list partitioning might be used. The example
tracks sales data of products by quarters and within each quarter, groups it by specified
states.

CREATE TABLE quarterly_regional_sales

(deptno number, item_no varchar2(20),
txn_date date, txn_amount number, state varchar2(2))
TABLESPACE ts4
PARTITION BY RANGE (txn_date)
SUBPARTITION BY LIST (state)
(PARTITION q1_1999 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-APR-1999','DD-
MON-YYYY'))
(SUBPARTITION q1_1999_northwest VALUES ('OR', 'WA'),
SUBPARTITION q1_1999_southwest VALUES ('AZ', 'UT', 'NM'),
SUBPARTITION q1_1999_northeast VALUES ('NY', 'VM', 'NJ'),
SUBPARTITION q1_1999_southeast VALUES ('FL', 'GA'),
SUBPARTITION q1_1999_northcentral VALUES ('SD', 'WI'),
SUBPARTITION q1_1999_southcentral VALUES ('OK', 'TX')
),
PARTITION q2_1999 VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('1-JUL-1999','DD-
MON-YYYY'))
(SUBPARTITION q2_1999_northwest VALUES ('OR', 'WA'),
SUBPARTITION q2_1999_southwest VALUES ('AZ', 'UT', 'NM'),
SUBPARTITION q2_1999_northeast VALUES ('NY', 'VM', 'NJ'),
SUBPARTITION q2_1999_southeast VALUES ('FL', 'GA'),
SUBPARTITION q2_1999_northcentral VALUES ('SD', 'WI'),
SUBPARTITION q2_1999_southcentral VALUES ('OK', 'TX')
),
PARTITION q3_1999 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-OCT-1999','DD-
MON-YYYY'))
(SUBPARTITION q3_1999_northwest VALUES ('OR', 'WA'),
SUBPARTITION q3_1999_southwest VALUES ('AZ', 'UT', 'NM'),
SUBPARTITION q3_1999_northeast VALUES ('NY', 'VM', 'NJ'),
SUBPARTITION q3_1999_southeast VALUES ('FL', 'GA'),
SUBPARTITION q3_1999_northcentral VALUES ('SD', 'WI'),
SUBPARTITION q3_1999_southcentral VALUES ('OK', 'TX')
),
PARTITION q4_1999 VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('1-JAN-2000','DD-
MON-YYYY'))
(SUBPARTITION q4_1999_northwest VALUES ('OR', 'WA'),
SUBPARTITION q4_1999_southwest VALUES ('AZ', 'UT', 'NM'),
SUBPARTITION q4_1999_northeast VALUES ('NY', 'VM', 'NJ'),
SUBPARTITION q4_1999_southeast VALUES ('FL', 'GA'),
SUBPARTITION q4_1999_northcentral VALUES ('SD', 'WI'),
SUBPARTITION q4_1999_southcentral VALUES ('OK', 'TX')
)
);
A row is mapped to a partition by checking whether the value of the partitioning column
for a row falls within a specific partition range. The row is then mapped to a subpartition
within that partition by identifying the subpartition whose descriptor value list contains a
value matching the subpartition column value.

For example, some sample rows are inserted as follows:

• (10, 4532130, '23-Jan-1999', 8934.10, 'WA') maps to subpartition

q1_1999_northwest
• (20, 5671621, '15-May-1999', 49021.21, 'OR') maps to subpartition
q2_1999_northwest
• (30, 9977612, ,'07-Sep-1999', 30987.90, 'FL') maps to subpartition
q3_1999_southeast
• (40, 9977612, '29-Nov-1999', 67891.45, 'TX') maps to subpartition
q4_1999_southcentral
• (40, 4532130, '5-Jan-2000', 897231.55, 'TX') does not map to any partition in the
table and raises an error
• (50, 5671621, '17-Dec-1999', 76123.35, 'CA') does not map to any subpartition in
the table and raises an error

The partitions of a range-list partitioned table are logical structures only, as their data is
stored in the segments of their subpartitions. The list subpartitions have the same
characteristics as list partitions. You can specify a default subpartition, just as you specify
a default partition for list partitioning.

Creating Partitioned Tables

Creating a partitioned table or index is very similar to creating a nonpartitioned table or
index (as described in Chapter 14, " Managing Tables"), but you include a partitioning
clause. The partitioning clause, and subclauses, that you include depend upon the type of
partitioning you want to achieve.

You can partition both regular (heap organized) tables and index-organized tables, except
for those containing LONG or LONG RAW columns. You can create nonpartitioned global
indexes, range or hash-partitioned global indexes, and local indexes on partitioned tables.

When you create (or alter) a partitioned table, a row movement clause, either ENABLE
ROW MOVEMENT or DISABLE ROW MOVEMENT can be specified. This clause either enables or
disables the migration of a row to a new partition if its key is updated. The default is
DISABLE ROW MOVEMENT.

The following sections present details and examples of creating partitions for the various
types of partitioned tables and indexes:

• Creating Range-Partitioned Tables and Global Indexes

• Creating Hash-Partitioned Tables and Global Indexes
 • Creating List-Partitioned Tables
• Creating Composite Range-Hash Partitioned Tables
• Creating Composite Range-List Partitioned Tables
• Using Subpartition Templates to Describe Composite Partitioned Tables
• Using Multicolumn Partitioning Keys
• Creating Partitioned Index-Organized Tables
• Partitioning Restrictions for Multiple Block Sizes

See Also:

 Oracle Database SQL Reference for the exact syntax of

the partitioning clauses for creating and altering partitioned
tables and indexes, any restrictions on their use, and specific
privileges required for creating and altering tables
 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Large
Objects for information specific to creating partitioned tables
containing columns with LOBs or other objects stored as LOBs

 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide -

Object-Relational Features for information specific to creating
tables with object types, nested tables, or VARRAYs.

Creating Range-Partitioned Tables and Global Indexes

The PARTITION BY RANGE clause of the CREATE TABLE statement specifies that the table
or index is to be range-partitioned. The PARTITION clauses identify the individual
partition ranges, and optional subclauses of a PARTITION clause can specify physical and
other attributes specific to a partition segment. If not overridden at the partition level,
partitions inherit the attributes of their underlying table.

Creating a Range Partitioned Table

In this example, more complexity is added to the example presented earlier for a range-
partitioned table. Storage parameters and a LOGGING attribute are specified at the table
level. These replace the corresponding defaults inherited from the tablespace level for the
table itself, and are inherited by the range partitions. However, since there was little
business in the first quarter, the storage attributes for partition sales_q1 are made
smaller. The ENABLE ROW MOVEMENT clause is specified to allow the migration of a row to
a new partition if an update to a key value is made that would place the row in a different
partition.
CREATE TABLE sales
( invoice_no NUMBER,
sale_year INT NOT NULL,
sale_month INT NOT NULL,
sale_day INT NOT NULL )
STORAGE (INITIAL 100K NEXT 50K) LOGGING
PARTITION BY RANGE ( sale_year, sale_month, sale_day)
( PARTITION sales_q1 VALUES LESS THAN ( 1999, 04, 01 )
TABLESPACE tsa STORAGE (INITIAL 20K, NEXT 10K),
PARTITION sales_q2 VALUES LESS THAN ( 1999, 07, 01 )
TABLESPACE tsb,
PARTITION sales_q3 VALUES LESS THAN ( 1999, 10, 01 )
TABLESPACE tsc,
PARTITION sales q4 VALUES LESS THAN ( 2000, 01, 01 )
TABLESPACE tsd)
ENABLE ROW MOVEMENT;

Creating a Range-Partitioned Global Index

The rules for creating range-partitioned global indexes are similar to those for creating
range-partitioned tables. The following is an example of creating a range-partitioned
global index on sales_month for the table created in the preceding example. Each index
partition is named but is stored in the default tablespace for the index.

CREATE INDEX month_ix ON sales(sales_month)

GLOBAL PARTITION BY RANGE(sales_month)
(PARTITION pm1_ix VALUES LESS THAN (2)
PARTITION pm2_ix VALUES LESS THAN (3)
PARTITION pm3_ix VALUES LESS THAN (4)
PARTITION pm4_ix VALUES LESS THAN (5)
PARTITION pm5_ix VALUES LESS THAN (6)
PARTITION pm6_ix VALUES LESS THAN (7)
PARTITION pm7_ix VALUES LESS THAN (8)
PARTITION pm8_ix VALUES LESS THAN (9)
PARTITION pm9_ix VALUES LESS THAN (10)
PARTITION pm10_ix VALUES LESS THAN (11)
PARTITION pm11_ix VALUES LESS THAN (12)
PARTITION pm12_ix VALUES LESS THAN (MAXVALUE));

Note:

If your enterprise has or will have databases using different character

sets, use caution when partitioning on character columns, because the
sort sequence of characters is not identical in all character sets. For more
information, see Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide.

Creating Hash-Partitioned Tables and Global Indexes

The PARTITION BY HASH clause of the CREATE TABLE statement identifies that the table
is to be hash-partitioned. The PARTITIONS clause can then be used to specify the number
of partitions to create, and optionally, the tablespaces to store them in. Alternatively, you
can use PARTITION clauses to name the individual partitions and their tablespaces.

The only attribute you can specify for hash partitions is TABLESPACE. All of the hash
partitions of a table must share the same segment attributes (except TABLESPACE), which
are inherited from the table level.

Creating a Hash Partitioned Table

The following examples illustrate two methods of creating a hash-partitioned table named
dept. In the first example the number of partitions is specified, but system generated
names are assigned to them and they are stored in the default tablespace of the table.

CREATE TABLE dept (deptno NUMBER, deptname VARCHAR(32))

PARTITION BY HASH(deptno) PARTITIONS 16;

In this second example, names of individual partitions, and tablespaces in which they are
to reside, are specified. The initial extent size for each hash partition (segment) is also
explicitly stated at the table level, and all partitions inherit this attribute.

CREATE TABLE dept (deptno NUMBER, deptname VARCHAR(32))

STORAGE (INITIAL 10K)
PARTITION BY HASH(deptno)
(PARTITION p1 TABLESPACE ts1, PARTITION p2 TABLESPACE ts2,
PARTITION p3 TABLESPACE ts1, PARTITION p4 TABLESPACE ts3);

If you create a local index for this table, the database constructs the index so that it is
equipartitioned with the underlying table. The database also ensures that the index is
maintained automatically when maintenance operations are performed on the underlying
table. The following is an example of creating a local index on the table dept:

CREATE INDEX loc_dept_ix ON dept(deptno) LOCAL;

You can optionally name the hash partitions and tablespaces into which the local index
partitions are to be stored, but if you do not do so, the database uses the name of the
corresponding base partition as the index partition name, and stores the index partition in
the same tablespace as the table partition.

Creating a Hash-Partitioned Global Index

Hash partitioned global indexes can improve the performance of indexes where a small
number of leaf blocks in the index have high contention in multiuser OLTP
environments. Queries involving the equality and IN predicates on the index partitioning
key can efficiently use hash-partitioned global indexes.
The syntax for creating a hash partitioned global index is similar to that used for a hash
partitioned table. For example, the following statement creates a hash-partitioned global
index:

CREATE INDEX hgidx ON tab (c1,c2,c3) GLOBAL

PARTITION BY HASH (c1,c2)
(PARTITION p1 TABLESPACE tbs_1,
PARTITION p2 TABLESPACE tbs_2,
PARTITION p3 TABLESPACE tbs_3,
PARTITION p4 TABLESPACE tbs_4);

Creating List-Partitioned Tables

The semantics for creating list partitions are very similar to those for creating range
partitions. However, to create list partitions, you specify a PARTITION BY LIST clause in
the CREATE TABLE statement, and the PARTITION clauses specify lists of literal values,
which are the discrete values of the partitioning columns that qualify rows to be included
in the partition. For list partitioning, the partitioning key can only be a single column
name from the table.

Available only with list partitioning, you can use the keyword DEFAULT to describe the
value list for a partition. This identifies a partition that will accommodate rows that do
not map into any of the other partitions.

As for range partitions, optional subclauses of a PARTITION clause can specify physical
and other attributes specific to a partition segment. If not overridden at the partition level,
partitions inherit the attributes of their parent table.

The following example creates table sales_by_region and partitions it using the list
method. The first two PARTITION clauses specify physical attributes, which override the
table-level defaults. The remaining PARTITION clauses do not specify attributes and those
partitions inherit their physical attributes from table-level defaults. A default partition is
specified.

CREATE TABLE sales_by_region (item# INTEGER, qty INTEGER,

store_name VARCHAR(30), state_code VARCHAR(2),
sale_date DATE)
STORAGE(INITIAL 10K NEXT 20K) TABLESPACE tbs5
PARTITION BY LIST (state_code)
(
PARTITION region_east
VALUES ('MA','NY','CT','NH','ME','MD','VA','PA','NJ')
STORAGE (INITIAL 20K NEXT 40K PCTINCREASE 50)
TABLESPACE tbs8,
PARTITION region_west
VALUES ('CA','AZ','NM','OR','WA','UT','NV','CO')
PCTFREE 25 NOLOGGING,
PARTITION region_south
VALUES ('TX','KY','TN','LA','MS','AR','AL','GA'),
PARTITION region_central
 VALUES ('OH','ND','SD','MO','IL','MI','IA'),
PARTITION region_null
VALUES (NULL),
PARTITION region_unknown
VALUES (DEFAULT)
);

Creating Composite Range-Hash Partitioned Tables

To create a range-hash partitioned table, you start by using the PARTITION BY RANGE
clause of a CREATE TABLE statement. Next, you specify a SUBPARTITION BY HASH clause
that follows similar syntax and rules as the PARTITION BY HASH clause. The individual
PARTITION and SUBPARTITION or SUBPARTITIONS clauses, and optionally a
SUBPARTITION TEMPLATE clause, follow.

Attributes specified for a range partition apply to all subpartitions of that partition. You
can specify different attributes for each range partition, and you can specify a STORE IN
clause at the partition level if the list of tablespaces across which the subpartitions of that
partition should be spread is different from those of other partitions. All of this is
illustrated in the following example.

CREATE TABLE emp (deptno NUMBER, empname VARCHAR(32), grade NUMBER)

PARTITION BY RANGE(deptno) SUBPARTITION BY HASH(empname)
SUBPARTITIONS 8 STORE IN (ts1, ts3, ts5, ts7)
(PARTITION p1 VALUES LESS THAN (1000) PCTFREE 40,
PARTITION p2 VALUES LESS THAN (2000)
STORE IN (ts2, ts4, ts6, ts8),
PARTITION p3 VALUES LESS THAN (MAXVALUE)
(SUBPARTITION p3_s1 TABLESPACE ts4,
SUBPARTITION p3_s2 TABLESPACE ts5));

To learn how using a subpartition template can simplify the specification of a composite
partitioned table, see "Using Subpartition Templates to Describe Composite Partitioned
Tables".

The following statement is an example of creating a local index on the emp table where
the index segments are spread across tablespaces ts7, ts8, and ts9.

CREATE INDEX emp_ix ON emp(deptno)

LOCAL STORE IN (ts7, ts8, ts9);

This local index is equipartitioned with the base table as follows:

• It consists of as many partitions as the base table.

• Each index partition consists of as many subpartitions as the corresponding base
table partition.
 • Index entries for rows in a given subpartition of the base table are stored in the
corresponding subpartition of the index.

Creating Composite Range-List Partitioned Tables

The concept of range-list partitioning is similar to that of the other composite partitioning
method, range-hash, but this time you specify that the subpartitions are to be list rather
than hash. Specifically, after the CREATE TABLE ... PARTITION BY RANGE clause, you
include a SUBPARTITION BY LIST clause that follows similar syntax and rules as the
PARTITION BY LIST clause. The individual PARTITION and SUBPARTITION clauses, and
optionally a SUBPARTITION TEMPLATE clause, follow.

The range partitions of the composite partitioned table are described as for noncomposite
range partitioned tables. This allows that optional subclauses of a PARTITION clause can
specify physical and other attributes, including tablespace, specific to a partition segment.
If not overridden at the partition level, partitions inherit the attributes of their underlying
table.

The list subpartition descriptions, in the SUBPARTITION clauses, are described as for
noncomposite list partitions, except the only physical attribute that can be specified is a
tablespace (optional). Subpartitions inherit all other physical attributes from the partition
description.

The following example of creates a table that specifies a tablespace at the partition and
subpartition levels. The number of subpartitions within each partition varies, and default
subpartitions are specified.

CREATE TABLE sample_regional_sales

(deptno number, item_no varchar2(20),
txn_date date, txn_amount number, state varchar2(2))
PARTITION BY RANGE (txn_date)
SUBPARTITION BY LIST (state)
(PARTITION q1_1999 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-APR-1999','DD-
MON-YYYY'))
TABLESPACE tbs_1
(SUBPARTITION q1_1999_northwest VALUES ('OR', 'WA'),
SUBPARTITION q1_1999_southwest VALUES ('AZ', 'UT', 'NM'),
SUBPARTITION q1_1999_northeast VALUES ('NY', 'VM', 'NJ'),
SUBPARTITION q1_1999_southeast VALUES ('FL', 'GA'),
SUBPARTITION q1_others VALUES (DEFAULT) TABLESPACE tbs_4
),
PARTITION q2_1999 VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('1-JUL-1999','DD-
MON-YYYY'))
TABLESPACE tbs_2
(SUBPARTITION q2_1999_northwest VALUES ('OR', 'WA'),
SUBPARTITION q2_1999_southwest VALUES ('AZ', 'UT', 'NM'),
SUBPARTITION q2_1999_northeast VALUES ('NY', 'VM', 'NJ'),
SUBPARTITION q2_1999_southeast VALUES ('FL', 'GA'),
SUBPARTITION q2_1999_northcentral VALUES ('SD', 'WI'),
SUBPARTITION q2_1999_southcentral VALUES ('OK', 'TX')
 ),
PARTITION q3_1999 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-OCT-1999','DD-
MON-YYYY'))
TABLESPACE tbs_3
(SUBPARTITION q3_1999_northwest VALUES ('OR', 'WA'),
SUBPARTITION q3_1999_southwest VALUES ('AZ', 'UT', 'NM'),
SUBPARTITION q3_others VALUES (DEFAULT) TABLESPACE tbs_4
),
PARTITION q4_1999 VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('1-JAN-2000','DD-
MON-YYYY'))
TABLESPACE tbs_4
);

This example results in the following subpartition descriptions:

• All subpartitions inherit their physical attributes, other than tablespace, from
tablespace level defaults. This is because the only physical attribute that has been
specified for partitions or subpartitions is tablespace. There are no table level
physical attributes specified, thus tablespace level defaults are inherited at all
levels.
• The first 4 subpartitions of partition q1_1999 are all contained in tbs_1, except
for the subpartition q1_others, which is stored in tbs_4 and contains all rows
that do not map to any of the other partitions.
• The 6 subpartitions of partition q2_1999 are all stored in tbs_2.
• The first 2 subpartitions of partition q3_1999 are all contained in tbs_3, except
for the subpartition q3_others, which is stored in tbs_4 and contains all rows
that do not map to any of the other partitions.
• There is no subpartition description for partition q4_1999. This results in one
default subpartition being created and stored in tbs_4. The subpartition name is
system generated in the form SYS_SUBPn.

To learn how using a subpartition template can simplify the specification of a composite
partitioned table, see "Using Subpartition Templates to Describe Composite Partitioned
Tables".

Using Subpartition Templates to Describe Composite Partitioned

Tables

You can create subpartitions in a composite partitioned table using a subpartition

template. A subpartition template simplifies the specification of subpartitions by not
requiring that a subpartition descriptor be specified for every partition in the table.
Instead, you describe subpartitions only once in a template, then apply that subpartition
template to every partition in the table.

The subpartition template is used whenever a subpartition descriptor is not specified for a
partition. If a subpartition descriptor is specified, then it is used instead of the subpartition
template for that partition. If no subpartition template is specified, and no subpartition
descriptor is supplied for a partition, then a single default subpartition is created.

Specifying a Subpartition Template for a Range-Hash Partitioned Table

In the case of range-hash partitioned tables, the subpartition template can describe the
subpartitions in detail, or it can specify just the number of hash subpartitions.

The following example creates a range-hash partitioned table using a subpartition

template:

CREATE TABLE emp_sub_template (deptno NUMBER, empname VARCHAR(32),

grade NUMBER)
PARTITION BY RANGE(deptno) SUBPARTITION BY HASH(empname)
SUBPARTITION TEMPLATE
(SUBPARTITION a TABLESPACE ts1,
SUBPARTITION b TABLESPACE ts2,
SUBPARTITION c TABLESPACE ts3,
SUBPARTITION d TABLESPACE ts4
)
(PARTITION p1 VALUES LESS THAN (1000),
PARTITION p2 VALUES LESS THAN (2000),
PARTITION p3 VALUES LESS THAN (MAXVALUE)
);

This example produces the following table description:

• Every partition has four subpartitions as described in the subpartition template.

• Each subpartition has a tablespace specified. It is required that if a tablespace is
specified for one subpartition in a subpartition template, then one must be
specified for all.
• The names of the subpartitions are generated by concatenating the partition name
with the subpartition name in the form:

partition name_subpartition name

The following query displays the subpartition names and tablespaces:

SQL> SELECT TABLESPACE_NAME, PARTITION_NAME, SUBPARTITION_NAME

2 FROM DBA_TAB_SUBPARTITIONS WHERE TABLE_NAME='EMP_SUB_TEMPLATE'
3 ORDER BY TABLESPACE_NAME;

TABLESPACE_NAME PARTITION_NAME SUBPARTITION_NAME

--------------- --------------- ------------------
TS1 P1 P1_A
TS1 P2 P2_A
TS1 P3 P3_A
TS2 P1 P1_B
TS2 P2 P2_B
TS2 P3 P3_B
TS3 P1 P1_C
TS3 P2 P2_C
TS3 P3 P3_C
TS4 P1 P1_D
TS4 P2 P2_D
TS4 P3 P3_D

12 rows selected.

Specifying a Subpartition Template for a Range-List Partitioned Table

The following example, for a range-list partitioned table, illustrates how using a
subpartition template can help you stripe data across tablespaces. In this example a table
is created where the table subpartitions are vertically striped, meaning that subpartition n
from every partition is in the same tablespace.

CREATE TABLE stripe_regional_sales

( deptno number, item_no varchar2(20),
txn_date date, txn_amount number, state varchar2(2))
PARTITION BY RANGE (txn_date)
SUBPARTITION BY LIST (state)
SUBPARTITION TEMPLATE
(SUBPARTITION northwest VALUES ('OR', 'WA') TABLESPACE tbs_1,
SUBPARTITION southwest VALUES ('AZ', 'UT', 'NM') TABLESPACE
tbs_2,
SUBPARTITION northeast VALUES ('NY', 'VM', 'NJ') TABLESPACE
tbs_3,
SUBPARTITION southeast VALUES ('FL', 'GA') TABLESPACE tbs_4,
SUBPARTITION midwest VALUES ('SD', 'WI') TABLESPACE tbs_5,
SUBPARTITION south VALUES ('AL', 'AK') TABLESPACE tbs_6,
SUBPARTITION others VALUES (DEFAULT ) TABLESPACE tbs_7
)
(PARTITION q1_1999 VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('01-APR-1999','DD-MON-
YYYY')),
PARTITION q2_1999 VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('01-JUL-1999','DD-MON-
YYYY')),
PARTITION q3_1999 VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('01-OCT-1999','DD-MON-
YYYY')),
PARTITION q4_1999 VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('1-JAN-2000','DD-MON-
YYYY'))
);

If you specified the tablespaces at the partition level (for example, tbs_1 for partition
q1_1999, tbs_2 for partition q1_1999, tbs_3 for partition q3_1999, and tbs_4 for
partition q4_1999) and not in the subpartition template, then the table would be
horizontally striped. All subpartitions would be in the tablespace of the owning partition.

Using Multicolumn Partitioning Keys

For range- and hash-partitioned tables, you can specify up to 16 partitioning key
columns. Multicolumn partitioning should be used when the partitioning key is composed
of several columns and subsequent columns define a higher granularity than the
preceding ones. The most common scenario is a decomposed DATE or TIMESTAMP key,
consisting of separated columns, for year, month, and day.

In evaluating multicolumn partitioning keys, the database uses the second value only if
the first value cannot uniquely identify a single target partition, and uses the third value
only if the first and second do not determine the correct partition, and so forth. A value
cannot determine the correct partition only when a partition bound exactly matches that
value and the same bound is defined for the next partition. The nth column will therefore
be investigated only when all previous (n-1) values of the multicolumn key exactly match
the (n-1) bounds of a partition. A second column, for example, will be evaluated only if
the first column exactly matches the partition boundary value. If all column values
exactly match all of the bound values for a partition, the database will determine that the
row does not fit in this partition and will consider the next partition for a match.

In the case of nondeterministic boundary definitions (successive partitions with identical

values for at least one column), the partition boundary value becomes an inclusive value,
representing a "less than or equal to" boundary. This is in contrast to deterministic
boundaries, where the values are always regarded as "less than" boundaries.

The following example illustrates the column evaluation for a multicolumn range-
partitioned table, storing the actual DATE information in three separate columns: year,
month, and date. The partitioning granularity is a calendar quarter. The partitioned table
being evaluated is created as follows:

CREATE TABLE sales_demo (

year NUMBER,
month NUMBER,
day NUMBER,
amount_sold NUMBER)
PARTITION BY RANGE (year,month)
(PARTITION before2001 VALUES LESS THAN (2001,1),
PARTITION q1_2001 VALUES LESS THAN (2001,4),
PARTITION q2_2001 VALUES LESS THAN (2001,7),
PARTITION q3_2001 VALUES LESS THAN (2001,10),
PARTITION q4_2001 VALUES LESS THAN (2002,1),
PARTITION future VALUES LESS THAN (MAXVALUE,0));

REM 12-DEC-2000
INSERT INTO sales_demo VALUES(2000,12,12, 1000);
REM 17-MAR-2001
INSERT INTO sales_demo VALUES(2001,3,17, 2000);
REM 1-NOV-2001
INSERT INTO sales_demo VALUES(2001,11,1, 5000);
REM 1-JAN-2002
INSERT INTO sales_demo VALUES(2002,1,1, 4000);

The year value for 12-DEC-2000 satisfied the first partition, before2001, so no further
evaluation is needed:
SELECT * FROM sales_demo PARTITION(before2001);

YEAR MONTH DAY AMOUNT_SOLD

---------- ---------- ---------- -----------
2000 12 12 1000

The information for 17-MAR-2001 is stored in partition q1_2001. The first partitioning
key column, year, does not by itself determine the correct partition, so the second
partition key column, month, must be evaluated.

SELECT * FROM sales_demo PARTITION(q1_2001);

YEAR MONTH DAY AMOUNT_SOLD

---------- ---------- ---------- -----------
2001 3 17 2000

Following the same determination rule as for the previous record, the second column,
month, determines partition q4_2001 as correct partition for 1-NOV-2001:

SELECT * FROM sales_demo PARTITION(q4_2001);

YEAR MONTH DAY AMOUNT_SOLD

---------- ---------- ---------- -----------
2001 11 1 5000

The partition for 01-JAN-2002 is determined by evaluating only the year column, which
indicates the future partition:

SELECT * FROM sales_demo PARTITION(future);

YEAR MONTH DAY AMOUNT_SOLD

---------- ---------- ---------- -----------
2002 1 1 4000

If the database encounters MAXVALUE in one of the partition key columns, all other values
of subsequent columns become irrelevant. That is, a definition of partition future in the
preceding example, having a bound of (MAXVALUE,0) is equivalent to a bound of
(MAXVALUE,100) or a bound of (MAXVALUE,MAXVALUE).

The following example illustrates the use of a multicolumn partitioned approach for table
supplier_parts, storing the information about which suppliers deliver which parts. To
distribute the data in equal-sized partitions, it is not sufficient to partition the table based
on the supplier_id, because some suppliers might provide hundreds of thousands of
parts, while others provide only a few specialty parts. Instead, you partition the table on
(supplier_id, partnum) to manually enforce equal-sized partitions.
CREATE TABLE supplier_parts (
supplier_id NUMBER,
partnum NUMBER,
price NUMBER)
PARTITION BY RANGE (supplier_id, partnum)
(PARTITION p1 VALUES LESS THAN (10,100),
PARTITION p2 VALUES LESS THAN (10,200),
PARTITION p3 VALUES LESS THAN (MAXVALUE,MAXVALUE));

The following three records are inserted into the table:

INSERT INTO supplier_parts VALUES (5,5, 1000);

INSERT INTO supplier_parts VALUES (5,150, 1000);
INSERT INTO supplier_parts VALUES (10,100, 1000);

The first two records are inserted into partition p1, uniquely identified by supplier_id.
However, the third record is inserted into partition p2; it matches all range boundary
values of partition p1 exactly and the database therefore considers the following partition
for a match. The value of partnum satisfies the criteria < 200, so it is inserted into
partition p2.

SELECT * FROM supplier_parts PARTITION (p1);

SUPPLIER_ID PARTNUM PRICE

----------- ---------- ----------
5 5 1000
5 150 1000

SELECT * FROM supplier_parts PARTITION (p2);

SUPPLIER_ID PARTNUM PRICE

----------- ---------- ----------
10 100 1000

Every row with supplier_id < 10 will be stored in partition p1, regardless of the
partnum value. The column partnum will be evaluated only if supplier_id =10, and the
corresponding rows will be inserted into partition p1, p2, or even into p3 when partnum
>=200. To achieve equal-sized partitions for ranges of supplier_parts, you could
choose a composite range-hash partitioned table, range partitioned by supplier_id, hash
subpartitioned by partnum.

Defining the partition boundaries for multicolumn partitioned tables must obey some
rules. For example, consider a table that is range partitioned on three columns a, b, and c.
The individual partitions have range values represented as follows:

P0(a0, b0, c0)

P1(a1, b1, c1)
P2(a2, b2, c2)
…
Pn(an, bn, cn)

The range values you provide for each partition must follow these rules:

• a0 must be less than or equal to a1, and a1 must be less than or equal to a2, and
so on.
• If a0=a1, then b0 must be less than or equal to b1. If a0 < a1, then b0 and b1 can
have any values. If b0=b1, then c0 must be less than or equal to c1. If b0<b1, then
c0 and c1 can have any values, and so on.
• If a1=a2, then b1 must be less than or equal to b2. If a1<a2, then b1 and b2 can
have any values. If b1=b2, then c1 must be less than or equal to c2. If b1<b2, then
c0 and c1 can have any values, and so on.

Using Table Compression with Partitioned Tables

For heap-organized partitioned tables, you can compress some or all partitions using table
compression. The compression attribute can be declared for a tablespace, a table, or a
partition of a table. Whenever the compress attribute is not specified, it is inherited like
any other storage attribute.

The following example creates a list-partitioned table with one compressed partition
costs_old. The compression attribute for the table and all other partitions is inherited
from the tablespace level.

CREATE TABLE costs_demo (

prod_id NUMBER(6), time_id DATE,
unit_cost NUMBER(10,2), unit_price NUMBER(10,2))
PARTITION BY RANGE (time_id)
(PARTITION costs_old
VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('01-JAN-2003', 'DD-MON-YYYY'))
COMPRESS,
PARTITION costs_q1_2003
VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('01-APR-2003', 'DD-MON-YYYY')),
PARTITION costs_q2_2003
VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('01-JUN-2003', 'DD-MON-YYYY')),
PARTITION costs_recent VALUES LESS THAN (MAXVALUE));

Using Key Compression with Partitioned Indexes

You can compress some or all partitions of a B-tree index using key compression. Key
compression is applicable only to B-tree indexes. Bitmap indexes are stored in a
compressed manner by default. Index using key compression eliminates repeated
occurrences of key column prefix values, thus saving space and I/O.

The following example crates a local partitioned index with all partitions except the most
recent one compressed:
CREATE INDEX i_cost1 ON costs_demo (prod_id) COMPRESS LOCAL
(PARTITION costs_old, PARTITION costs_q1_2003,
PARTITION costs_q2_2003, PARTITION costs_recent NOCOMPRESS);

You cannot specify COMPRESS (or NOCOMPRESS) explicitly for an index subpartition. All
index subpartitions of a given partition inherit the key compression setting from the
parent partition.

To modify the key compression attribute for all subpartitions of a given partition, you
must first issue an ALTER INDEX ... MODIFY PARTITION statement and then rebuild all
subpartitions. The MODIFY PARTITION clause will mark all index subpartitions as
UNUSABLE.

Creating Partitioned Index-Organized Tables

For index-organized tables, you can use the range, list, or hash partitioning method. The
semantics for creating partitioned index-organized tables is similar to that for regular
tables with these differences:

• When you create the table you specify the ORGANIZATION INDEX clause, and
INCLUDING and OVERFLOW clauses as necessary.
• The PARTITION or PARTITIONS clauses can have OVERFLOW subclauses that allow
you to specify attributes of the overflow segments at the partition level.

Specifying an OVERFLOW clause results in the overflow data segments themselves being
equipartitioned with the primary key index segments. Thus, for partitioned index-
organized tables with overflow, each partition has an index segment and an overflow data
segment.

For index-organized tables, the set of partitioning columns must be a subset of the
primary key columns. Since rows of an index-organized table are stored in the primary
key index for the table, the partitioning criterion has an effect on the availability. By
choosing the partition key to be a subset of the primary key, an insert operation only
needs to verify uniqueness of the primary key in a single partition, thereby maintaining
partition independence.

Support for secondary indexes on index-organized tables is similar to the support for
regular tables. Because of the logical nature of the secondary indexes, global indexes on
index-organized tables remain usable for certain operations where they would be marked
UNUSABLE for regular tables.

See Also:

• "Managing Index-Organized Tables "

 • "Maintaining Partitioned Tables"

• Oracle Database Concepts for more information about index-

organized tables

Creating Range-Partitioned Index-Organized Tables

You can partition index-organized tables, and their secondary indexes, by the range
method. In the following example, a range-partitioned index-organized table sales is
created. The INCLUDING clause specifies all columns after week_no are stored in an
overflow segment. There is one overflow segment for each partition, all stored in the
same tablespace (overflow_here). Optionally, OVERFLOW TABLESPACE could be
specified at the individual partition level, in which case some or all of the overflow
segments could have separate TABLESPACE attributes.

CREATE TABLE sales(acct_no NUMBER(5),

acct_name CHAR(30),
amount_of_sale NUMBER(6),
week_no INTEGER,
sale_details VARCHAR2(1000),
PRIMARY KEY (acct_no, acct_name, week_no))
ORGANIZATION INDEX
INCLUDING week_no
OVERFLOW TABLESPACE overflow_here
PARTITION BY RANGE (week_no)
(PARTITION VALUES LESS THAN (5)
TABLESPACE ts1,
PARTITION VALUES LESS THAN (9)
TABLESPACE ts2 OVERFLOW TABLESPACE overflow_ts2,
...
PARTITION VALUES LESS THAN (MAXVALUE)
TABLESPACE ts13);

Creating List-Partitioned Index-Organized Tables

Another option for partitioning index-organized tables is to use the list method. In the
following example the index-organized table, sales, is partitioned by the list method.
This example uses the example tablespace, which is part of the sample schemas in your
seed database. Normally you would specify different tablespace storage for different
partitions.

CREATE TABLE sales(acct_no NUMBER(5),

acct_name CHAR(30),
amount_of_sale NUMBER(6),
week_no INTEGER,
sale_details VARCHAR2(1000),
PRIMARY KEY (acct_no, acct_name, week_no))
ORGANIZATION INDEX
INCLUDING week_no
 OVERFLOW TABLESPACE example
PARTITION BY LIST (week_no)
(PARTITION VALUES (1, 2, 3, 4)
TABLESPACE example,
PARTITION VALUES (5, 6, 7, 8)
TABLESPACE example OVERFLOW TABLESPACE example,
PARTITION VALUES (DEFAULT)
TABLESPACE example);

Creating Hash-Partitioned Index-Organized Tables

The other option for partitioning index-organized tables is to use the hash method. In the
following example the index-organized table, sales, is partitioned by the hash method.

CREATE TABLE sales(acct_no NUMBER(5),

acct_name CHAR(30),
amount_of_sale NUMBER(6),
week_no INTEGER,
sale_details VARCHAR2(1000),
PRIMARY KEY (acct_no, acct_name, week_no))
ORGANIZATION INDEX
INCLUDING week_no
OVERFLOW
PARTITION BY HASH (week_no)
PARTITIONS 16
STORE IN (ts1, ts2, ts3, ts4)
OVERFLOW STORE IN (ts3, ts6, ts9);

Note:

A well-designed hash function is intended to distribute rows in a well-

balanced fashion among the partitions. Therefore, updating the primary
key column(s) of a row is very likely to move that row to a different
partition. Oracle recommends that you explicitly specify the ROW
MOVEMENT ENABLE clause when creating a hash-partitioned index-
organized table with a changeable partitioning key. The default is that
ROW MOVEMENT ENABLE is disabled.

Partitioning Restrictions for Multiple Block Sizes

Use caution when creating partitioned objects in a database with tablespaces of multiple
block size. The storage of partitioned objects in such tablespaces is subject to some
restrictions. Specifically, all partitions of the following entities must reside in tablespaces
of the same block size:

• Conventional tables
• Indexes
• Primary key index segments of index-organized tables
 • Overflow segments of index-organized tables
• LOB columns stored out of line

Therefore:

• For each conventional table, all partitions of that table must be stored in
tablespaces with the same block size.
• For each index-organized table, all primary key index partitions must reside in
tablespaces of the same block size, and all overflow partitions of that table must
reside in tablespaces of the same block size. However, index partitions and
overflow partitions can reside in tablespaces of different block size.
• For each index (global or local), each partition of that index must reside in
tablespaces of the same block size. However, partitions of different indexes
defined on the same object can reside in tablespaces of different block sizes.
• For each LOB column, each partition of that column must be stored in tablespaces
of equal block sizes. However, different LOB columns can be stored in tablespaces
of different block sizes.

When you create or alter a partitioned table or index, all tablespaces you explicitly specify
for the partitions and subpartitions of each entity must be of the same block size. If you
do not explicitly specify tablespace storage for an entity, the tablespaces the database uses
by default must be of the same block size. Therefore you must be aware of the default
tablespaces at each level of the partitioned object.

Maintaining Partitioned Tables

This section describes how to perform partition and subpartition maintenance operations
for both tables and indexes.

Table 16-1 lists maintenance operations that can be performed on table partitions (or
subpartitions) and, for each type of partitioning, lists the specific clause of the ALTER
TABLE statement that is used to perform that maintenance operation.

Table 16-1 ALTER TABLE Maintenance Operations for Table Partitions

Maintenance Composite: Composite:

Operation Range Hash List Range/Hash Range/List
Adding ADD ADD ADD PARTITION ADD ADD PARTITION
PARTITION PARTITION PARTITION
Partitions
MODIFY
MODIFY PARTITION ...
PARTITION .. ADD
. ADD SUBPARTITION
SUBPARTITION

Coalescing n/a COALESCE n/a MODIFY n/a

Maintenance Composite: Composite:
Operation Range Hash List Range/Hash Range/List
Partitions PARTITION PARTITION ..
. COALESCE
SUBPARTITION

Dropping DROP n/a DROP PARTITION DROP DROP

PARTITION PARTITION PARTITION
Partitions
DROP
SUBPARTITION

Exchanging EXCHANGE EXCHANGE EXCHANGE EXCHANGE EXCHANGE

PARTITION PARTITION PARTITION PARTITION PARTITION
Partitions
EXCHANGE EXCHANGE
SUBPARTITION SUBPARTITION

Merging MERGE n/a MERGE PARTITIONS MERGE MERGE

PARTITIONS PARTITIONS PARTITIONS
Partitions
MERGE
SUBPARTITIONS

Modifying MODIFY MODIFY MODIFY DEFAULT MODIFY MODIFY

DEFAULT DEFAULT ATTRIBUTES DEFAULT DEFAULT
Default
ATTRIBUTES ATTRIBUTES ATTRIBUTES ATTRIBUTES
Attributes
MODIFY MODIFY
DEFAULT DEFAULT
ATTRIBUTES ATTRIBUTES
FOR FOR PARTITION
PARTITION

Modifying MODIFY MODIFY MODIFY PARTITION MODIFY MODIFY

Real Attributes PARTITION PARTITION PARTITION PARTITION
of Partitions
MODIFY MODIFY
SUBPARTITION SUBPARTITION

Modifying List n/a n/a MODIFY n/a MODIFY

PARTITION...ADD SUBPARTITION
Partitions:
VALUES ... ADD
Adding Values VALUES

Modifying List n/a n/a MODIFY n/a MODIFY

PARTITION...DROP SUBPARTITION
Partitions:
VALUES ... DROP
Dropping VALUES
Values
Modifying a n/a n/a n/a SET SET
SUBPARTITION SUBPARTITION
Subpartition
TEMPLATE TEMPLATE
Template
Moving MOVE MOVE MOVE PARTITION MOVE MOVE
Maintenance Composite: Composite:
Operation Range Hash List Range/Hash Range/List
Partitions PARTITION PARTITION SUBPARTITION SUBPARTITION

Renaming RENAME RENAME RENAME PARTITION RENAME RENAME

PARTITION PARTITION PARTITION PARTITION
Partitions
RENAME RENAME
SUBPARTITION SUBPARTITION

Splitting SPLIT n/a SPLIT PARTITION SPLIT SPLIT

PARTITION PARTITION PARTITION
Partitions
SPLIT
SUBPARTITION

Truncating TRUNCATE TRUNCATE TRUNCATE TRUNCATE TRUNCATE

PARTITION PARTITION PARTITION PARTITION PARTITION
Partitions
TRUNCATE TRUNCATE
SUBPARTITION SUBPARTITION

Note:

The first time you use table compression to introduce a compressed

partition into a partitioned table that has bitmap indexes and that
currently contains only uncompressed partitions, you must do the
following:

• Either drop all existing bitmap indexes and bitmap index

partitions, or mark them UNUSABLE.
• Set the table compression attribute.
• Rebuild the indexes.

These actions are independent of whether any partitions contain data

and of the operation that introduces the compressed partition.

This does not apply to partitioned tables with B-tree indexes or to

partitioned index-organized tables.

For more information, see the Oracle Data Warehousing Guide.

Table 16-2 lists maintenance operations that can be performed on index partitions, and
indicates on which type of index (global or local) they can be performed. The ALTER
INDEX clause used for the maintenance operation is shown.
Global indexes do not reflect the structure of the underlying table. If partitioned, they can
be partitioned by range or hash. Partitioned global indexes share some, but not all, of the
partition maintenance operations that can be performed on partitioned tables.

Because local indexes reflect the underlying structure of the table, partitioning is
maintained automatically when table partitions and subpartitions are affected by
maintenance activity. Therefore, partition maintenance on local indexes is less necessary
and there are fewer options.

Table 16-2 ALTER INDEX Maintenance Operations for Index Partitions

Type of Index Partitioning

Maintenance Type of
Operation Index Range Hash and List Composite
Adding Index Global - ADD PARTITION -
Partitions (hash only)
Local n/a n/a n/a
Dropping Index Global DROP - -
PARTITION
Partitions
Local n/a n/a n/a
Modifying Default Global MODIFY - -
DEFAULT
Attributes of Index
ATTRIBUTES
Partitions
Local MODIFY MODIFY MODIFY DEFAULT
DEFAULT DEFAULT ATTRIBUTES
ATTRIBUTES ATTRIBUTES
MODIFY DEFAULT
ATTRIBUTES FOR
PARTITION

Modifying Real Global MODIFY - -

PARTITION
Attributes of Index
Partitions Local MODIFY MODIFY MODIFY PARTITION
PARTITION PARTITION
MODIFY
SUBPARTITION

Rebuilding Index Global REBUILD - -

PARTITION
Partitions
Local REBUILD REBUILD REBUILD
PARTITION PARTITION SUBPARTITION

Renaming Index Global RENAME - -

PARTITION
Partitions
Local RENAME RENAME RENAME PARTITION
PARTITION PARTITION
RENAME
 Type of Index Partitioning
Maintenance Type of
Operation Index Range Hash and List Composite

SUBPARTITION

Splitting Index Global SPLIT - -

PARTITION
Partitions
Local n/a n/a n/a

Note:

The following sections discuss maintenance operations on partitioned

tables. Where the usability of indexes or index partitions affected by the
maintenance operation is discussed, consider the following:

• Only indexes and index partitions that are not empty are
candidates for being marked UNUSABLE. If they are empty, the
USABLE/UNUSABLE status is left unchanged.

• Only indexes or index partitions with USABLE status are updated

by subsequent DML.

Updating Indexes Automatically

Before discussing the individual maintenance operations for partitioned tables and
indexes, it is important to discuss the effects of the UPDATE INDEXES clause that can be
specified in the ALTER TABLE statement.

By default, many table maintenance operations on partitioned tables invalidate (mark

UNUSABLE) the corresponding indexes or index partitions. You must then rebuild the
entire index or, in the case of a global index, each of its partitions. The database lets you
override this default behavior if you specify UPDATE INDEXES in your ALTER TABLE
statement for the maintenance operation. Specifying this clause tells the database to
update the index at the time it executes the maintenance operation DDL statement. This
provides the following benefits:

• The index is updated in conjunction with the base table operation. You are not
required to later and independently rebuild the index.
• The index is more highly available, because it does not get marked UNUSABLE.
The index remains available even while the partition DDL is executing and it can
be used to access unaffected partitions in the table.
• You need not look up the names of all invalid indexes to rebuild them.
Optional clauses for local indexes let you specify physical and storage characteristics for
updated local indexes and their partitions.

• You can specify physical attributes, tablespace storage, and logging for each
partition of each local index. Alternatively, you can specify only the PARTITION
keyword and let the database update the as follows
o For operations on a single table partition (such as MOVE PARTITION and
SPLIT PARTITION), the corresponding index partition inherits the
attributes of the affected index partition. The database does not generate
names for new index partitions, so any new index partitions resulting from
this operation inherit their names from the corresponding new table
partition.
o For MERGE PARTITION operations, the resulting local index partition
inherits its name from the resulting table partition and inherits its attributes
from the local index.
• For a composite-partitioned index, you can specify tablespace storage for each
subpartition.

See Also:

the update_all_indexes_clause of ALTER TABLE for the syntax for

updating indexes

The following operations support the UPDATE INDEXES clause:

• ADD PARTITION | SUBPARTITION

• COALESCE PARTITION | SUBPARTITION
• DROP PARTITION | SUBPARTITION
• EXCHANGE PARTITION | SUBPARTITION
• MERGE PARTITION | SUBPARTITION
• MOVE PARTITION | SUBPARTITION
• SPLIT PARTITION | SUBPARTITION
• TRUNCATE PARTITION | SUBPARTITION

SKIP_UNUSABLE_INDEXES Initialization Parameter

The SKIP_UNUSABLE_INDEXES, which in earlier releases was a session parameter, is now

an initialization parameter with a default value of TRUE. This setting disables error
reporting of indexes and index partitions marked UNUSABLE. If you do not want the
database to choose an alternative execution plan to avoid the unusable elements, you
should set this parameter to FALSE.
Considerations when Updating Indexes Automatically

The following performance implications are worth noting when you specify UPDATE
INDEXES:

• The partition DDL statement takes longer to execute, because indexes that were
previously marked UNUSABLE are updated. However, you must compare this
increase with the time it takes to execute DDL without updating indexes, and then
rebuild all indexes. A rule of thumb is that it is faster to update indexes if the size
of the partition is less that 5% of the size of the table.
• The DROP, TRUNCATE, and EXCHANGE operations are no longer fast operations.
Again, you must compare the time it takes to do the DDL and then rebuild all
indexes.
• When you update a table with a global index:
o The index is updated in place. The updates to the index are logged, and
redo and undo records are generated. In contrast, if you rebuild an entire
global index, you can do so in NOLOGGING mode.
o Rebuilding the entire index manually creates a more efficient index,
because it is more compact with space better utilized.

Adding Partitions

This section describes how to add new partitions to a partitioned table and explains why
partitions cannot be specifically added to most partitioned indexes.

Adding a Partition to a Range-Partitioned Table

Use the ALTER TABLE ... ADD PARTITION statement to add a new partition to the "high"
end (the point after the last existing partition). To add a partition at the beginning or in
the middle of a table, use the SPLIT PARTITION clause.

For example, consider the table, sales, which contains data for the current month in
addition to the previous 12 months. On January 1, 1999, you add a partition for January,
which is stored in tablespace tsx.

ALTER TABLE sales

ADD PARTITION jan96 VALUES LESS THAN ( '01-FEB-1999' )
TABLESPACE tsx;

Local and global indexes associated with the range-partitioned table remain usable.

Adding a Partition to a Hash-Partitioned Table

When you add a partition to a hash-partitioned table, the database populates the new
partition with rows rehashed from an existing partition (selected by the database) as
determined by the hash function.

The following statements show two ways of adding a hash partition to table scubagear.
Choosing the first statement adds a new hash partition whose partition name is system
generated, and which is placed in the table default tablespace. The second statement also
adds a new hash partition, but that partition is explicitly named p_named and is created in
tablespace gear5.

ALTER TABLE scubagear ADD PARTITION;

ALTER TABLE scubagear

ADD PARTITION p_named TABLESPACE gear5;

Indexes may be marked UNUSABLE as explained in the following table:

Table
Type Index Behavior
Regular Unless you specify UPDATE INDEXES as part of the ALTER TABLE statement:
(Heap)
• The local indexes for the new partition, and for the existing partition
from which rows were redistributed, are marked UNUSABLE and must
be rebuilt.

• All global indexes, or all partitions of partitioned global indexes, are

marked UNUSABLE and must be rebuilt.
Index- • For local indexes, the behavior is the same as for heap tables.
organized
• All global indexes remain usable.

Adding a Partition to a List-Partitioned Table

The following statement illustrates adding a new partition to a list-partitioned table. In

this example physical attributes and NOLOGGING are specified for the partition being
added.

ALTER TABLE q1_sales_by_region

ADD PARTITION q1_nonmainland VALUES ('HI', 'PR')
STORAGE (INITIAL 20K NEXT 20K) TABLESPACE tbs_3
NOLOGGING;
Any value in the set of literal values that describe the partition being added must not exist
in any of the other partitions of the table.

You cannot add a partition to a list-partitioned table that has a default partition, but you
can split the default partition. By doing so, you effectively create a new partition defined
by the values that you specify, and a second partition that remains the default partition.

Local and global indexes associated with the list-partitioned table remain usable.

Adding Partitions to a Range-Hash Composite-Partitioned Table

Partitions can be added at both the range partition level and the hash subpartition level.

Adding a Partition to a Range-Hash Composite-Partitioned Table

Adding a new range partition to a range-hash partitioned table is as described previously

in "Adding a Partition to a Range-Partitioned Table". However, you can specify a
SUBPARTITIONS clause that lets you add a specified number of subpartitions, or a
SUBPARTITION clause for naming specific subpartitions. If no SUBPARTITIONS or
SUBPARTITION clause is specified, the partition inherits table level defaults for
subpartitions.

This example adds a range partition q1_2000 to table sales, which will be populated
with data for the first quarter of the year 2000. There are eight subpartitions stored in
tablespace tbs5. The subpartitions cannot be set explicitly to use table compression.
Subpartitions inherit the compression attribute from the partition level and are stored in a
compressed form in this example:

ALTER TABLE sales ADD PARTITION q1_2000

VALUES LESS THAN (2000, 04, 01) COMPRESS
SUBPARTITIONS 8 STORE IN tbs5;

Adding a Subpartition to a Range-Hash Partitioned Table

You use the MODIFY PARTITION ... ADD SUBPARTITION clause of the ALTER TABLE
statement to add a hash subpartition to a range-hash partitioned table. The newly added
subpartition is populated with rows rehashed from other subpartitions of the same
partition as determined by the hash function.

In the following example, a new hash subpartition us_loc5, stored in tablespace us1, is
added to range partition locations_us in table diving.

ALTER TABLE diving MODIFY PARTITION locations_us

ADD SUBPARTITION us_locs5 TABLESPACE us1;
Index subpartitions corresponding to the added and rehashed subpartitions must be rebuilt
unless you specify UPDATE INDEXES.

Adding Partitions to a Range-List Partitioned Table

Partitions can be added at both the range partition level and the list subpartition level.

Adding a Partition to a Range-List Partitioned Table

Adding a new range partition to a range-list partitioned table is as described previously in

"Adding a Partition to a Range-Partitioned Table". However, you can specify
SUBPARTITION clauses for naming and providing value lists for the subpartitions. If no
SUBPARTITION clauses are specified, then the partition inherits the subpartition template.
If there is no subpartition template, then a single default subpartition is created.

This following statement statements adds a new partition to the

quarterly_regional_sales table that is partitioned by the range-list method. Some
new physical attributes are specified for this new partition while table-level defaults are
inherited for those that are not specified.

ALTER TABLE quarterly_regional_sales

ADD PARTITION q1_2000 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-APR-2000','DD-
MON-YYYY'))
STORAGE (INITIAL 20K NEXT 20K) TABLESPACE ts3 NOLOGGING
(
SUBPARTITION q1_2000_northwest VALUES ('OR', 'WA'),
SUBPARTITION q1_2000_southwest VALUES ('AZ', 'UT', 'NM'),
SUBPARTITION q1_2000_northeast VALUES ('NY', 'VM', 'NJ'),
SUBPARTITION q1_2000_southeast VALUES ('FL', 'GA'),
SUBPARTITION q1_2000_northcentral VALUES ('SD', 'WI'),
SUBPARTITION q1_2000_southcentral VALUES ('OK', 'TX')
);

Adding a Subpartition to a Range-List Partitioned Table

You use the MODIFY PARTITION ... ADD SUBPARTITION clause of the ALTER TABLE
statement to add a list subpartition to a range-list partitioned table.

The following statement adds a new subpartition to the existing set of subpartitions in
range-list partitioned table quarterly_regional_sales. The new subpartition is created
in tablespace ts2.

ALTER TABLE quarterly_regional_sales

MODIFY PARTITION q1_1999
ADD SUBPARTITION q1_1999_south
VALUES ('AR','MS','AL') tablespace ts2;

Adding Index Partitions

You cannot explicitly add a partition to a local index. Instead, a new partition is added to
a local index only when you add a partition to the underlying table. Specifically, when
there is a local index defined on a table and you issue the ALTER TABLE statement to add a
partition, a matching partition is also added to the local index. The database assigns
names and default physical storage attributes to the new index partitions, but you can
rename or alter them after the ADD PARTITION operation is complete.

You can effectively specify a new tablespace for an index partition in an ADD PARTITION
operation by first modifying the default attributes for the index. For example, assume that
a local index, q1_sales_by_region_locix, was created for list partitioned table
q1_sales_by_region. If before adding the new partition q1_nonmainland, as shown in
"Adding a Partition to a List-Partitioned Table", you had issued the following statement,
then the corresponding index partition would be created in tablespace tbs_4.

ALTER INDEX q1_sales_by_region_locix

MODIFY DEFAULT ATTRIBUTES TABLESPACE tbs_4;

Otherwise, it would be necessary for you to use the following statement to move the
index partition to tbs_4 after adding it:

ALTER INDEX q1_sales_by_region_locix

REBUILD PARTITION q1_nonmainland TABLESPACE tbs_4;

You can add a partition to a hash-partitioned global index using the ADD PARTITION
syntax of ALTER INDEX. The database adds hash partitions and populates them with index
entries rehashed from an existing hash partition of the index, as determined by the hash
function. The following statement adds a partition to the index hgidx shown in "Creating
a Hash-Partitioned Global Index":

ALTER INDEX hgidx ADD PARTITION p5;

You cannot add a partition to a range-partitioned global index, because the highest
partition always has a partition bound of MAXVALUE. If you want to add a new highest
partition, use the ALTER INDEX ... SPLIT PARTITION statement.

Coalescing Partitions

Coalescing partitions is a way of reducing the number of partitions in a hash-partitioned

table or index, or the number of subpartitions in a range-hash partitioned table. When a
hash partition is coalesced, its contents are redistributed into one or more remaining
partitions determined by the hash function. The specific partition that is coalesced is
selected by the database, and is dropped after its contents have been redistributed.

Index partitions may be marked UNUSABLE as explained in the following table:

Table
Type Index Behavior
Regular Unless you specify UPDATE INDEXES as part of the ALTER TABLE statement:
(Heap)
• Any local index partition corresponding to the selected partition is
also dropped. Local index partitions corresponding to the one or more
absorbing partitions are marked UNUSABLE and must be rebuilt.

• All global indexes, or all partitions of partitioned global indexes, are

marked UNUSABLE and must be rebuilt.
Index- • Some local indexes are marked UNUSABLE as noted for heap indexes.
organized
• All global indexes remain usable.

Coalescing a Partition in a Hash-Partitioned Table

The ALTER TABLE ... COALESCE PARTITION statement is used to coalesce a partition in a
hash-partitioned table. The following statement reduces by one the number of partitions
in a table by coalescing a partition.

ALTER TABLE ouu1

COALESCE PARTITION;

Coalescing a Subpartition in a Range-Hash Partitioned Table

The following statement distributes the contents of a subpartition of partition

us_locations into one or more remaining subpartitions (determined by the hash
function) of the same partition. Basically, this operation is the inverse of the MODIFY
PARTITION ... ADD SUBPARTITION clause discussed in "Adding a Subpartition to a Range-
Hash Partitioned Table".

ALTER TABLE diving MODIFY PARTITION us_locations

COALESCE SUBPARTITION;

Coalescing Hash-partitioned Global Indexes

You can instruct the database to reduce by one the number of index partitions in a hash-
partitioned global index using the COALESCE PARTITION clause of ALTER INDEX. The
database selects the partition to coalesce based on the requirements of the hash partition.
The following statement reduces by one the number of partitions in the hgidx index,
created in "Creating a Hash-Partitioned Global Index":

ALTER INDEX hgidx COALESCE PARTITION;

Dropping Partitions

You can drop partitions from range, list, or composite range-list partitioned tables. For
hash-partitioned tables, or hash subpartitions of range-hash partitioned tables, you must
perform a coalesce operation instead.

Dropping a Table Partition

Use one of the following statements to drop a table partition or subpartition:

• ALTER TABLE ... DROP PARTITION to drop a table partition

• ALTER TABLE ... DROP SUBPARTITION to drop a subpartition of a range-list
partitioned table

If you want to preserve the data in the partition, use the MERGE PARTITION statement
instead of the DROP PARTITION statement.

If local indexes are defined for the table, this statement also drops the matching partition
or subpartitions from the local index. All global indexes, or all partitions of partitioned
global indexes, are marked UNUSABLE unless either of the following are true:

• You specify UPDATE INDEXES (cannot be specified for index-organized tables)

• The partition being dropped or its subpartitions are empty

Note:

You cannot drop the only partition in a table. Instead, you must drop the
table.

The following sections contain some scenarios for dropping table partitions.

Dropping a Partition from a Table that Contains Data and Global Indexes

If the partition contains data and one or more global indexes are defined on the table, use
one of the following methods to drop the table partition.

Method 1

Leave the global indexes in place during the ALTER TABLE ... DROP PARTITION statement.
Afterward, you must rebuild any global indexes (whether partitioned or not) because the
index (or index partitions) will have been marked UNUSABLE. The following statements
provide an example of dropping partition dec98 from the sales table, then rebuilding its
global nonpartitioned index.

ALTER TABLE sales DROP PARTITION dec98;

ALTER INDEX sales_area_ix REBUILD;

If index sales_area_ix were a range-partitioned global index, then all partitions of the
index would require rebuilding. Further, it is not possible to rebuild all partitions of an
index in one statement. You must write a separate REBUILD statement for each partition in
the index. The following statements rebuild the index partitions jan99_ix, feb99_ix,
mar99_ix, ..., dec99_ix.

ALTER INDEX sales_area_ix REBUILD PARTITION jan99_ix;

ALTER INDEX sales_area_ix REBUILD PARTITION feb99_ix;
ALTER INDEX sales_area_ix REBUILD PARTITION mar99_ix;
...
ALTER INDEX sales_area_ix REBUILD PARTITION dec99_ix;

This method is most appropriate for large tables where the partition being dropped
contains a significant percentage of the total data in the table.

Method 2

Issue the DELETE statement to delete all rows from the partition before you issue the
ALTER TABLE ... DROP PARTITION statement. The DELETE statement updates the global
indexes, and also fires triggers and generates redo and undo logs.

For example, to drop the first partition, which has a partition bound of 10000, issue the
following statements:

DELETE FROM sales WHERE TRANSID < 10000;

ALTER TABLE sales DROP PARTITION dec98;

This method is most appropriate for small tables, or for large tables when the partition
being dropped contains a small percentage of the total data in the table.

Method 3

Specify UPDATE INDEXES in the ALTER TABLE statement. Doing so causes the global index
to be updated at the time the partition is dropped.

ALTER TABLE sales DROP PARTITION dec98

UPDATE INDEXES;
Dropping a Partition Containing Data and Referential Integrity Constraints

If a partition contains data and the table has referential integrity constraints, choose either
of the following methods to drop the table partition. This table has a local index only, so
it is not necessary to rebuild any indexes.

Method 1

Disable the integrity constraints, issue the ALTER TABLE ... DROP PARTITION statement,
then enable the integrity constraints:

ALTER TABLE sales

DISABLE CONSTRAINT dname_sales1;
ALTER TABLE sales DROP PARTITTION dec98;
ALTER TABLE sales
ENABLE CONSTRAINT dname_sales1;

This method is most appropriate for large tables where the partition being dropped
contains a significant percentage of the total data in the table.

Method 2

Issue the DELETE statement to delete all rows from the partition before you issue the
ALTER TABLE ... DROP PARTITION statement. The DELETE statement enforces referential
integrity constraints, and also fires triggers and generates redo and undo log.

DELETE FROM sales WHERE TRANSID < 10000;

ALTER TABLE sales DROP PARTITION dec94;

This method is most appropriate for small tables or for large tables when the partition
being dropped contains a small percentage of the total data in the table.

Dropping Index Partitions

You cannot explicitly drop a partition of a local index. Instead, local index partitions are
dropped only when you drop a partition from the underlying table.

If a global index partition is empty, you can explicitly drop it by issuing the ALTER
INDEX ... DROP PARTITION statement. But, if a global index partition contains data,
dropping the partition causes the next highest partition to be marked UNUSABLE. For
example, you would like to drop the index partition P1, and P2 is the next highest
partition. You must issue the following statements:

ALTER INDEX npr DROP PARTITION P1;

ALTER INDEX npr REBUILD PARTITION P2;

Note:

You cannot drop the highest partition in a global index.

Exchanging Partitions

You can convert a partition (or subpartition) into a nonpartitioned table, and a
nonpartitioned table into a partition (or subpartition) of a partitioned table by exchanging
their data segments. You can also convert a hash-partitioned table into a partition of a
range-hash partitioned table, or convert the partition of the range-hash partitioned table
into a hash-partitioned table. Similarly, you can convert a list-partitioned table into a
partition of a range-list partitioned table, or convert the partition of the range-list
partitioned table into a list-partitioned table

Exchanging table partitions is most useful when you have an application using
nonpartitioned tables that you want to convert to partitions of a partitioned table. For
example, in data warehousing environments exchanging partitions facilitates high-speed
data loading of new, incremental data into an already existing partitioned table.
Generically, OLTP as well as data warehousing environments benefit from exchanging
old data partitions out of a partitioned table. The data is purged from the partitioned table
without actually being deleted and can be archived separately afterwards.

When you exchange partitions, logging attributes are preserved. You can optionally
specify if local indexes are also to be exchanged (INCLUDING INDEXES clause), and if
rows are to be validated for proper mapping (WITH VALIDATION clause).

Note:

When you specify WITHOUT VALIDATION for the exchange partition

operation, this is normally a fast operation because it involves only data
dictionary updates. However, if the table or partitioned table involved in
the exchange operation has a primary key or unique constraint enabled,
then the exchange operation will be performed as if WITH VALIDATION
were specified in order to maintain the integrity of the constraints.

To avoid the overhead of this validation activity, issue the following

statement for each constraint before doing the exchange partition
operation:

ALTER TABLE table_name

DISABLE CONSTRAINT constraint_name KEEP INDEX
 Then, enable the constraints after the exchange.

Unless you specify UPDATE INDEXES (this cannot be specified for index-organized tables),
the database marks UNUSABLE the global indexes, or all global index partitions, on the
table whose partition is being exchanged. Global indexes, or global index partitions, on
the table being exchanged remain invalidated.

See Also:

• "Viewing Information About Partitioned Tables and Indexes"

• "Using Transportable Tablespaces: Scenarios" for information

about transportable tablespaces

Exchanging a Range, Hash, or List Partition

To exchange a partition of a range, hash, or list-partitioned table with a nonpartitioned

table, or the reverse, use the ALTER TABLE ... EXCHANGE PARTITION statement. An
example of converting a partition into a nonpartitioned table follows. In this example,
table stocks can be range, hash, or list partitioned.

ALTER TABLE stocks

EXCHANGE PARTITION p3 WITH TABLE stock_table_3;

Exchanging a Hash-Partitioned Table with a Range-Hash Partition

In this example, you are exchanging a whole hash-partitioned table, with all of its
partitions, with the range partition of a range-hash partitioned table and all of its hash
subpartitions. This is illustrated in the following example.

First, create a hash-partitioned table:

CREATE TABLE t1 (i NUMBER, j NUMBER)

PARTITION BY HASH(i)
(PARTITION p1, PARTITION p2);

Populate the table, then create a range-hash partitioned table as shown:

CREATE TABLE t2 (i NUMBER, j NUMBER)

PARTITION BY RANGE(j)
SUBPARTITION BY HASH(i)
 (PARTITION p1 VALUES LESS THAN (10)
SUBPARTITION t2_pls1
SUBPARTITION t2_pls2,
PARTITION p2 VALUES LESS THAN (20)
SUBPARTITION t2_p2s1
SUBPARTITION t2_p2s2));

It is important that the partitioning key in table t1 is the same as the subpartitioning key
in table t2.

To migrate the data in t1 to t2, and validate the rows, use the following statement:

ALTER TABLE t2 EXCHANGE PARTITION p1 WITH TABLE t1

WITH VALIDATION;

Exchanging a Subpartition of a Range-Hash Partitioned Table

Use the ALTER TABLE ... EXCHANGE PARTITION statement to convert a hash subpartition of
a range-hash partitioned table into a nonpartitioned table, or the reverse. The following
example converts the subpartition q3_1999_s1 of table sales into the nonpartitioned
table q3_1999. Local index partitions are exchanged with corresponding indexes on
q3_1999.

ALTER TABLE sales EXCHANGE SUBPARTITION q3_1999_s1

WITH TABLE q3_1999 INCLUDING INDEXES;

Exchanging a List-Partitioned Table with a Range-List Partition

The semantics of the ALTER TABLE ... EXCHANGE PARTITION statement are the same as
described previously in "Exchanging a Hash-Partitioned Table with a Range-Hash
Partition". In the example shown there, the syntax of the CREATE TABLE statements
would only need to be modified to create a list-partitioned table and a range-list
partitioned table, respectively. The actions involved remain the same.

Exchanging a Subpartition of a Range-List Partitioned Table

The semantics of the ALTER TABLE ... EXCHANGE SUBPARTITION are the same as described
previously in "Exchanging a Subpartition of a Range-Hash Partitioned Table".

Merging Partitions

Use the ALTER TABLE ... MERGE PARTITION statement to merge the contents of two
partitions into one partition. The two original partitions are dropped, as are any
corresponding local indexes.

You cannot use this statement for a hash-partitioned table or for hash subpartitions of a
range-hash partitioned table.
If the involved partitions or subpartitions contain data, indexes may be marked UNUSABLE
as explained in the following table:

Table Type Index Behavior

Regular Unless you specify UPDATE INDEXES as part of the ALTER TABLE statement:
(Heap)
• The database marks UNUSABLE all resulting corresponding local
index partitions or subpartitions.

• Global indexes, or all partitions of partitioned global indexes, are

marked UNUSABLE and must be rebuilt.
Index- • The database marks UNUSABLE all resulting corresponding local
organized index partitions.

• All global indexes remain usable.

Merging Range Partitions

You are allowed to merge the contents of two adjacent range partitions into one partition.
Nonadjacent range partitions cannot be merged. The resulting partition inherits the higher
upper bound of the two merged partitions.

One reason for merging range partitions is to keep historical data online in larger
partitions. For example, you can have daily partitions, with the oldest partition rolled up
into weekly partitions, which can then be rolled up into monthly partitions, and so on.

The following scripts create an example of merging range partitions.

First, create a partitioned table and create local indexes.

-- Create a Table with four partitions each on its own tablespace

-- Partitioned by range on the data column.
--
CREATE TABLE four_seasons
(
one DATE,
two VARCHAR2(60),
three NUMBER
)
PARTITION BY RANGE ( one )
(
PARTITION quarter_one
VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('01-apr-1998','dd-mon-yyyy'))
TABLESPACE quarter_one,
PARTITION quarter_two
VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('01-jul-1998','dd-mon-yyyy'))
 TABLESPACE quarter_two,
PARTITION quarter_three
VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('01-oct-1998','dd-mon-yyyy'))
TABLESPACE quarter_three,
PARTITION quarter_four
VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('01-jan-1999','dd-mon-yyyy'))
TABLESPACE quarter_four
);
--
-- Create local PREFIXED index on Four_Seasons
-- Prefixed because the leftmost columns of the index match the
-- Partition key
--
CREATE INDEX i_four_seasons_l ON four_seasons ( one,two )
LOCAL (
PARTITION i_quarter_one TABLESPACE i_quarter_one,
PARTITION i_quarter_two TABLESPACE i_quarter_two,
PARTITION i_quarter_three TABLESPACE i_quarter_three,
PARTITION i_quarter_four TABLESPACE i_quarter_four
);

Next, merge partitions.

--
-- Merge the first two partitions
--
ALTER TABLE four_seasons
MERGE PARTITIONS quarter_one, quarter_two INTO PARTITION quarter_two
UPDATE INDEXES;

If you omit the UPDATE INDEXES clause from the preceding statement, then you must
rebuild the local index for the affected partition.

-- Rebuild index for quarter_two, which has been marked unusable

-- because it has not had all of the data from Q1 added to it.
-- Rebuilding the index will correct this.
--
ALTER TABLE four_seasons MODIFY PARTITION
quarter_two REBUILD UNUSABLE LOCAL INDEXES;

Merging List Partitions

When you merge list partitions, the partitions being merged can be any two partitions.
They do not need to be adjacent, as for range partitions, since list partitioning does not
assume any order for partitions. The resulting partition consists of all of the data from the
original two partitions. If you merge a default list partition with any other partition, the
resulting partition will be the default partition.
The statement below merges two partitions of a table partitioned using the list method
into a partition that inherits all of its attributes from the table-level default attributes,
except for PCTFREE and MAXEXTENTS, which are specified in the statement.

ALTER TABLE q1_sales_by_region

MERGE PARTITIONS q1_northcentral, q1_southcentral
INTO PARTITION q1_central
PCTFREE 50 STORAGE(MAXEXTENTS 20);

The value lists for the two original partitions were specified as:

PARTITION q1_northcentral VALUES ('SD','WI')

PARTITION q1_southcentral VALUES ('OK','TX')

The resulting sales_west partition value list comprises the set that represents the union
of these two partition value lists, or specifically:

('SD','WI','OK','TX')

Merging Range-Hash Partitions

When you merge range-hash partitions, the subpartitions are rehashed into the number of
subpartitions specified by SUBPARTITIONS n or the SUBPARTITION clause. If neither is
included, table-level defaults are used.

Note that the inheritance of properties is different when a range-hash partition is split
(discussed in "Splitting a Range-Hash Partition"), as opposed to when two range-hash
partitions are merged. When a partition is split, the new partitions can inherit properties
from the original partition since there is only one parent. However, when partitions are
merged, properties must be inherited from table level defaults because there are two
parents and the new partition cannot inherit from either at the expense of the other.

The following example merges two range-hash partitions:

ALTER TABLE all_seasons

MERGE PARTITIONS quarter_1, quarter_2 INTO PARTITION quarter_2
SUBPARTITIONS 8;

Merging Range-List Partitions

Partitions can be merged at the range partition level and subpartitions can be merged at
the list subpartition level.

Merging Partitions in a Range-List Partitioned Table

Merging range partitions in a range-list partitioned table is as described previously in
"Merging Range Partitions". However, when you merge two range-list partitions, the
resulting new partition inherits the subpartition descriptions from the subpartition
template, if one exists. If no subpartition template exists, then a single default
subpartition is created for the new partition.

This following statement merges two partitions in the range-list partitioned

stripe_regional_sales table. A subpartition template exists for the table.

ALTER TABLE stripe_regional_sales

MERGE PARTITIONS q1_1999, q2_1999 INTO PARTITION q1_q2_1999
PCTFREE 50 STORAGE(MAXEXTENTS 20);

Some new physical attributes are specified for this new partition while table-level
defaults are inherited for those that are not specified. The new resulting partition
q1_q2_1999 inherits the high-value bound of the partition q2_1999 and the subpartition
value-list descriptions from the subpartition template description of the table.

The data in the resulting partitions consists of data from both the partitions. However,
there may be cases where the database returns an error. This can occur because data may
map out of the new partition when both of the following conditions exist:

• Some literal values of the merged subpartitions were not included in the
subpartition template
• The subpartition template does not contain a default partition definition.

This error condition can be eliminated by always specifying a default partition in the
default subpartition template.

Merging Subpartitions in a Range-List Partitioned Table

You can merge the contents of any two arbitrary list subpartitions belonging to the same
range partition. The resulting subpartition value-list descriptor includes all of the literal
values in the value lists for the partitions being merged.

The following statement merges two subpartitions of a table partitioned using range-list
method into a new subpartition located in tablespace ts4:

ALTER TABLE quarterly_regional_sales

MERGE SUBPARTITIONS q1_1999_northwest, q1_1999_southwest
INTO SUBPARTITION q1_1999_west
TABLESPACE ts4;

The value lists for the original two partitions were:

• Subpartition q1_1999_northwest was described as ('WA','OR')

 • Subpartition q1_1999_southwest was described as ('AZ','NM','UT')

The resulting subpartition value list comprises the set that represents the union of these
two subpartition value lists:

• Subpartition q1_1999_west has a value list described as

('WA','OR','AZ','NM','UT')

The tablespace in which the resulting subpartition is located and the subpartition
attributes are determined by the partition-level default attributes, except for those
specified explicitly. If any of the existing subpartition names are being reused, then the
new subpartition inherits the subpartition attributes of the subpartition whose name is
being reused.

Modifying Default Attributes

You can modify the default attributes of a table, or for a partition of a composite
partitioned table. When you modify default attributes, the new attributes affect only
future partitions, or subpartitions, that are created. The default values can still be
specifically overridden when creating a new partition or subpartition.

Modifying Default Attributes of a Table

You modify the default attributes that will be inherited for range, list, or hash partitions
using the MODIFY DEFAULT ATTRIBUTES clause of ALTER TABLE. The following example
changes the default value of PCTFREE in table emp for any new partitions that are created.

ALTER TABLE emp

MODIFY DEFAULT ATTRIBUTES PCTFREE 25;

For hash-partitioned tables, only the TABLESPACE attribute can be modified.

Modifying Default Attributes of a Partition

To modify the default attributes inherited when creating subpartitions, use the ALTER
TABLE ... MODIFY DEFAULT ATTRIBUTES FOR PARTITION. The following statement
modifies the TABLESPACE in which future subpartitions of partition p1 in range-hash
partitioned table emp will reside.

ALTER TABLE emp

MODIFY DEFAULT ATTRIBUTES FOR PARTITION p1 TABLESPACE ts1;

Since all subpartitions of a range-hash partitioned table must share the same attributes,
except TABLESPACE, it is the only attribute that can be changed.
Modifying Default Attributes of Index Partitions

In similar fashion to table partitions, you can alter the default attributes that will be
inherited by partitions of a range-partitioned global index, or local index partitions of
partitioned tables. For this you use the ALTER INDEX ... MODIFY DEFAULT ATTRIBUTES
statement. Use the ALTER INDEX ... MODIFY DEFAULT ATTRIBUTES FOR PARTITION
statement if you are altering default attributes to be inherited by subpartitions of a
composite partitioned table.

Modifying Real Attributes of Partitions

It is possible to modify attributes of an existing partition of a table or index.

You cannot change the TABLESPACE attribute. Use ALTER TABLESPACE ... MOVE
PARTITION/SUBPARTITION to move a partition or subpartition to a new tablespace.

Modifying Real Attributes for a Range or List Partition

Use the ALTER TABLE ... MODIFY PARTITION statement to modify existing attributes of a
range partition or list partition. You can modify segment attributes (except TABLESPACE),
or you can allocate and deallocate extents, mark local index partitions UNUSABLE, or
rebuild local indexes that have been marked UNUSABLE.

If this is a range partition of a range-hash partitioned table, note the following:

• If you allocate or deallocate an extent, this action is performed for every

subpartition of the specified partition.
• Likewise, changing any other attributes results in corresponding changes to those
attributes of all the subpartitions for that partition. The partition level default
attributes are changed as well. To avoid changing attributes of existing
subpartitions, use the FOR PARTITION clause of the MODIFY DEFAULT ATTRIBUTES
statement.

The following are some examples of modifying the real attributes of a partition.

This example modifies the MAXEXTENTS storage attribute for the range partition sales_q1
of table sales:

ALTER TABLE sales MODIFY PARTITION sales_Q1

STORAGE (MAXEXTENTS 10);

All of the local index subpartitions of partition ts1 in range-hash partitioned table
scubagear are marked UNUSABLE in the following example:

ALTER TABLE scubagear MPDIFY PARTITION ts1 UNUSABLE LOCAL INDEXES;

Modifying Real Attributes for a Hash Partition

You also use the ALTER TABLE ... MODIFY PARTITION statement to modify attributes of a
hash partition. However, since the physical attributes of individual hash partitions must
all be the same (except for TABLESPACE), you are restricted to:

• Allocating a new extent

• Deallocating an unused extent
• Marking a local index subpartition UNUSABLE
• Rebuilding local index subpartitions that are marked UNUSABLE

The following example rebuilds any unusable local index partitions associated with hash
partition P1 of table dept:

ALTER TABLE dept MODIFY PARTITION p1

REBUILD UNUSABLE LOCAL INDEXES;

Modifying Real Attributes of a Subpartition

With the MODIFY SUBPARTITION clause of ALTER TABLE you can perform the same
actions as listed previously for partitions, but at the specific composite partitioned table
subpartition level. For example:

ALTER TABLE emp MODIFY SUBPARTITION p3_s1

REBUILD UNUSABLE LOCAL INDEXES;

Modifying Real Attributes of Index Partitions

The MODIFY PARTITION clause of ALTER INDEX lets you modify the real attributes of an
index partition or its subpartitions. The rules are very similar to those for table partitions,
but unlike the MODIFY PARTITION clause for ALTER INDEX, there is no subclause to
rebuild an unusable index partition, but there is a subclause to coalesce an index partition
or its subpartitions. In this context, coalesce means to merge index blocks where possible
to free them for reuse.

You can also allocate or deallocate storage for a subpartition of a local index, or mark it
UNUSABLE, using the MODIFY PARTITION clause.

Modifying List Partitions: Adding Values

List partitioning allows you the option of adding literal values from the defining value
list.

Adding Values for a List Partition

Use the MODIFY PARTITION ... ADD VALUES clause of the ALTER TABLE statement to extend
the value list of an existing partition. Literal values being added must not have been
included in any other partition value list. The partition value list for any corresponding
local index partition is correspondingly extended, and any global index, or global or local
index partitions, remain usable.

The following statement adds a new set of state codes ('OK', 'KS') to an existing partition
list.

ALTER TABLE sales_by_region

MODIFY PARTITION region_south
ADD VALUES ('OK', 'KS');

The existence of a default partition can have a performance impact when adding values to
other partitions. This is because in order to add values to a list partition, the database
must check that the values being added do not already exist in the default partition. If any
of the values do exist in the default partition, an error is raised.

Note:

The database executes a query to check for the existence of rows in the
default partition that correspond to the literal values being added.
Therefore, it is advisable to create a local prefixed index on the table.
This speeds up the execution of the query and the overall operation.

You cannot add values to a default list partition.

Adding Values for a List Subpartition

This operation is essentially the same as described for "Modifying List Partitions: Adding
Values", however, you use a MODIFY SUBPARTITION clause instead of the MODIFY
PARTITION clause. For example, to extend the range of literal values in the value list for
subpartition q1_1999_southeast use the following statement:

ALTER TABLE quarterly_regional_sales

MODIFY SUBPARTITION q1_1999_southeast
ADD VALUES ('KS');

Literal values being added must not have been included in any other subpartition value
list within the owning partition. However, they can be duplicates of literal values in the
subpartition value lists of other partitions within the table.

Modifying List Partitions: Dropping Values

List partitioning allows you the option of dropping literal values from the defining value
list.

Dropping Values from a List Partition

Use the MODIFY PARTITION ... DROP VALUES clause of the ALTER TABLE statement to
remove literal values from the value list of an existing partition. The statement is always
executed with validation, meaning that it checks to see if any rows exist in the partition
that correspond to the set of values being dropped. If any such rows are found then the
database returns an error message and the operation fails. When necessary, use a DELETE
statement to delete corresponding rows from the table before attempting to drop values.

Note:

You cannot drop all literal values from the value list describing the
partition. You must use the ALTER TABLE ... DROP PARTITION
statement instead.

The partition value list for any corresponding local index partition reflects the new value
list, and any global index, or global or local index partitions, remain usable.

The statement below drops a set of state codes ('OK' and 'KS') from an existing partition
value list.

ALTER TABLE sales_by_region

MODIFY PARTITION region_south
DROP VALUES ('OK', 'KS');

Note:

The database executes a query to check for the existence of rows in the
partition that correspond to the literal values being dropped. Therefore,
it is advisable to create a local prefixed index on the table. This speeds
up the execution of the query and the overall operation.

You cannot drop values from a default list partition.

Dropping Values from a List Subpartition

This operation is essentially the same as described for "Modifying List Partitions:
Dropping Values", however, you use a MODIFY SUBPARTITION clause instead of the
MODIFY PARTITION clause. For example, to remove a set of literal values in the value list
for subpartition q1_1999_southeast use the following statement:

ALTER TABLE quarterly_regional_sales

MODIFY SUBPARTITION q1_1999_southeast
DROP VALUES ('KS');

Modifying a Subpartition Template

You can modify a subpartition template of a composite partitioned table by replacing it

with a new subpartition template. Any subsequent operations that use the subpartition
template (such as ADD PARTITION or MERGE PARTITIONS) will now use the new
subpartition template. Existing subpartitions remain unchanged.

Use the ALTER TABLE ... SET SUBPARTITION TEMPLATE statement to specify a new
subpartition template. For example:

ALTER TABLE emp_sub_template

SET SUBPARTITION TEMPLATE
(SUBPARTITION e, TABLESPACE ts1,
SUBPARTITION f, TABLESPACE ts2,
SUBPARTITION g, TABLESPACE ts3,
SUBPARTITION h, TABLESPACE ts4
);

You can drop a subpartition template by specifying an empty list:

ALTER TABLE emp_sub_template

SET SUBPARTITION TEMPLATE ( );

Moving Partitions

Use the MOVE PARTITION clause of the ALTER TABLE statement to:

• Re-cluster data and reduce fragmentation

• Move a partition to another tablespace
• Modify create-time attributes
• Store the data in compressed format using table compression

Typically, you can change the physical storage attributes of a partition in a single step
using an ALTER TABLE/INDEX ... MODIFY PARTITION statement. However, there are some
physical attributes, such as TABLESPACE, that you cannot modify using MODIFY
PARTITION. In these cases, use the MOVE PARTITION clause. Modifying some other
attributes, such as table compression, affects only future storage, but not existing data.

If the partition being moved contains any data, indexes may be marked UNUSABLE
according to the following table:
Table
Type Index Behavior
Regular Unless you specify UPDATE INDEXES as part of the ALTER TABLE statement:
(Heap)
• The matching partition in each local index is marked UNUSABLE. You
must rebuild these index partitions after issuing MOVE PARTITION.

• Any global indexes, or all partitions of partitioned global indexes, are

marked UNUSABLE.
Index- Any local or global indexes defined for the partition being moved remain
organized usable because they are primary-key based logical rowids. However, the
guess information for these rowids becomes incorrect.

Moving Table Partitions

Use the MOVE PARTITION clause to move a partition. For example, to move the most
active partition to a tablespace that resides on its own disk (in order to balance I/O), not
log the action, and compress the data, issue the following statement:

ALTER TABLE parts MOVE PARTITION depot2

TABLESPACE ts094 NOLOGGING COMPRESS;

This statement always drops the old partition segment and creates a new segment, even if
you do not specify a new tablespace.

If you are moving a partition of a partitioned index-organized table, you can specify the
MAPPING TABLE clause as part of the MOVE PARTITION clause, and the mapping table
partition will be moved to the new location along with the table partition.

Moving Subpartitions

The following statement shows how to move data in a subpartition of a table. In this
example, a PARALLEL clause has also been specified.

ALTER TABLE scuba_gear MOVE SUBPARTITION bcd_types

TABLESPACE tbs23 PARALLEL (DEGREE 2);

Moving Index Partitions

The ALTER TABLE ... MOVE PARTITION statement for regular tables, marks all partitions of
a global index UNUSABLE. You can rebuild the entire index by rebuilding each partition
individually using the ALTER INDEX ... REBUILD PARTITION statement. You can perform
these rebuilds concurrently.
You can also simply drop the index and re-create it.

Rebuilding Index Partitions

Some reasons for rebuilding index partitions include:

• To recover space and improve performance

• To repair a damaged index partition caused by media failure
• To rebuild a local index partition after loading the underlying table partition with
SQL*Loader or an import utility
• To rebuild index partitions that have been marked UNUSABLE
• To enable key compression for B-tree indexes

The following sections discuss your options for rebuilding index partitions and
subpartitions.

Rebuilding Global Index Partitions

You can rebuild global index partitions in two ways:

• Rebuild each partition by issuing the ALTER INDEX ... REBUILD PARTITION
statement (you can run the rebuilds concurrently).
• Drop the entire global index and re-create it. This method is more efficient
because the table is scanned only once.

For most maintenance operations on partitioned tables with indexes, you can optionally
avoid the need to rebuild the index by specifying UPDATE INDEXES on your DDL
statement.

Rebuilding Local Index Partitions

Rebuild local indexes using either ALTER INDEX or ALTER TABLE as follows:

• ALTER INDEX ... REBUILD PARTITION/SUBPARTITION

This statement rebuilds an index partition or subpartition unconditionally.

• ALTER TABLE ... MODIFY PARTITION/SUBPARTITION ... REBUILD UNUSABLE LOCAL

INDEXES

This statement finds all of the unusable indexes for the given table partition or
subpartition and rebuilds them. It only rebuilds an index partition if it has been
marked UNUSABLE.

Using ALTER INDEX to Rebuild a Partition

The ALTER INDEX ... REBUILD PARTITION statement rebuilds one partition of an index. It
cannot be used for composite-partitioned tables. Only real physical segments can be
rebuilt with this command. When you re-create the index, you can also choose to move
the partition to a new tablespace or change attributes.

For composite-partitioned tables, use ALTER INDEX ... REBUILD SUBPARTITION to rebuild
a subpartition of an index. You can move the subpartition to another tablespace or specify
a parallel clause. The following statement rebuilds a subpartition of a local index on a
table and moves the index subpartition is another tablespace.

ALTER INDEX scuba

REBUILD SUBPARTITION bcd_types
TABLESPACE tbs23 PARALLEL (DEGREE 2);

Using ALTER TABLE to Rebuild an Index Partition

The REBUILD UNUSABLE LOCAL INDEXES clause of ALTER TABLE ... MODIFY PARTITION
does not allow you to specify any new attributes for the rebuilt index partition. The
following example finds and rebuilds any unusable local index partitions for table
scubagear, partition p1.

ALTER TABLE scubagear

MODIFY PARTITION p1 REBUILD UNUSABLE LOCAL INDEXES;

There is a corresponding ALTER TABLE ... MODIFY SUBPARTITION clause for rebuilding
unusable local index subpartitions.

Renaming Partitions

It is possible to rename partitions and subpartitions of both tables and indexes. One
reason for renaming a partition might be to assign a meaningful name, as opposed to a
default system name that was assigned to the partition in another maintenance operation.

Renaming a Table Partition

Rename a range, hash, or list partition, using the ALTER TABLE ... RENAME PARTITION
statement. For example:

ALTER TABLE scubagear RENAME PARTITION sys_p636 TO tanks;

Renaming a Table Subpartition

Likewise, you can assign new names to subpartitions of a table. In this case you would
use the ALTER TABLE ... RENAME PARTITION syntax.

Renaming Index Partitions

Index partitions and subpartitions can be renamed in similar fashion, but the ALTER
INDEX syntax is used.

Renaming an Index Partition

Use the ALTER INDEX ... RENAME PARTITION statement to rename an index partition.

Renaming an Index Subpartition

This next statement simply shows how to rename a subpartition that has a system
generated name that was a consequence of adding a partition to an underlying table:

ALTER INDEX scuba RENAME SUBPARTITION sys_subp3254 TO bcd_types;

Splitting Partitions

The SPLIT PARTITION clause of the ALTER TABLE or ALTER INDEX statement is used to
redistribute the contents of a partition into two new partitions. Consider doing this when a
partition becomes too large and causes backup, recovery, or maintenance operations to
take a long time to complete. You can also use the SPLIT PARTITION clause to
redistribute the I/O load.

This clause cannot be used for hash partitions or subpartitions.

If the partition you are splitting contains any data, indexes may be marked UNUSABLE as
explained in the following table:

Table Type Index Behavior

Regular Unless you specify UPDATE INDEXES as part of the ALTER TABLE statement:
(Heap)
• The database marks UNUSABLE the new partitions (there are two) in
each local index.

• Any global indexes, or all partitions of partitioned global indexes,

are marked UNUSABLE and must be rebuilt.
Index- • The database marks UNUSABLE the new partitions (there are two) in
organized each local index.

• All global indexes remain usable.

Splitting a Partition of a Range-Partitioned Table

You split a range partition using the ALTER TABLE ... SPLIT PARTITION statement. You
specify a value of the partitioning key column within the range of the partition at which
to split the partition. The first of the resulting two new partitions includes all rows in the
original partition whose partitioning key column values map lower that the specified
value. The second partition contains all rows whose partitioning key column values map
greater than or equal to the specified value.

You can optionally specify new attributes for the two partitions resulting from the split. If
there are local indexes defined on the table, this statement also splits the matching
partition in each local index.

In the following example fee_katy is a partition in the table vet_cats, which has a local
index, jaf1. There is also a global index, vet on the table. vet contains two partitions,
vet_parta, and vet_partb.

To split the partition fee_katy, and rebuild the index partitions, issue the following
statements:

ALTER TABLE vet_cats SPLIT PARTITION

fee_katy at (100) INTO ( PARTITION
fee_katy1 ..., PARTITION fee_katy2 ...);
ALTER INDEX JAF1 REBUILD PARTITION fee_katy1;
ALTER INDEX JAF1 REBUILD PARTITION fee_katy2;
ALTER INDEX VET REBUILD PARTITION vet_parta;
ALTER INDEX VET REBUILD PARTITION vet_partb;

Note:

If you do not specify new partition names, the database assigns names
of the form SYS_Pn. You can examine the data dictionary to locate the
names assigned to the new local index partitions. You may want to
rename them. Any attributes you do not specify are inherited from the
original partition.

Splitting a Partition of a List-Partitioned Table

You split a list partition using the ALTER TABLE ... SPLIT PARTITION statement. The
SPLIT PARTITION clause lets you specify a value list of literal values that define a
partition into which rows with corresponding partitioning key values are inserted. The
remaining rows of the original partition are inserted into a second partition whole value
list is the remaining values from the original partition.

You can optionally specify new attributes for the two partitions resulting from the split.

The following statement splits the partition region_east into two partitions:

ALTER TABLE sales_by_region

SPLIT PARTITION region_east VALUES ('CT', 'VA', 'MD')
 INTO
( PARTITION region_east_1
PCTFREE 25 TABLESPACE tbs2,
PARTITION region_east_2
STORAGE (NEXT 2M PCTINCREASE 25))
PARALLEL 5;

The literal-value list for the original region_east partition was specified as:

PARTITION region_east VALUES

('MA','NY','CT','NH','ME','MD','VA','PA','NJ')

The two new partitions are:

• region_east_1 with a literal-value list of ('CT','VA','MD')

• region_east_2 inheriting the remaining literal-value list of
('NY','NH','ME','VA','PA','NJ')

The individual partitions have new physical attributes specified at the partition level. The
operation is executed with parallelism of degree 5.

You can split a default list partition just like you split any other list partition. This is also
the only means of adding a partition to list-partitioned table that contains a default
partition. When you split the default partition, you create a new partition defined by the
values that you specify, and a second partition that remains the default partition.

The following example splits the default partition of sales_by_region, thereby creating
a new partition.

ALTER TABLE sales_by_region

SPLIT PARTITION region_unknown VALUES ('MT', 'WY', 'ID')
INTO
( PARTITION region_wildwest,
PARTITION region_unknown);

Splitting a Range-Hash Partition

This is the opposite of merging range-hash partitions. When you split range-hash
partitions, the new subpartitions are rehashed into either the number of subpartitions
specified in a SUBPARTITIONS or SUBPARTITION clause. Or, if no such clause is included,
the new partitions inherit the number of subpartitions (and tablespaces) from the partition
being split.

Note that the inheritance of properties is different when a range-hash partition is split,
verses when two range-hash partitions are merged. When a partition is split, the new
partitions can inherit properties from the original partition since there is only one parent.
However, when partitions are merged, properties must be inherited from table level
defaults because there are two parents and the new partition cannot inherit from either at
the expense of the other.

The following example splits a range-hash partition:

ALTER TABLE all_seasons SPLIT PARTITION quarter_1

AT (TO_DATE('16-dec-1997','dd-mon-yyyy'))
INTO (PARTITION q1_1997_1 SUBPARTITIONS 4 STORE IN (ts1,ts3),
PARTITION q1_1997_2);

Splitting Partitions in a Range-List Partitioned Table

Partitions can be split at both the range partition level and at the list subpartition level.

Splitting a Range-List Partition

Splitting a range partition of a range-list partitioned table is similar to what is described

in "Splitting a Partition of a Range-Partitioned Table". No subpartition literal value list
can be specified for either of the new partitions. The new partitions inherit the
subpartition descriptions from the original partition being split.

The following example splits the q1_1999 partition of the quarterly_regional_sales

table:

ALTER TABLE quarterly_regional_sales SPLIT PARTITION q1_1999

AT (to_date('15-Feb-1999','dd-mon-yyyy'))
INTO ( PARTITION q1_1999_jan_feb
PCTFREE 25 TABLESPACE ts1,
PARTITION q1_1999_feb_mar
STORAGE (NEXT 2M PCTINCREASE 25) TABLESPACE ts2)
PARALLEL 5;

This operation splits the partition q1_1999 into two resulting partitions:
q1_1999_jan_feb and q1_1999_feb_mar. Both partitions inherit their subpartition
descriptions from the original partition. The individual partitions have new physical
attributes, including tablespaces, specified at the partition level. These new attributes
become the default attributes of the new partitions. This operation is run with parallelism
of degree 5.

The ALTER TABLE ... SPLIT PARTITION statement provides no means of specifically
naming subpartitions resulting from the split of a partition in a composite partitioned
table. However, for those subpartitions in the parent partition with names of the form
partition name_subpartition name, the database generates corresponding names in
the newly created subpartitions using the new partition names. All other subpartitions are
assigned system generated names of the form SYS_SUBPn. System generated names are
also assigned for the subpartitions of any partition resulting from the split for which a
name is not specified. Unnamed partitions are assigned a system generated partition name
of the form SYS_Pn.

The following query displays the subpartition names resulting from the previous split
partition operation on table quarterly_regional_sales. It also reflects the results of
other operations performed on this table in preceding sections of this chapter since its
creation in "When to Use Composite Range-List Partitioning ".

SELECT PARTITION_NAME, SUBPARTITION_NAME, TABLESPACE_NAME

FROM DBA_TAB_SUBPARTITIONS
WHERE TABLE_NAME='QUARTERLY_REGIONAL_SALES'
ORDER BY PARTITION_NAME;

PARTITION_NAME SUBPARTITION_NAME TABLESPACE_NAME

-------------------- ------------------------------ ---------------
Q1_1999_FEB_MAR Q1_1999_FEB_MAR_WEST TS2
Q1_1999_FEB_MAR Q1_1999_FEB_MAR_NORTHEAST TS2
Q1_1999_FEB_MAR Q1_1999_FEB_MAR_SOUTHEAST TS2
Q1_1999_FEB_MAR Q1_1999_FEB_MAR_NORTHCENTRAL TS2
Q1_1999_FEB_MAR Q1_1999_FEB_MAR_SOUTHCENTRAL TS2
Q1_1999_FEB_MAR Q1_1999_FEB_MAR_SOUTH TS2
Q1_1999_JAN_FEB Q1_1999_JAN_FEB_WEST TS1
Q1_1999_JAN_FEB Q1_1999_JAN_FEB_NORTHEAST TS1
Q1_1999_JAN_FEB Q1_1999_JAN_FEB_SOUTHEAST TS1
Q1_1999_JAN_FEB Q1_1999_JAN_FEB_NORTHCENTRAL TS1
Q1_1999_JAN_FEB Q1_1999_JAN_FEB_SOUTHCENTRAL TS1
Q1_1999_JAN_FEB Q1_1999_JAN_FEB_SOUTH TS1
Q1_2000 Q1_2000_NORTHWEST TS3
Q1_2000 Q1_2000_SOUTHWEST TS3
Q1_2000 Q1_2000_NORTHEAST TS3
Q1_2000 Q1_2000_SOUTHEAST TS3
Q1_2000 Q1_2000_NORTHCENTRAL TS3
Q1_2000 Q1_2000_SOUTHCENTRAL TS3
Q2_1999 Q2_1999_NORTHWEST TS4
Q2_1999 Q2_1999_SOUTHWEST TS4
Q2_1999 Q2_1999_NORTHEAST TS4
Q2_1999 Q2_1999_SOUTHEAST TS4
Q2_1999 Q2_1999_NORTHCENTRAL TS4
Q2_1999 Q2_1999_SOUTHCENTRAL TS4
Q3_1999 Q3_1999_NORTHWEST TS4
Q3_1999 Q3_1999_SOUTHWEST TS4
Q3_1999 Q3_1999_NORTHEAST TS4
Q3_1999 Q3_1999_SOUTHEAST TS4
Q3_1999 Q3_1999_NORTHCENTRAL TS4
Q3_1999 Q3_1999_SOUTHCENTRAL TS4
Q4_1999 Q4_1999_NORTHWEST TS4
Q4_1999 Q4_1999_SOUTHWEST TS4
Q4_1999 Q4_1999_NORTHEAST TS4
Q4_1999 Q4_1999_SOUTHEAST TS4
Q4_1999 Q4_1999_NORTHCENTRAL TS4
Q4_1999 Q4_1999_SOUTHCENTRAL TS4

36 rows selected.

Splitting a Range-List Subpartition

Splitting a list subpartition of a range-list partitioned table is similar to what is described
in "Splitting a Partition of a List-Partitioned Table", but the syntax is that of
SUBPARTITION rather than PARTITION. For example, the following statement splits a
subpartition of the quarterly_regional_sales table:

ALTER TABLE quarterly_regional_sales SPLIT SUBPARTITION

q2_1999_southwest
VALUES ('UT') INTO
( SUBPARTITION q2_1999_utah
TABLESPACE ts2,
SUBPARTITION q2_1999_southwest
TABLESPACE ts3
)
PARALLEL;

This operation splits the subpartition q2_1999_southwest into two subpartitions:

• q2_1999_utah with literal-value list of ('UT')

• q2_1999_southwest which inherits the remaining literal-value list of
('AZ','NM')

The individual subpartitions have new physical attributes that are inherited from the
subpartition being split.

Splitting Index Partitions

You cannot explicitly split a partition in a local index. A local index partition is split only
when you split a partition in the underlying table. However, you can split a global index
partition as is done in the following example:

ALTER INDEX quon1 SPLIT

PARTITION canada AT ( 100 ) INTO
PARTITION canada1 ..., PARTITION canada2 ...);
ALTER INDEX quon1 REBUILD PARTITION canada1;
ALTER INDEX quon1 REBUILD PARTITION canada2;

The index being split can contain index data, and the resulting partitions do not require
rebuilding, unless the original partition was previously marked UNUSABLE.

Optimizing SPLIT PARTITION and SPLIT SUBPARTITION Operations

Oracle Database implements a SPLIT PARTITION operation by creating two new

partitions and redistributing the rows from the partition being split into the two new
partitions. This is an expensive operation because it is necessary to scan all the rows of
the partition being split and then insert them one-by-one into the new partitions. Further
if you do not use the UPDATE INDEXES clause, both local and global indexes also require
rebuilding.
Sometimes after a split operation, one of the new partitions contains all of the rows from
the partition being split, while the other partition contains no rows. This is often the case
when splitting the first partition of a table. The database can detect such situations in
heap-organized partitioned tables and can optimize the split operation. This optimization
results in a fast split operation that behaves like an add partition operation. The fast split
optimization does not apply to partitioned index-organized tables.

Specifically, the database can optimize and speed up SPLIT PARTITION operations if two
conditions are met:

• One of the two resulting partitions must be empty.

• The nonempty resulting partition must have storage characteristics identical to
those of the partition being split. Specifically:
o If the partition being split is composite, then the storage characteristics of
each subpartition in the new nonempty resulting partition must be identical
to those of the subpartitions of the partition being split.
o If the partition being split contains a LOB column, then the storage
characteristics of each LOB (sub)partition in the new nonempty resulting
partition must be identical to those of the LOB (sub)partitions of the
partition being split.

If both of these conditions are met after the split, then all global indexes remain usable,
even if you did not specify the UPDATE INDEXES clause. Local index (sub)partitions
associated with both resulting partitions remain usable if they were usable before the
split. Local index (sub)partition(s) corresponding to the nonempty resulting partition will
be identical to the local index (sub)partition(s) of the partition that was split.

The same optimization holds for SPLIT SUBPARTITION operations.

Truncating Partitions

Use the ALTER TABLE ... TRUNCATE PARTITION statement to remove all rows from a table
partition. Truncating a partition is similar to dropping a partition, except that the partition
is emptied of its data, but not physically dropped.

You cannot truncate an index partition. However, if local indexes are defined for the
table, the ALTER TABLE ... TRUNCATE PARTITION statement truncates the matching
partition in each local index. Unless you specify UPDATE INDEXES (cannot be specified for
index-organized tables), any global indexes are marked UNUSABLE and must be rebuilt.

Truncating a Table Partition

Use the ALTER TABLE ... TRUNCATE PARTITION statement to remove all rows from a table
partition, with or without reclaiming space.

Truncating Table Partitions Containing Data and Global Indexes

If the partition contains data and global indexes, use one of the following methods to
truncate the table partition.

Method 1

Leave the global indexes in place during the ALTER TABLE ... TRUNCATE PARTITION
statement. In this example, table sales has a global index sales_area_ix, which is
rebuilt.

ALTER TABLE sales TRUNCATE PARTITION dec98;

ALTER INDEX sales_area_ix REBUILD;

This method is most appropriate for large tables where the partition being truncated
contains a significant percentage of the total data in the table.

Method 2

Issue the DELETE statement to delete all rows from the partition before you issue the
ALTER TABLE ... TRUNCATE PARTITION statement. The DELETE statement updates the
global indexes, and also fires triggers and generates redo and undo logs.

For example, to truncate the first partition, which has a partition bound of 10000, issue
the following statements:

DELETE FROM sales WHERE TRANSID < 10000;

ALTER TABLE sales TRUNCATE PARTITION dec98;

This method is most appropriate for small tables, or for large tables when the partition
being truncated contains a small percentage of the total data in the table.

Method 3

Specify UPDATE INDEXES in the ALTER TABLE statement. This causes the global index to
be truncated at the time the partition is truncated.

ALTER TABLE sales TRUNCATE PARTITION dec98

UPDATE INDEXES;

Truncating a Partition Containing Data and Referential Integrity Constraints

If a partition contains data and has referential integrity constraints, choose either of the
following methods to truncate the table partition.
Method 1

Disable the integrity constraints, issue the ALTER TABLE ... TRUNCATE PARTITION
statement, then reenable the integrity constraints:

ALTER TABLE sales

DISABLE CONSTRAINT dname_sales1;
ALTER TABLE sales TRUNCATE PARTITTION dec94;
ALTER TABLE sales
ENABLE CONSTRAINT dname_sales1;

This method is most appropriate for large tables where the partition being truncated
contains a significant percentage of the total data in the table.

Method 2

Issue the DELETE statement to delete all rows from the partition before you issue the
ALTER TABLE ... TRUNCATE PARTITION statement. The DELETE statement enforces
referential integrity constraints, and also fires triggers and generates redo and undo log.

Note:

You can substantially reduce the amount of logging by setting the

NOLOGGING attribute (using ALTER TABLE ... TRUNCATE PARTITION ...
NOLOGGING) for the partition before deleting all of its rows.

DELETE FROM sales WHERE TRANSID < 10000;

ALTER TABLE sales TRUNCATE PARTITION dec94;

This method is most appropriate for small tables, or for large tables when the partition
being truncated contains a small percentage of the total data in the table.

Truncating a Subpartition

You use the ALTER TABLE ... TRUNCATE SUBPARTITION statement to remove all rows from
a subpartition of a composite partitioned table. Corresponding local index subpartitions
are also truncated.

The following statement shows how to truncate data in a subpartition of a table. In this
example, the space occupied by the deleted rows is made available for use by other
schema objects in the tablespace.
ALTER TABLE diving
TRUNCATE SUBPARTITION us_locations
DROP STORAGE;

Partitioned Tables and Indexes Example

This section presents an example of moving the time window in a historical table.

A historical table describes the business transactions of an enterprise over intervals of

time. Historical tables can be base tables, which contain base information; for example,
sales, checks, and orders. Historical tables can also be rollup tables, which contain
summary information derived from the base information using operations such as GROUP
BY, AVERAGE, or COUNT.

The time interval in a historical table is often a rolling window. DBAs periodically delete
sets of rows that describe the oldest transactions, and in turn allocate space for sets of
rows that describe the most recent transactions. For example, at the close of business on
April 30, 1995, the DBA deletes the rows (and supporting index entries) that describe
transactions from April 1994, and allocates space for the April 1995 transactions.

Now consider a specific example. You have a table, order, which contains 13 months of
transactions: a year of historical data in addition to orders for the current month. There is
one partition for each month. These monthly partitions are named order_yymm, as are the
tablespaces in which they reside.

The order table contains two local indexes, order_ix_onum, which is a local, prefixed,
unique index on the order number, and order_ix_supp, which is a local, nonprefixed
index on the supplier number. The local index partitions are named with suffixes that
match the underlying table. There is also a global unique index, order_ix_cust, for the
customer name. order_ix_cust contains three partitions, one for each third of the
alphabet. So on October 31, 1994, change the time window on order as follows:

1. Back up the data for the oldest time interval.

2. ALTER TABLESPACE order_9310 BEGIN BACKUP;
3. ...
4. ALTER TABLESPACE order_9310 END BACKUP;
5.
6. Drop the partition for the oldest time interval.
7. ALTER TABLE order DROP PARTITION order_9310;
8.
9. Add the partition to the most recent time interval.
10. ALTER TABLE order ADD PARTITION order_9411;
11.
12. Re-create the global index partitions.
13. ALTER INDEX order_ix_cust REBUILD PARTITION order_ix_cust_AH;
14. ALTER INDEX order_ix_cust REBUILD PARTITION order_ix_cust_IP;
15. ALTER INDEX order_ix_cust REBUILD PARTITION order_ix_cust_QZ;
16.
Ordinarily, the database acquires sufficient locks to ensure that no operation (DML,
DDL, or utility) interferes with an individual DDL statement, such as ALTER TABLE ...
DROP PARTITION. However, if the partition maintenance operation requires several steps,
it is the database administrator's responsibility to ensure that applications (or other
maintenance operations) do not interfere with the multistep operation in progress. Some
methods for doing this are:

• Bring down all user-level applications during a well-defined batch window.

• Ensure that no one is able to access table order by revoking access privileges
from a role that is used in all applications.

Viewing Information About Partitioned Tables and

Indexes
The following views display information specific to partitioned tables and indexes:

View Description
DBA_PART_TABLES DBA view displays partitioning information for all
partitioned tables in the database. ALL view displays
ALL_PART_TABLES
partitioning information for all partitioned tables
USER_PART_TABLES
accessible to the user. USER view is restricted to
partitioning information for partitioned tables owned
by the user.
DBA_TAB_PARTITIONS Display partition-level partitioning information,
partition storage parameters, and partition statistics
ALL_TAB_PARTITIONS
generated by the DBMS_STATS package or the ANALYZE
statement.
USER_TAB_PARTITIONS
DBA_TAB_SUBPARTITIONS Display subpartition-level partitioning information,
subpartition storage parameters, and subpartition
ALL_TAB_SUBPARTITIONS
statistics generated by the DBMS_STATS package or the
ANALYZE statement.
USER_TAB_SUBPARTITIONS
DBA_PART_KEY_COLUMNS Display the partitioning key columns for partitioned
tables.
ALL_PART_KEY_COLUMNS

USER_PART_KEY_COLUMNS
DBA_SUBPART_KEY_COLUMNS Display the subpartitioning key columns for composite-
partitioned tables (and local indexes on composite-
ALL_SUBPART_KEY_COLUMNS
partitioned tables).
USER_SUBPART_KEY_COLUMNS
View Description
DBA_PART_COL_STATISTICS Display column statistics and histogram information
for the partitions of tables.
ALL_PART_COL_STATISTICS

USER_PART_COL_STATISTICS
DBA_SUBPART_COL_STATISTICS Display column statistics and histogram information
for subpartitions of tables.
ALL_SUBPART_COL_STATISTICS

USER_SUBPART_COL_STATISTICS
DBA_PART_HISTOGRAMS Display the histogram data (end-points for each
histogram) for histograms on table partitions.
ALL_PART_HISTOGRAMS

USER_PART_HISTOGRAMS
DBA_SUBPART_HISTOGRAMS Display the histogram data (end-points for each
histogram) for histograms on table subpartitions.
ALL_SUBPART_HISTOGRAMS

USER_SUBPART_HISTOGRAMS
DBA_PART_INDEXES Display partitioning information for partitioned
indexes.
ALL_PART_INDEXES

USER_PART_INDEXES
DBA_IND_PARTITIONS Display the following for index partitions: partition-
level partitioning information, storage parameters for
ALL_IND_PARTITIONS
the partition, statistics collected by the DBMS_STATS
package or the ANALYZE statement.
USER_IND_PARTITIONS
DBA_IND_SUBPARTITIONS Display the following information for index
subpartitions: partition-level partitioning information,
ALL_IND_SUBPARTITIONS
storage parameters for the partition, statistics collected
by the DBMS_STATS package or the ANALYZE statement.
USER_IND_SUBPARTITIONS
DBA_SUBPARTITION_TEMPLATES Display information about existing subpartition
templates.
ALL_SUBPARTITION_TEMPLATES

USER_SUBPARTITION_TEMPLATES