Query processing and optimization

Definitions
• Query processing
– translation of query into low-level activities
– evaluation of query
– data extraction
• Query optimization
– selecting the most efficient query evaluation

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 2

 Query Processing (1/2)
• SELECT * FROM student WHERE name=Paul
• Parse query and translate
– check syntax, verify names, etc
– translate into relational algebra (RDBMS)
– create evaluation plans
• Find best plan (optimization)
• Execute plan

student takes course

cid name cid courseid courseid coursename
00112233 Paul 00112233 312 312 Advanced DBs
00112238 Rob 00112233 395 395 Machine Learning
00112235 Matt 00112235 312

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 3

 Query Processing (2/2)

parser and relational algebra

query
translator expression

optimizer

evaluation
output evaluation plan
engine

data
data data statistics
Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 4
 Relational Algebra (1/2)
• Query language
• Operations:
– select: σ
– project: π
– union: 
– difference: -
– product: x
– join:

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 5

 Relational Algebra (2/2)
• SELECT * FROM student WHERE name=Paul
– σname=Paul(student)
• πname( σcid<00112235(student) )
• πname(σcoursename=Advanced DBs((student cid takes) courseid course) )

student takes course

cid name cid courseid courseid coursename
00112233 Paul 00112233 312 312 Advanced DBs
00112238 Rob 00112233 395 395 Machine Learning
00112235 Matt 00112235 312

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 6

 Why Optimize?
• Many alternative options to evaluate a query
– πname(σcoursename=Advanced DBs((student cid takes) courseid course) )
– πname((student cid takes) courseid σcoursename=Advanced DBs(course)) )
• Several options to evaluate a single operation
– σname=Paul(student)
• scan file
• use secondary index on student.name
• Multiple access paths
– access path: how can records be accessed

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 7

 Evaluation plans
• Specify which access path to follow
• Specify which algorithm to use to evaluate operator
• Specify how operators interleave πname
• Optimization:
– estimate the cost of each plan (not all plans)
– select plan with lowest estimated cost σcoursename=Advanced DBs l

σname=Paul ; use index i courseid; index-nested

loop
σname=Paul
student course
cid; hash join

student student takes

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 8

 Estimating Cost
• What needs to be considered:
– Disk I/Os
• sequential
• random
– CPU time
– Network communication
• What are we going to consider:
– Disk I/Os
• page reads/writes
– Ignoring cost of writing final output

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 9

Operations and Costs
 Operations and Costs (1/2)
• Operations: σ, π, , , -, x,
• Costs:
– NR: number of records in R
– LR: size of record in R
– FR: blocking factor
• number of records in page
– BR: number of pages to store relation R
– V(A,R): number of distinct values of attribute A in R
– SC(A,R): selection cardinality of A in R
• A key: S(A,R)=1
• A nonkey: S(A,R)= NR / V(A,R)
– HTi: number of levels in index I
– rounding up fractions and logarithms

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 11

 Selection σ (1/2)
• Linear search
– read all pages, find records that match (assuming equality search)
– average cost:
• nonkey BR, key 0.5*BR
• Binary search
– on ordered field
– average cost: log 2 BR   m
• m additional pages to be read
• m = ceil( SC(A,R)/FR ) - 1
• Primary/Clustered
 Index
– average cost:
• single record HTi + 1
• multiple records HTi + ceil( SC(A,R)/FR )

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 13

 Selection σ (2/2)
• Secondary Index
– average cost:
• key field HTi + 1
• nonkey field
– worst case HTi + SC(A,R)
– linear search more desirable if many matching records

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 14

 Complex selection σexpr
• conjunctive selections:  1  2 ... n
– perform simple selection using θi with the lowest evaluation cost
• e.g. using an index corresponding to θi
• apply remaining conditions θ on the resulting records
•  cid 00112233courseid  312 (takes)
• cost of the simple selection on selected θ
cost: the
– multiple indices
• select indices that correspond to θis

• scan indices and return RIDs
• answer: intersection of RIDs
• cost: the sum of costs + record retrieval
• disjunctive selections:  1  2 ... n
– multiple indices
• union of RIDs
– linear search

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 15
 Projection and set operations
• SELECT DISTINCT cid FROM takes
– π requires duplicate elimination
– sorting
• set operations require duplicate elimination
– RS
– RS
– sorting

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 16

 Sorting
• efficient evaluation for many operations
• required by query:
– SELECT cid,name FROM student ORDER BY name
• implementations
– internal sorting (if records fit in memory)
– external sorting

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 17

 External Sort-Merge Algorithm (1/3)
• Sort stage: create sorted runs

i=0;
repeat
read M pages of relation R into memory
sort the M pages
write them into file Ri
increment i
until no more pages
N=i // number of runs

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 18

 External Sort-Merge Algorithm (2/3)
• Merge stage: merge sorted runs

//assuming N < M
allocate a page for each run file Ri // N pages allocated
read a page Pi of each Ri
repeat
choose first record (in sort order) among N pages, say from page Pj
write record to output and delete from page Pj
if page is empty read next page Pj’ from Rj
until all pages are empty

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 19

 External Sort-Merge Algorithm (3/3)
• Merge stage: merge sorted runs
• What if N > M ?
– perform multiple passes
– each pass merges M-1 runs until relation is processed
– in next pass number of runs is reduced
– final pass generated sorted output

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 20

 Sort-Merge Example
pass run
a 12
d 95 a 12
d 95 a 12
a 12 R1 d 95
x 44 a 95
d 12 b 38
x 44 f 12
f 12 d 95
s 95 f 12 o 73
a 95
d 12 e 87
f 12 d 95 o 73 s 95
R2 f 12
o 73 a 12 s 95 x 44 pass
n 67
t 45 x 44 o 73
file n 67 e 87 b 38
memory s 95
e 87 n 67 e 87
R3 t 45
z 11 t 45 n 67
v 22
v 22 t 45
b 38 x 44
b 38 v 22
R4 v 22 z 11
z 11
Advanced Databases z Query
11 processing and optimization 21
 Sort-Merge cost
• BR the number of pages of R
• Sort stage: 2 * BR
– read/write relation
• Merge stage:
BR 
– initially   runs to be merged
M 
– each pass M-1 runs sorted  BR 
– log
thus, total number of passes:  M 1 
 M 
– 
at each pass 2 * BR pages are read
• read/write relation
• apart from final write 
• Total cost:  BR 
– 2 * BR + 2 * B R *  M 1 -
log BR
 M 


Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 22
 Projection
• πΑ1,Α2… (R)
• remove unwanted attributes
– scan and drop attributes
• remove duplicate records
– sort resulting records using all attributes as sort order
– scan sorted result, eliminate duplicates (adjucent)
• cost
– initial scan + sorting + final scan

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 23

 Join
• πname(σcoursename=Advanced DBs((student cid takes) courseid course) )
• implementations
– nested loop join
– block-nested loop join
– indexed nested loop join
– sort-merge join
– hash join

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 24

 Nested loop join (1/2)
• R S

for each tuple tR of R

for each tS of S
if (tR tS match) output tR.tS
end
end

• Works for any join condition

• S inner relation
• R outer relation

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 25

 Nested loop join (2/2)
• Costs:
– best case when smaller relation fits in memory
• use it as inner relation
• BR+BS
– worst case when memory holds one page of each relation
• S scanned for each tuple in R
• NR * Bs + BR

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 26

 Block nested loop join (1/2)

for each page XR of R

foreach page XS of S
for each tuple tR in XR
for each tS in XS
if (tR tS match) output tR.tS
end
end
end
end

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 27

 Block nested loop join (2/2)
• Costs:
– best case when smaller relation fits in memory
• use it as inner relation
• BR+BS
– worst case when memory holds one page of each relation
• S scanned for each page in R
• BR * Bs + B R

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 28

 Indexed nested loop join
• R S
• Index on inner relation (S)
• for each tuple in outer relation (R) probe index of inner relation
• Costs:
– BR + NR * c
• c the cost of index-based selection of inner relation
– relation with fewer records as outer relation

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 29

 Sort-merge join
• R S
• Relations sorted on the join attribute
• Merge sorted relations
– pointers to first record in each relation
– read in a group of records of S with the same values in the join
attribute
– read records of R and process
d D e 67
• Relations in sorted order to be read once
e E e 87
• Cost:
x X n 11
– cost of sorting + BS + BR
v V v 22
z 38

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 30

 Hash join
• R S
• use h1 on joining attribute to map records to partitions that fit in memory
– records of R are partitioned into R0… Rn-1
– records of S are partitioned into S 0… Sn-1
• join records in corresponding partitions
– using a hash-based indexed block nested loop join
• Cost: 2*(BR+BS) + (BR+BS)

R0 S0

R1 S1

R . . S
. .
. .
Rn-1 Sn-1
Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 31
 Exercise: joins
• R S
• NR=215
• BR = 100
• NS=26
• BS = 30
• B+ index on S
– order 4
– full nodes
• nested loop join: best case - worst case
• block nested loop join: best case - worst case
• indexed nested loop join

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 32

 Evaluation
• evaluate multiple operations in a plan
• materialization
• pipelining πname

σcoursename=Advanced DBs

courseid; index-nested

loop

course
cid; hash join

student takes

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 33

 Materialization
• create and read temporary relations
• create implies writing to disk
– more page writes
πname

σcoursename=Advanced DBs

courseid; index-nested

loop

course
cid; hash join

student takes

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 34

 Pipelining (1/2)
• creating a pipeline of operations
• reduces number of read-write operations
• implementations πname
– demand-driven - data pull
– producer-driven - data push
σcoursename=Advanced DBs

ccourseid; index-nested

loop

course
cid; hash join

student takes

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 35

 Pipelining (2/2)
• can pipelining always be used?
• any algorithm?
• cost of R S
– materialization and hash join: BR + 3(BR+BS)
– pipelining and indexed nested loop join: NR * HTi

courseid
pipelined materialized
R S
cid
σcoursename=Advanced DBs

student takes course

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 36

Query Optimization
 Choosing evaluation plans
• cost based optimization
• enumeration of plans
– R S T, 12 possible orders
• cost estimation of each plan
• overall cost
– cannot optimize operation independently

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 38

 Cost estimation
• operation (σ, π, …)
• implementation
• size of inputs πname
• size of outputs
• sorting
σcoursename=Advanced DBs

courseid; index-nested

loop

course
cid; hash join

student takes

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 39

 Size Estimation (1/2)
•  A v (R)
– SC(A,R)
•  A v (R)
v  min(A,R)
 – NR *
max(A,R)  min(A,R)
•  1  2 ... n (R)
 – multiplying probabilities
 – N R *[(s1 N R ) *(s2 N R ) *...(sn N R )]
 •  1  2 v... n (R)
– probability that a record satisfy none of θ:
 [(1 s1 N R ) *(1 s2 N R ) *...* (1 sn N R )]

 – N R * (1 [(1 s1 N R ) *(1 s2 N R ) *...* (1 sn N R )])



Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 40
 Size Estimation (2/2)
• RxS
– NR * NS
• R S
– R  S = : NR* NS
– R  S key for R: maximum output size is Ns
– R  S foreign key for R: NS
– R  S = {A}, neither key of R nor S
• NR*NS / V(A,S)
• NS*NR / V(A,R)

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 41

 Expression Equivalence
• conjunctive selection decomposition
–  1  2
(R)   1 ( 2 (R))
• commutativity of selection
–  ( (R))   ( (R))
1 2 2 1

•
combining selection with join and product
– σθ1(R x S) = R θ1 S

• commutativity of joins
– R θ1 S=S θ1 R
• distribution of selection over join
– σθ1^θ2(R S) = σθ1(R) σθ2 (S)
• distribution of projection over join
– πA1,A2(R S) = πA1(R) πA2 (S)
• associativity of joins: R (S T) = (R S) T
Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 42
 Cost Optimizer (1/2)
• transforms expressions
– equivalent expressions
– heuristics, rules of thumb
• perform selections early
• perform projections early
• replace products followed by selection σ (R x S) with joins R S
• start with joins, selections with smallest result
– create left-deep join trees

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 43

 Cost Optimizer (2/2)

πname

πname
σcoursename=Advanced DBs

ccourseid; index-nested ccourseid; index-nested

loop loop
σcoursenam =
course
cid; hash join cid; hash join
Advanced DBs

student takes student takes course

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 44

 Cost Evaluation Exercise
• πname(σcoursename=Advanced DBs((student cid takes) courseid course) )
• R = student cid takes
• S = course
• NS = 10 records
• assume that on average there are 50 students taking each
course
• blocking factor: 2 records/page
• what is the cost of σcoursename=Advanced DBs (R courseid S)
• what is the cost of R σcoursename=Advanced DBsS
• assume relations can fit in memory

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 45

 Summary
• Estimating the cost of a single operation
• Estimating the cost of a query plan
• Optimization
– choose the most efficient plan

Advanced Databases Query processing and optimization 46