Physical Database Design

• Purpose
– Translate the logical description of data into
the technical specifications for storing and
retrieving data
– How the logical structure is to be physically
implemented in the target DBMS
– Create a design for storing data that will
provide adequate performance

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 Physical Database Design
• The process of producing a description of
the implementation of the database on
secondary storage; it describes the base
relations, file Organizations, and indexes
used to achieve efficient access to the
data
 Physical Database Design
• The steps of the physical database design
methodology are as follows:
– Step 3 Translate logical data model for
target DBMS
– Step 4 Design file organizations and indexes
 Basic Concepts
• The database on secondary storage is organized
into one or more files, where each file consists of
one or more records and each record consists of
one or more fields
• Consider the relation given on the next slide,
when a user requests a tuple from the DBMS, for
example Staff tuple SG37, the DBMS maps this
logical record on to a physical record and
retrieves the physical record into the DBMS
buffers in primary storage using the operating
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system file access routines
 Figure: Reduced Staff relation
from DreamHome case study

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 Basic Concepts
• The physical record is the unit of transfer
between disk and primary storage, and vice versa
• Generally, a physical record consists of more
than one logical records, although depending on
size, a logical record can correspond to one
physical record
• It is even possible for a large logical record to
span more than one physical record

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 Basic Concepts
• The terms block and page are sometimes used in
place of physical record
• For example, the Staff tuples may be stored on
two pages as shown in Figure on next slide
• The order in which records are stored and
accessed in the file is dependent on the file
organization

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Figure: Storage of Staff relation in pages

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 File Organization
• Technique for physically arranging records of a
file on secondary storage
• Factors for selecting file organization:
– Fast data retrieval and throughput
– Efficient storage space utilization
– Protection from failure and data loss
– Minimizing need for reorganization
– Accommodating growth
– Security from unauthorized use

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 File Organization
• The physical arrangement of data in a file into
pages on secondary storage
• The main types of file organization are:
– Heap (unordered) files Records are placed on disk
in no particular order
– Sequential (ordered) files Records are ordered by
the value of a specified field
– Hash files Records are placed on disk according to
a hash function
 Access Method
• Along with a file organization, there is a set of
access methods
• Access method: The steps involved in storing
and retrieving records from a file.
• Since some access methods can be applied
only to certain file organizations (for example,
we cannot apply an indexed access method to
a file without an index), the terms file
organization and access method are used
interchangeably
 Unordered (Heap)Files
• Simplest organization
• Records placed in same order inserted
• Linear search for retrieval
• Insertion efficient; retrieval not efficient
• Deletion process
– Relevant page identified
– Record marked as deleted
– Page rewritten to disk
– Deleted record space not reused → inefficient storage
• Best suited for bulk loading data; there is no overhead of
calculating what page the record should go on
• Suitable when all of the records are to be retrieved in a typical
scan
 Ordered Files
• Ordered files
– Aka sequential files
– Sorted on field – ordering field
– If ordering field = key → ordering key
– Binary search for retrieval
– Insertion and deletion problematic
• Need to maintain order of records
– Rarely used for database storage
– Best if records are retrieved in some order
or a ‘range’ of records are retrieved
 Ordered Files
• If the tuples are ordered on staffNo, under
certain conditions we can use a binary search
to execute queries that involve a search
condition based on staffNo
• For example, consider the following SQL query:
SELECT *
FROM Staff
WHERE staffNo = ‘SG37’;
 Binary search on an ordered file

Assuming there is one record

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 Hash Files
• Hash files
– Good for equality selections
– Aka random/direct files
– Hash function is used to determine the page address for storing
record
• Each address corresponds to a page/bucket
• Each bucket has slots for multiple records
• Hash function is chosen to provide most even distribution of
records – min. collisions
• Examples:
– Division-remainder – uses mod function to determine field
value
– Folding – applying arithmetic function to hash field e.g. + 7
• Collision
– Hash function calculates same address for 2 or more records
Hash Files
 Indexes
• Data structure that allows DBMS to locate
particular records in file more quickly
• Similar to index in book
• Main types of indexes:
– Primary index
• Index a key field
– Clustering index
• File sequentially ordered on non-key field
i.e. more than one records can correspond
with index
 Step 3 Translate logical data model for
target DBMS
• Extend the design of base relations (defined in
logical data model) by identifying data types,
lengths, and constraints that the target DBMS
supports
 Step 4 Design file organizations and indexes

• The choice of file organizations should be fully

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