2 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Physical Database Design
mechanisms on the computing platform you are using are typically the domain of the
database administrator (DBA), who has a variety of vendor-supplied tools available
today to help design the most efficient databases. This book is devoted to the physical
design methodologies and tools most popular for relational databases today. We use
examples from the most common systems—Oracle, DB2 (IBM), and SQL Server
(Microsoft)—to illustrate the basic concepts.
1.1 Motivation—The Growth of Data and Increasing
Relevance of Physical Database Design
Does physical database design really matter? Absolutely. Some computing professionals
currently run their own consulting businesses doing little else than helping customers ...