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Home -> Community -> Mailing Lists -> Oracle-L -> Re: Composite indices and skip scanning
It's a statistical thing.
A skip scan would be:
For each value of pk_table_a
find values for pk_table_b
It's likely to be cheaper than a tablescan only if there are relatively few distinct values for the column pk_table_a.
If you're looking for ideas for minimising
I/O and improving performance - you
could investigate defining the intersection
table as an IOT, with compression on the
pk_table_a column; and then create a
compressed secondary index on pk_table_b.
In the right circumstances it might be the
most efficient option.
Regards
Jonathan Lewis
http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk
The Co-operative Oracle Users' FAQ
http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk/faq/ind_faq.html
April 2004 Iceland http://www.index.is/oracleday.php June 2004 UK - Optimising Oracle Seminar
Oracle 9.2.0.2.0=20
I have an intersection table composed of PK_TABLE_A, PK_TABLE_B which is being used to handle a M:M relationship between A and B. There is a unique constraint on the combination of the two entries and a corresponding index with A as the leading value. When I was trying to access table A using the PK from table B I expected it to use that index because of the 9i skip scan feature that allows for a non leading index member to still utilize the index. What I got was a FTS until I added a separate index on PK_TABLE_B only. Is there something with a unique index that prevents skip scanning? Or do I have too much blood in my caffeine and am mis-rembering how the indices should work?
Thanks,
Chris =20
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