Oracle 8.1.7 - Performance - Index, Partition and Partition-ed index

I have a table (Table1) with around 250 million records in Oracle 8.1.7., of which 2 columns (column1 and column2) based on values : A, B, C, D & W, X, Y, Z respectively.

Can someone please clarify my doubts :

1. I have 3 scenarios for column1. Creating a Partition alone (or) Partition-ed index (or) Non-Partitioned Index on column1 :
a. how will the data be accessed for the above 3 scenarios
b. which is better with respect to performance
2. I am planning to create a complex partition on column1 and column2, since the queries on table1 is based on column1 and column2 :
a. Are complex partitions (partition and subpartition) are based on range and hash only (or) hash and hash too is possible in Oracle 8.1.7

Thanks in Advance.

With Regards,
Raja. Received on Mon Aug 13 2012 - 06:19:33 CDT