index help

I'm working with an application that needs help with indexing. Does anyone know of a good whitepaper or book that deals with indexing in Oracle? For example, we have some indexes that look like this.

Table: col1, col2, col3, col4

Index1: col1
Index2: col1, col2

It seems like the first index is not needed since all queries that would use the first index could also use the second index. Would it be correct to recommend eliminating all indexes that are subsets of another index (assuming they have the same leading columns)?

I realize that indexes with the same columns that do not start out the same way cannot be eliminated. For example, if the same table had these two indexes. Neither index could necessarily be eliminated because the leading columns are not the same.

Index3: col1, col2, col3
Index4: col2, col3

Please email answers to mattlarson_at_usa.net

Thanks in advance,
Matt Received on Tue Dec 22 1998 - 10:38:42 CST