Lifecycle-based horizontal partitioning

1. A computer-implemented online transaction processing method for dynamically and horizontally partitioning a table of a relational database, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

providing a computer system comprising the relational database, the table of the relational database being of a column-store type and including:

a main store, wherein the main store is organized as a column-store and horizontally partitioned into a plurality of partitions, and

a delta store, wherein the delta store is organized as a column-store, wherein the delta store handles updates and inserts as an append operation, and wherein the delta store receives all inserts;

inserting a first record into the table by appending it to the delta store;

merging the delta store into the main store to store the first record in a first partition of the main store;

changing an assignment of the first record from a first state to a second state, wherein the first state is mapped to the first partition, and the second state is mapped to a second partition of the main store, wherein changing the assignment of the first record relates to the first record transitioning through states of a dedicated lifecycle;

storing the first record in the second partition and removing the first record from the first partition; and

updating the first record in the main store by inserting a second record to the delta store and marking the first record as not valid,

wherein the table further comprises attributes,

wherein the attributes comprise at least one state attribute, wherein the at least one state attribute correspond to the states of the dedicated lifecycle,

wherein each record comprises attribute values bijectively corresponding to the attributes,

wherein each record comprises at least one state attribute value bijectively corresponding to the at least one state attribute, and

wherein a state of a record depends on the at least one state attribute value.

2. The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the step of storing the first record in the second partition occurs asynchronously to the step of changing the assignment of the first record from the first state to the second state.

3. The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the table has a plurality of records including the first record and the second record, wherein the plurality of records are only changed by an insert-only approach.

4. The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the table is stored using column storage, and

wherein each column containing the at least one state attribute is stored uncompressed.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of changing an assignment is performed by updating a state attribute value of the first record, which includes:

inserting a new version of the first record, and

updating the last-valid version of the first record as no longer valid.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of changing an assignment is performed by updating a state attribute value of the first record in-place, wherein the column containing the state attribute is stored uncompressed.

7. A computer system for online transaction processing, wherein the computer system implements a computer program for dynamically and horizontally partitioning a table of a relational database, wherein the computer system comprises:

a memory; and

a processor,

wherein the memory stores the relational database, the table of the relational database being of a column-store type and including:

a main store, wherein the main store is organized as a column-store and horizontally partitioned into a plurality of partitions, and

a delta store, wherein the delta store is organized as a column-store, wherein the delta store handles updates and inserts as an append operation, and wherein the delta store receives all inserts,

wherein the computer program is executed by the processor to implement the following steps:

inserting a first record into the table by appending it to the delta store,

merging the delta store into the main store to store the first record in a first partition of the main store,

changing an assignment of the first record from a first state to a second state, wherein the first state is mapped to the first partition, and the second state is mapped to a second partition of the main store, wherein changing the assignment of the first record relates to the first record transitioning through states of a dedicated lifecycle,

storing the first record in the second partition and removing the first record from the first partition, and

updating the first record in the main store by inserting a second record to the delta store and marking the first record as not valid,

wherein the table further comprises attributes,

wherein the attributes comprise at least one state attribute, wherein the at least one state attribute correspond to the states of the dedicated lifecycle,

wherein each record comprises attribute values bijectively corresponding to the attributes,

wherein each record comprises at least one state attribute value bijectively corresponding to the at least one state attribute, and

wherein a state of a record depends on the at least one state attribute value.

8. The computer system of claim 7 , wherein the step of storing the first record in the second partition occurs asynchronously to the step of changing the assignment of the first record from the first state to the second state.

9. The computer system of claim 7 , wherein the table has a plurality of records including the first record and the second record, wherein the plurality of records are only changed by an insert-only approach.

10. The computer system of claim 7 , wherein the table is stored using column storage, and

wherein each column containing the at least one state attribute is stored uncompressed.

11. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the step of changing an assignment is performed by updating a state attribute value of the first record, which includes:

inserting a new version of the first record, and

updating the last-valid version of the first record as no longer valid.

12. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the step of changing an assignment is performed by updating a state attribute value of the first record in-place, wherein the column containing the state attribute is stored uncompressed.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium stores a computer program for controlling a computer system for online transaction processing for dynamically and horizontally partitioning a table of a relational database, the computer system including a memory and a processor, the computer program controlling the computer system to execute processing comprising:

implementing the relational database, the table of the relational database being of a column-store type and including:

a main store, wherein the main store is organized as a column-store and horizontally partitioned into a plurality of partitions, and

a delta store, wherein the delta store is organized as a column-store, wherein the delta store handles updates and inserts as an append operation, and wherein the delta store receives all inserts;

inserting a first record into the table by appending it to the delta store;

merging the delta store into the main store to store the first record in a first partition of the main store;

changing an assignment of the first record from a first state to a second state, wherein the first state is mapped to the first partition, and the second state is mapped to a second partition of the main store, wherein changing the assignment of the first record relates to the first record transitioning through states of a dedicated lifecycle;

storing the first record in the second partition and removing the first record from the first partition; and

updating the first record in the main store by inserting a second record to the delta store and marking the first record as not valid,

wherein the table further comprises attributes,

wherein the attributes comprise at least one state attribute, wherein the at least one state attribute correspond to the states of the dedicated lifecycle,

wherein each record comprises attribute values bijectively corresponding to the attributes,

wherein each record comprises at least one state attribute value bijectively corresponding to the at least one state attribute, and

wherein a state of a record depends on the at least one state attribute value.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the step of storing the first record in the second partition occurs asynchronously to the step of changing the assignment of the first record from the first state to the second state.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the table has a plurality of records including the first record and the second record, wherein the plurality of records are only changed by an insert-only approach.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the table is stored using column storage, and

wherein each column containing the at least one state attribute is stored uncompressed.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the step of changing an assignment is performed by updating a state attribute value of the first record, which includes:

inserting a new version of the first record, and

updating the last-valid version of the first record as no longer valid.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the step of changing an assignment is performed by updating a state attribute value of the first record in-place, wherein the column containing the state attribute is stored uncompressed.