Patent ID: 6470360
Filing Date: 2002-10-22
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
In a database system having a database comprising database objects, each object itself comprising a plurality of pages, the database including allocation pages for tracking allocation of pages for objects, an improved method for allocating data pages, the method comprising:maintaining an allocation data structure indicating allocation pages that references pages with free space; maintaining on a per object basis a cache memory comprising a plurality of slots, each for storing a page identifier indicating an allocation page that reference pages with suitable free space; in response to a database operation requiring allocation of a page for a particular object, randomly selecting one of the slots of said cache memory for that particular object; obtaining an allocation page identifier from the selected slot, if an identifier is available from that slot, otherwise, obtaining an allocation page identifier from said allocation data structure; and accessing the corresponding allocation page referenced by the obtained allocation page identifier for allocating a new data page for the particular object.