Patent ID: 8473466

Claim:
A method of selecting a hardware data storage device in which to store database data, the method comprising: providing a number of lower performance hardware data storage devices and a number of higher performance hardware data storage devices in which each hardware data storage device has a storage signature associated therewith, wherein the storage signature of each hardware data storage device comprises (i) a number of affirmative values which represent supported data storage characteristics of the hardware data storage device, and (ii) a number of negative values which represent unsupported data storage characteristics of the hardware data storage device; receiving a request to store database data which has a storage class signature associated therewith, wherein the storage class signature associated with the database data to be stored comprises (i) a first value which represents that a first data storage characteristic is required to be supported by a selectable hardware data storage device on which the database data can be stored, (ii) a second value which is different from the first value and which second value represents that a second data storage characteristic is required to be excluded and unsupported by a selectable hardware data storage device on which the database data can be stored, and (iii) a third value which is different from the first and second values and which third value represents that a third data storage characteristic is neither required to be supported nor required to be excluded and unsupported by a selectable hardware data storage device on which the database data can be stored; reviewing storage signatures of one or more hardware data storage devices; and selecting at least one hardware data storage device having a storage signature that matches the storage class signature associated with the database data to be stored in the hardware data storage device.