Patent ID: 8271545

Claim:
A method for increasing a first number of virtual partitions in a database comprising: a computer program stored in a memory within a computer, the computer comprising a processor, the computer program accessing the database with the first number of virtual partitions, wherein accessing the database comprises mapping each of the first number of virtual partitions to one of a plurality of physical databases, the plurality of physical databases together forming the database; the computer program associating a record identifier with each of a plurality of data records, the record identifier comprising a virtual partition identifier corresponding to one of the first number of virtual partitions in the database to which a data record of the plurality of data records is assigned; the computer program, in response to an increase in the first number of virtual partitions to a second number of virtual partitions, increasing a number of bits used in the virtual partition identifier without increasing a length of the record identifier associated with each of the plurality of data records.