Chapter 14

Indexing Structures for Files

Slide 14- 2
Indexes as Access Paths
 A single-level index is an auxiliary file that makes
it more efficient to search for a record in the data
file.
 The index is usually specified on one field of the
file (although it could be specified on several
fields)
 One form of an index is a file of entries <field
value, pointer to record>, which is ordered by
field value
 The index is called an access path on the field.

Slide 14- 3
Indexes as Access Paths (contd.)
 The index file usually occupies considerably less disk
blocks than the data file because its entries are much
smaller
 A binary search on the index yields a pointer to the file
record
 Indexes can also be characterized as dense or sparse
 A dense index has an index entry for every search key
value (and hence every record) in the data file.
 A sparse (or nondense) index, on the other hand, has
index entries for only some of the search values

Slide 14- 4
Indexes as Access Paths (contd.)
 Example: Given the following data file
 EMPLOYEE(NAME, SSN, ADDRESS, JOB, SAL, ... )
 Suppose that:
 record size R=150 bytes block size B=512 bytes r=30000 records
 Then, we get:
 blocking factor Bfr= B div R= 512 div 150= 3 records/block
 number of file blocks b= (r/Bfr)= (30000/3)= 10000 blocks
 For an index on the SSN field, assume the field size VSSN=9 bytes,
assume the record pointer size PR=7 bytes. Then:
 index entry size RI=(VSSN+ PR)=(9+7)=16 bytes
 index blocking factor BfrI= B div RI= 512 div 16= 32 entries/block
 number of index blocks b= (r/ BfrI)= (30000/32)= 938 blocks
 binary search needs log2bI= log2938= 10 block accesses
 This is compared to an average linear search cost of:
 (b/2)= 30000/2= 15000 block accesses
 If the file records are ordered, the binary search cost would be:
 log2b= log230000= 15 block accesses
Slide 14- 5
Types of Single-Level Indexes
 Primary Index
 Defined on an ordered data file
 The data file is ordered on a key field
 Includes one index entry for each block in the data file; the
index entry has the key field value for the first record in the
block, which is called the block anchor
 A similar scheme can use the last record in a block.
 A primary index is a nondense (sparse) index, since it
includes an entry for each disk block of the data file and the
keys of its anchor record rather than for every search value.

Slide 14- 6
Primary index
on the ordering
key field

 FIGURE 14.1
Primary index on
the ordering key
field of the file
shown in Figure
13.7.

Slide 14- 7
Example 1.
 A block size B=1024 bytes, # of records r = 30000, record
length R=100 bytes, the key field V=9 bytes, and block
pointer P=6 bytes
 bfr =  B/R  =  (1024/100)  = 10 records/block
 b =  (r/bfr) =  (30,000/10 =3,000 blocks needed
 Binary search needs = log2b  = log23000  =12 block
accesses
 Size of index entry Ri = (9+6)=15bytes
 Bfri =  B/Ri  =  (1024/15)  = 68 entries/block
 ri= b = 3000
 bi=  (ri/bfri) =  (3000/68 = 45 blocks
 Binary search needs = log2bi  = log245  =6 block accesses
 Total we need 7 = 6 + 1 block access (1 for data file)
Slide 14- 8
Types of Single-Level Indexes
 Clustering Index
 Defined on an ordered data file
 The data file is ordered on a non-key field unlike primary
index, which requires that the ordering field of the data file
have a distinct value for each record.
 Includes one index entry for each distinct value of the field;
the index entry points to the first data block that contains
records with that field value.
 It is another example of nondense index where Insertion
and Deletion is relatively straightforward with a clustering
index.

Slide 14- 9
A Clustering
Index Example

 FIGURE 14.2
A clustering index
on the
DEPTNUMBER
ordering non-key
field of an
EMPLOYEE file.

Slide 14- 10
Another Clustering
Index Example
 FIGURE 14.3
Clustering index with
a separate block
cluster for each group
of records that share
the same value for
the clustering field.

Slide 14- 11
Types of Single-Level Indexes
 Secondary Index
 A secondary index provides a secondary means of
accessing a file for which some primary access already
exists.
 The secondary index may be on a field which is a candidate
key and has a unique value in every record, or a non-key
with duplicate values.
 The index is an ordered file with two fields.
 The first field is of the same data type as some non-ordering
field of the data file that is an indexing field.

The second field is either a block pointer or a record pointer.

There can be many secondary indexes (and hence, indexing
fields) for the same file.
 Includes one entry for each record in the data file; hence, it
is a dense index

Slide 14- 12
Example of a Dense
Secondary Index

 FIGURE 14.4
A dense secondary
index (with block
pointers) on a non-
ordering key field of
a file.

Slide 14- 13
Example 2
 r=30,000 fixed-length records, R=100 bytes, B=1,024
bytes, and b= 3000 blocks.
 Linear search: b/2 = 3000/2 = 1500 block accesses
 Secondary index on a nonordering key field: V=9 bytes,
and P=6 bytes
 Ri = (9+6) = 15 bytes
 bfri =  B/Ri  =  1024/15  = 68 entries/block
 ri = r since dense
 bi =  ri/bfri =  30000/68  = 442 blocks
 Binary search needs  log2bi =  log2442 = 9 block
accesses
 Total block accesses = 9 + 1 = 10

Slide 14- 14
For nonkey field
 Option 1:
 Several index entries with the same K(i) values.
Dense index
 Option 2:
 Variable length records for the index entries
(repeating pointer): e.g. <P(i,1), …, P(i,k)> for K(i)
 Option 3:
 Create extra level to handle the multiple pointers
 See next slide

Slide 14- 15
 An Example of a Secondary Index
 FIGURE 14.5
A secondary index
(with recorded
pointers) on a non-
key field
implemented using
one level of
indirection so that
index entries are of
fixed length and
have unique field
values.

Slide 14- 16
Properties of Index Types

Slide 14- 17
Multi-Level Indexes
 Because a single-level index is an ordered file, we can
create a primary index to the index itself;
 In this case, the original index file is called the first-level
index and the index to the index is called the second-level
index.
 We can repeat the process, creating a third, fourth, ..., top
level until all entries of the top level fit in one disk block
 A multi-level index can be created for any type of first-
level index (primary, secondary, clustering) as long as the
first-level index consists of more than one disk block

Slide 14- 18
A Two-level
Primary Index
 FIGURE 14.6
A two-level
primary index
resembling
ISAM (Indexed
Sequential
Access Method)
organization.

Slide 14- 19
Example 3
 Convert Example 2 into a multilevel index
 bfri = fo (fan-out) = 68
 # of first-level blocks b1 = 442 blocks
 # of second-level blocks b2 = b1/fo = 442/68  =7 blocks
 # of third-level blocks b3 = b2/fo = 7.68 = 1 block
 Therefore, third level is top level (t=3)
 Total block accesses = t+1 = 4 block accesses

Slide 14- 20
Multi-Level Indexes
 Such a multi-level index is a form of search tree
 However, insertion and deletion of new index
entries is a severe problem because every level of
the index is an ordered file.
 Dynamic multilevel index: leaves some space in
each of its block for inserting new entries
 That is called B-tree or B+-tree

Slide 14- 21
Dynamic Multilevel Indexes
 Tree data structure
 A tree is formed of nodes
 Each node has one parent node (except root) and
several child nodes.
 A root does not have parent node
 A leaf does not have child node
 A subtree of a node consists of that node and all
its descendant nodes

Slide 14- 22
Example of a tree data structure

Slide 14- 23
Search Tree
 A search tree of order p is a tree such that
 Each node contains at most p-1 search values, and
 P pointers in the order of <P1, K1, P2, K2,…, Pq-1, Kq-1, Pq>
(Pi is pointer to a child node, and Ki is a search value)
 Two constraints must hold at all times on the search tree
 Within each node K1 < K2 < … < Kq-1
 For all values X in the subtree pointed at by P, we have Ki-1
<X< Ki for 1<i<q; X< Ki for i=1, and Ki-1<X for i=q

Slide 14- 24
A Node in a Search Tree with Pointers to
Subtrees below It
 FIGURE 14.8

Slide 14- 25
FIGURE 14.9
A search tree of order p = 3.

What happen if many data are inserted only one node?

Slide 14- 26
Dynamic Multilevel Indexes Using B-
Trees and B+-Trees
 Most multi-level indexes use B-tree or B+-tree data
structures because of the insertion and deletion problem
 This leaves space in each tree node (disk block) to allow for
new index entries
 These data structures are variations of search trees that
allow efficient insertion and deletion of new search values.
 In B-Tree and B+-Tree data structures, each node
corresponds to a disk block
 Each node is kept between half-full and completely full

Slide 14- 27
Dynamic Multilevel Indexes Using B-
Trees and B+-Trees (contd.)
 An insertion into a node that is not full is quite
efficient
 If a node is full the insertion causes a split into two
nodes
 Splitting may propagate to other tree levels
 A deletion is quite efficient if a node does not
become less than half full
 If a deletion causes a node to become less than
half full, it must be merged with neighboring
nodes

Slide 14- 28
Difference between B-tree and B+-tree
 In a B-tree, pointers to data records exist at all
levels of the tree
 In a B+-tree, all pointers to data records exists at
the leaf-level nodes
 A B+-tree can have less levels (or higher capacity
of search values) than the corresponding B-tree

Slide 14- 29
 More on B+ trees
 See the B+tree.doc
 For performance evaluation of the B/B+trees see
section 14.3
 Indexes on multiple keys (see section 14.4)
 Ordered index on multiple attributes
 Partitioned hashing
 Grid files

Slide 14- 30