Utilising Multiple Computers in Database Query Processing and Descriptor Rule Management

A fundamental problem to be solved in systems which derive rules from database tables to use in query optimisation is the workload involved. If the data server has to do the work it can interfere with query processing and cause slower query answering, which is the opposite of the required effect. This paper reports our investigation of the use of multiple workstations in the same local network as the data server to derive and maintain sets of rules describing data subsets. These rules are used in query optimisation. In a local area network of workstations, one computer accepts SQL queries and data manipulation commands from networked clients. This computer provides an interface to one or more database management systems located on computers in the network. It uses a collection of subset-descriptor rules for query reformulation before forwarding the semantically optimised query. It manages a set of workstations in the network, to derive and maintain the rules. The workstations are ordinary networked computers whose spare computing capacity is utilized by spawning background programs on them.