Load Balanced and Optimal Disk Allocation Strategy for Partial Match Queries on Multi-dimensional Files

A multi-dimensional file is one whose data are characterized by several attributes, each specified in a given domain. A partial match query on a multi-dimensional file extracts all data whose attributes match the values of one or more attributes specified in the query. The disk allocation problem of a multi-dimensional file, F, on a database system with multiple disks accessible in parallel is the problem of distributing F among the disks such that the data qualifying for each partial match query are distributed as evenly as possible among the disks of the system. We propose an optimal solution to this problem, for multi-dimensional files with pairwise prime domains, based on a large and flexible class of maximum distance separable codes, namely the redundant residue codes. We also introduce a new family of residue codes, called the redundant non-pairwise prime residue codes, to deal with files whose attribute domains are non-pairwise prime.