Managing IBM Database 2 buffers to maximize performance

IBM Systems Journal, Volume 23, Issue 2, pp. 211-218 (1984).

DB2^® represents a family of relational database products offered by IBM. Today, DB2 provides an open database environment that runs on a variety of computing platforms and includes a range of application development and management tools. It scales from a single-user database on a PC to terabyte databases on large multiuser platforms. DB2 also now supports many kinds of nontraditional data by including a set of “extenders” that make it possible to develop applications that involve text, image, audio, and video data.

This very highly cited paper describes the physical organization of the DB2 database system. The paper focuses attention on the design considerations for the function of the Buffer Manager, a component within DB2 that manages data buffering between DASD (direct access storage device) and virtual memory. The Buffer Manager controls DB2 in a consistent manner with respect to data integrity and data recovery and has had a strong impact on overall DB2 system performance. A well-designed buffer management system can significantly improve the performance of database systems for on-line transaction processing, decision support, and complex-query processing. The information in this paper has helped various DB2 installation owners tune the performance of their DB2 systems.