Glossary

Sybase IQ terms and concepts.

Adaptive Server Enterprise – Adaptive Server Enterprise is a high-performance relational database management system. You can use Sybase IQ to query data in ASE databases.
Catalog store – A catalog store is the portion of each Sybase IQ database that contains its metadata. The catalog store contains the SYSTEM dbspace and up to 12 additional other catalog dbspaces. The default name is dbname.db.
Component Integration Services (CIS) – Component Integration Services (CIS) provides Sybase IQ users with direct access to relational or nonrelational databases on the mainframe, UNIX, or Windows servers.
Connection Profile – Connection profiles store connection information to a running Sybase IQ server. The profile is primarily used to simplify user connections to a server. Sybase IQ extends connection profiles to facilitate starting servers and creating databases.
Dbfile – A dbfile is an operating system file used to store data for a Sybase IQ database. Each dbfile has a corresponding logical filename and physical file path. Each dbspace name, dbfile name, and physical file path must be unique. The dbfile name can be the same as the dbspace name.
The SYSDBFILE view shows all the dbfiles in your database, including the catalog dbspace file, the IQ message file, dbfiles in the IQ main and temporary dbspaces, the transaction log file, and the SA temporary file.
Dbspace – A dbspace is a logical collection of dbfiles. If a database runs out of room, you can expand it by adding additional dbspaces. Users can move Sybase IQ data off of disks and take the disks offline without any downtime.
Free list – A free list is a structure that Sybase IQ uses to track which blocks are in use by a dbspace.
IQ database – An IQ database is a database that you create using a Sybase IQ server. IQ databases are specially indexed to take advantage of the query speed of Sybase IQ.
Each IQ database that you create includes three stores: an IQ main store (for data), a catalog store (for metadata), and an IQ temporary store (for temporary data). It also generates an IQ message log file.
IQ main store – The IQ main store is the portion of each Sybase IQ database that contains the IQ_SYSTEM_MAIN dbspace and other user dbspaces. The IQ main store is contains persistent database structures, such as backup metadata and rollback data for committed transactions.
Sybase recommends that you avoid storing user tables and indexes in IQ_SYSTEM_MAIN and instead create additional dbspaces, called user main dbspaces, to store user tables and indexes. The IQ main store is sometimes called the IQ store.
IQ message log – An IQ message log file created when the first user connects to an IQ database. The default name for this file is dbname.iqmsg.
IQ_SYSTEM_MSG is a system dbspace that points to the file path of the database IQ message log file. IQ_SYSTEM_MSG is not considered a store because it doesn’t store any data. Sybase IQ logs error messages, status messages and insert notification messages in this file.
IQ temporary store – The IQ temporary store contains the IQ_SYSTEM_TEMP dbspace. The IQ temporary store is the portion of each IQ database that stores temporary tables and temporary scratch space data structures.
The database server uses temporary data structures to sort and process data. Data in these tables persists only as long as you are connected to the database.
IQ transaction log – The IQ transaction log records changes to the database. The transaction log includes version information, free space, and other information you can use to recover from a system failure. By default, the transaction log is created in the same directory as the catalog store. The default name for this dbfile is dbname.log.
Join index – A join index is a special type of index used in Sybase IQ. Conceptually, an index in a database is like an index in a book. In a book, the index relates each indexed term to the page or pages on which that word appears. In a database, the index relates each indexed column value to the physical location at which the row of data containing the indexed value is stored.
Join indexes may improve response time for queries that join two or more tables. In certain situations, ad hoc queries may be preferred instead of join indexes.
metadata – Metadata is data that describes the data in your database – for example, the size and data type of each column in a table. Metadata for each Sybase IQ database is stored in the catalog store.
Multiplex – A powerful feature in Sybase IQ that provides application scalability through a clustered server configuration. Sybase IQ multiplex allows concurrent data loads and queries via independent data processing nodes connected to a shared data source. Each multiplex server has its own catalog store and IQ temporary store and all the servers share a common IQ store. For more information, see Using Sybase IQ Multiplex.
Object – An object can be a user-created table, index, or join index. Objects are divided into persistent objects, which remain in the database over user disconnects and server restarts, and temporary objects, tables and views that only remain in the database during the current session. Permanent tables are also called base tables.
Partition key – A partition key is a table column defined by the table creator that determines how a table should be partitioned.
Proxy table – A proxy table is an table object that maps to a table on a remote server, and whose column attributes and index information are derived from the object at the remote location.
You can use proxy tables to search data in multiple SQL Anywhere servers, ASE databases, and non-Sybase databases. Conversely, you can also create proxy tables that enable you to query your Sybase IQ, SQL Anywhere, and ASE databases.
Range partition – A range partition is logical subset of table rows based on the values of a single table column.
SQL Anywhere – SQL Anywhere is Sybase's transaction-processing relational database management system which can be used standalone or as a network server in a multiuser client/server or three-tier environment.
SQL Anywhere is specifically designed to use fewer memory and disk resources than the average database management system. Sybase IQ is an extension of SQL Anywhere, and supports many of the same features.
SQL Anywhere database – Every Sybase IQ database uses an SQL Anywhere database for the catalog store.
Store – A store is one or more dbspaces that store persistent or temporary data for a special purpose. Sybase IQ has three stores: the catalog store, the IQ main store, and the IQ temporary store.
Synchronize command – A synchronize command updates join index data. You use the SYNCHRONIZE JOIN INDEX statement to do this. The system administrator needs to synchronize Sybase IQ join indexes periodically if multiple users update tables that may be involved in join indexes.
Synchronization – Synchronization brings an outdated multiplex secondary node server up to date.
Table partition – A table partition is a collection of rows that is a subset of a user-created table. A given row cannot be placed in two different partitions. Each partition can be placed in its own dbspace and managed individually.
Tablespace – A tablespace unit of storage within the database that may be administered as a logical subset of total storage. You may allocate individual objects and subobjects to individual tablespaces. A tablespace in Sybase IQ is referred to as a dbspace.