VLDB: call for FAQ contributions

I am collecting questions for a Frequently Asked Questions [FAQ] listing on the topic of Very Large Data Bases [VLDB]. For now I'm saying a database is 'Very Large' if it exceeds _either_ one gigabyte in total data size _or_ one million rows. [This is a smaller threshold than most VLDB definitions, but I want to include as many people in the data gathering portion.] Issues I expect to cover include OLTP, Decision Support, and Mixed Use considerations; Indexing large tables; Compression; Clustering; Disk Striping and I/O Load Balancing; BLOB support; SQL extensions. We will probably touch application areas like multimedia, OODBMSes, Geographic Info Systems, Satellite Image storage, and Document Imaging Systems. I _do_ expect to include overviews of commercial products and vendor contact information. The FAQ will not be restricted to Relational systems. Any DBMS is fair game. Yes, even IMS. ;-) Please mail to me your questions, comments, answers, FAQs, snippets, definitions, and accumulated wisdom. I will post a summary 30 days from the date of this posting, and an updated summary one to two months after that. PLEASE E-MAIL ONLY. News has been unreliable at my site recently and everything expires within a week, sometimes less. If you post a followup, I cannot guarantee I'll see it or include it. If you want to post a followup and you _don't_ care whether I include it in the summary, note that followups have been directed to comp.databases _only_. (If someone can suggest a more appropriate newsgroup, please do.) The address to use for submissions is: tcox@qiclab.scn.rain.com or you could phone me up at: 503-590-0125 or send me snail mail at: Moss Consulting Group Inc. 1001 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 1100 Portland, OR 97204 -Tom Cox ----------------- -- Thomas Cox DoD #1776 '91 CB 750 Nighthawk tcox@qiclab.scn.rain.com Worldcon: Arkham in '98.