On Optimal Site Assignment for Relations in the Distributed Database Environment

In a distributed database environment, the site assignment of relations is a critical issue. When the joint operations in a query involve relations over multiple sites, the site to carry out the join operation can have a significant impact on the performance. Based on the query descriptions and arrival frequency to each site, a methodology is developed to assign relations and determine join sites simultaneously. The methodology first decomposes queries into relation steps and then makes site assignments based on either a linear integer programming technique to minimize the amount of intersystem communication while balancing resource utilizations across systems, or a heuristic technique to minimize average response time under similar resource constraints. © 1989 IEEE