Elastic columnar cache for cloud databases

A system comprising:

• data processing hardware;
• and
• memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware, the memory hardware storing instructions that when executed on the data processing hardware cause the data processing hardware to:
• obtain, from a user device, cache configuration information for cache configured to store a portion of a table stored on memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware, the table comprising a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows, the cache configuration information indicating an amount of cache that may be allocated or deallocated from the cache during dynamic adjustment;
• cache, in column-major format, a subset of the plurality of columns of the table in the cache associated with the user, the cache comprising a plurality of segments;
• receive a plurality of data requests, each data request of the plurality of data requests requesting access to the table stored on the memory hardware;
• and
• in response to receiving the plurality of data requests, dynamically adjust the subset of the plurality of columns cached in the column-major format by grouping columns together in segments based on access patterns derived from the plurality of data requests.