High Performance Index Creation

A system for creating an index on a database table, comprising:

• a column extractor, implemented by one or more computing devices, configured to extract index key columns from data rows of the database table to build a set of index rows, wherein the index on the database table is defined by a plurality of index key columns including a first index key column and a second index key column;
• a value generator, implemented by one or more computing devices, configured to generate partition boundary values to divide up the index rows into range-partitioned sets, wherein the index rows are sorted based on values of the index key columns;
• a repartitioning scanner, implemented by one or more computing devices, configured to perform a repartitioning scan on the index rows of the database table, using a plurality of worker threads executing in parallel to build sub-indexes, wherein each range-partitioned set of index rows are assigned to a worker thread in the plurality of worker threads;
• and
• an index merger, implemented by one or more computing devices, configured to merge the sub-indexes from the plurality of work threads to generate the index for the database table.

A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• extracting index key columns from data rows of the database table to build a set of index rows, wherein the index on the database table is defined by a plurality of index key columns including a first index key column and a second index key column;
• generating partition boundary values to divide up the index rows into range-partitioned sets, wherein the index rows are sorted based on values of the index key columns;
• performing a repartitioning scan on the index rows of the database table, using a plurality of worker threads executing in parallel to build sub-indexes, wherein each range-partitioned set of index rows are assigned to a worker thread in the plurality of worker threads;
• and
• merging the sub-indexes from the plurality of work threads to generate the index for the database table.