Automatic, repetitive, and gradual shrink of very large database object structures

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor causes a set of acts comprising:

• identifying a large object (LOB) structure to be shrunk;
• identifying at least a portion of a LOB structure to be shrunk;
• executing a shrink operation on an extent in the identified the portion of the LOB structure without blocking access to other extents in the portion of the LOB structure;
• and
• analyzing the extent to determine whether the extent can be removed from the portion of the LOB structure.

A computing system comprising:

• a memory to hold a set of instructions;
• a computer processor to execute the set of instructions, which when executed cause a set of acts comprising:
• identifying a large object (LOB) structure to be shrunk;
• identifying at least a portion of a LOB structure to be shrunk;
• executing a shrink operation on an extent in the identified the portion of the LOB structure without blocking access to other extents in the portion of the LOB structure;
• and
• analyzing the extent to determine whether the extent can be removed from the portion of the LOB structure.