Managing audit tables in database environments

A computer program product having one or more computer readable storage media having computer readable program code collectively stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, the computer readable program code being executed by a processor of a computer system to cause the computer system to perform operations comprising:

• receiving, by a database system, a request from a user to designate a table of the database system as an audit table;
• validating, by the database system, that the table satisfies an audit table criteria, wherein validating that the table satisfies the audit table criteria further comprises verifying a presence of a timestamp column for recording the time of each audit record insertion;
• based on a determination that the table satisfies the audit table criteria, updating a metadata of the table to designate the table as the audit table, wherein an audit table designation changes logging settings of the table in the database system, and wherein the database system is configured to only log insert operations for the audit table;
• applying time-based partitioning to the audit table, by the database system, based on a timestamp column of the audit table, the time-based partitioning comprising:
• configuring the audit table to partition its data based on time intervals, which can improve query performance and data management;
• and
• using the timestamp column to determine boundaries of each partition;
• and
• automatically generating an index on a timestamp column of the audit table to optimize query performance;
• and
• automatically generating an index on a timestamp column of the audit table to optimize query performance.

A computing system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory coupled to the processor;
• and
• one or more computer readable storage media coupled to the processor, the one or more computer readable storage media collectively containing instructions that are executed by the processor via the memory to cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
• receiving, by a database system, a request from a user to designate a table of the database system as an audit table;
• validating, by the database system, that the table satisfies an audit table criteria, wherein validating that the table satisfies the audit table criteria further comprises verifying a presence of a timestamp column for recording the time of each audit record insertion;
• based on a determination that the table satisfies the audit table criteria, updating a metadata of the table to designate the table as the audit table, wherein an audit table designation changes logging settings of the table in the database system, and wherein the database system is configured to only log insert operations for the audit table;
• applying time-based partitioning to the audit table, by the database system, based on a timestamp column of the audit table, the time-based partitioning comprising:
• configuring the audit table to partition its data based on time intervals, which can improve query performance and data management;
• and
• using the timestamp column to determine boundaries of each partition;
• and
• automatically generating an index on a timestamp column of the audit table to optimize query performance;
• and
• automatically generating an index on a timestamp column of the audit table to optimize query performance.