The EXPLAIN request modifier is useful in determining whether the indexes defined for a table are properly defined, useful, and efficient.
As illustrated in other join examples, EXPLAIN identifies any unique indexes that may be used to process a request.
When conditional expressions use nonunique secondary indexes, EXPLAIN also indicates whether the data rows are retrieved using spooling or bit mapping.
This feature is illustrated in the following examples. Compare the two requests and their corresponding EXPLAIN descriptions.
Note that in the first request the table is small (and that dept_no, salary, yrs_exp, and ed_lev have been defined as separate, nonunique indexes), so a full-table scan is used to access the data rows.
In the second request, however, the table is extremely large. Because of this, the Optimizer determines that bit mapping of the subtable rowIDs is the faster retrieval method.
Full-Table Scan Example
This request returns the following EXPLAIN report:
EXPLAIN SELECT COUNT(*) FROM employee WHERE dept_no = 500 AND salary > 25000 AND yrs_exp >= 3 AND ed_lev >= 12;
Explanation -------------------------------------------------------- 1) First, we lock PERSONNEL.employee for read on a resereved RowHash to prevent global deadlock. 2) Next, we lock PERSONNEL.employee for read. 3) We do an all-AMPs SUM step to aggregate from PERSONNEL.Employee by way of an all-rows scan with a condition of ("(PERSONNEL.employee.DeptNo = 500) AND ((PERSONNEL.employee.Salary > 25000.00) AND ((PERSONNEL.employee.YrsExp >= 3) AND (PERSONNEL.employee.EdLev >= 12 )))"). Aggregate Intermediate Results are computed globally, then placed in Spool 2. 4) We do an all-AMPs RETRIEVE step from Spool 2 (Last Use) by way of an all-rows scan into Spool 1, which is built locally on the AMPs. The size of Spool 1 is estimated with high confidence to be 1 row (32 bytes). The estimated time for this step is 0.06 seconds. 5) Finally, we send out an END TRANSACTION step to all AMPs involved in processing the request. -> The contents of Spool 1 are sent back to the user as the result of statement 1.
New terminology in this explanation is defined as follows:
Phrase | Definition |
---|---|
SUM step to aggregate | The table is searched row by row, the qualifying rows are counted for each AMP on which they were found, and each count is held in a local spool. |
computed globally | The final computation involves all the intermediate spool data. |
Unique Primary Index Example
The EXPLAIN request modifier generates the following response for this request:
EXPLAIN SELECT name, dept_no FROM employee WHERE empno = 10009;
Explanation ----------------------------------------------------- 1) First, we do a single-AMP RETRIEVE step from Personnel.Employee by way of the unique primary index "PERSONNEL.Employee.EmpNo = 10009" with no residual conditions. The estimated time for this step is 0.04 seconds. -> The row is sent directly back to the user as the result of statement 1. The total estimated time is 0.04 seconds.
SELECT Example with a Condition on a Nonunique Index
The WHERE condition in this example is based on a column that is defined as a nonunique index. Note that the system places a READ lock on the table.
The EXPLAIN request modifier generates the following response for this request:
EXPLAIN SELECT emp_no, dept_no FROM employee WHERE name = 'Smith T';
Explanation ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) First, we lock PERSONNEL.employee for read on a RowHash to prevent global deadlock. 2) Next, we lock PERSONNEL.employee for read. 3) We do an all-AMPs RETRIEVE step from PERSONNEL.employee by way of index # 4 "PERSONNEL.employee.Name = 'Smith T '" with no residual conditions into Spool 1 (group_amps), which is built locally on the AMPs. The size of Spool 1 is estimated with low confidence to be 33,563 rows (1,443,209 bytes). The estimated time for this step is 0.34 seconds. 4) Finally, we send out an END TRANSACTION step to all AMPs involved in processing the request. -> The contents of Spool 1 are sent back to the user as the result of statement 1. The total estimated time is 0.34 seconds.
SELECT Example with a Condition on a Unique Secondary Index
Assume that the employee table has another column (socsecno), where soc_sec_no is defined as a unique secondary index.
If the WHERE condition is based on this column, then the EXPLAIN request modifier generates the following response for this request:
EXPLAIN SELECT name, emp_no FROM employee WHERE soc_sec_no = '123456789';
Explanation ----------------------------------------------------- 1) First, we do a two-AMP RETRIEVE step from PERSONNEL.Employee by way of unique index # 20 "PERSONNEL.Employee.socSecNo = 123456789" with no residual conditions. The estimated time for this step is 0.09 seconds. -> The row is sent directly back to the user as the result of statement 1. The total estimated time is 0.09 seconds.
Indexed Access with Bit Mapping Example
This request returns the following EXPLAIN report:
EXPLAIN SELECT COUNT(*) FROM main WHERE num_a = '101' AND num_b = '02' AND kind = 'B' AND event = '001';
Explanation ------------------------------------------------------ ... 2) Next, we do a BMSMS (bit map set manipulation) step that intersects the following row id bit maps: 1) The bit map built for TESTING.Main by way of index # 12 "TESTING.Main.Kind = ’B’". 2) The bit map build for TESTING.Main by way of index # 8 "TESTING.Main.Num_B = ’02’". 3) The bit map built for TESTING.Main by way of index # 16 "TESTING.Main.Event =’001’". The resulting bit map is placed in Spool 3. The estimated time for this step is 17.77 seconds. 3) We do a SUM step to aggregate from TESTING.Main by way of index # 4 "TESTING.Main.Num_A = ’101’" and the bit map in Spool 3 (Last Use) with a residual condition of ("(TESTING.Main.Num_B = ’02’) and ((TESTING.Main.Kind = ’B’) and TESTING.Main.Event = ’001’))"). Aggregate Intermediate Results are computed globally, then placed in Spool 2. 4) We do an all-AMPs RETRIEVE step from Spool 2 (Last Use) by way of an all-rows scan into Spool 1, which is built locally on the AMPs. The size of Spool 1 is estimated to be 20 rows. The estimated time for this step is 0.11 seconds. ...
New terminology in this explanation is defined as follows:
Phrase | Definition |
---|---|
A BMSMS (bit map set manipulation step) that intersects the following Row-Id bit maps: The bit map built for … by way of index # n … The bit map built for … by way of index # n … |
On each nonunique secondary index subtable, each data rowID is assigned a number from 0 to 32,767. This number is used as an index into a bit map in which the bit for each qualifying row is turned on. BMSMS indicates that the intersection of sets of qualifying rows is computed by applying the logical AND operation to the bitmap representation of the sets. |
residual condition | Selected rows are further qualified by one or more conditional expressions. |