File Organization

 The File is a collection of records. Using the primary key, we can access the records. The type and frequency of
access can be determined by the type of file organization which was used for a given set of records.
 File organization is a logical relationship among various records. This method defines how file records are
mapped onto disk blocks.
 File organization is used to describe the way in which the records are stored in terms of blocks, and the blocks
are placed on the storage medium.
 The first approach to map the database to the file is to use the several files and store only one fixed length
record in any given file. An alternative approach is to structure our files so that we can contain multiple lengths
for records.
 Files of fixed length records are easier to implement than the files of variable length records.

Objective of file organization

 It contains an optimal selection of records, i.e., records can be selected as fast as possible.
 To perform insert, delete or update transaction on the records should be quick and easy.
 The duplicate records cannot be induced as a result of insert, update or delete.
 For the minimal cost of storage, records should be stored efficiently.

Types of file organization:

File organization contains various methods. These particular methods have pros and cons on the basis of access
or selection. In the file organization, the programmer decides the best-suited file organization method according
to his requirement.

Types of file organization are as follows:

 Sequential file organization

 Heap file organization
 Hash file organization
 B+ file organization
 Indexed sequential access method (ISAM)
 Cluster file organization

Sequential File Organization

This method is the easiest method for file organization. In this method, files are stored sequentially. This
method can be implemented in two ways:

1. Pile File Method:

 It is a quite simple method. In this method, we store the record in a sequence, i.e., one after another. Here, the
record will be inserted in the order in which they are inserted into tables.
 In case of updating or deleting of any record, the record will be searched in the memory blocks. When it is
found, then it will be marked for deleting, and the new record is inserted.

Insertion of the new record:

Suppose we have four records R1, R3 and so on upto R9 and R8 in a sequence. Hence, records are nothing but a
row in the table. Suppose we want to insert a new record R2 in the sequence, then it will be placed at the end of
the file. Here, records are nothing but a row in any table.

2. Sorted File Method:

 In this method, the new record is always inserted at the file's end, and then it will sort the sequence in
ascending or descending order. Sorting of records is based on any primary key or any other key.
 In the case of modification of any record, it will update the record and then sort the file, and lastly, the updated
record is placed in the right place.
Insertion of the new record:

Suppose there is a preexisting sorted sequence of four records R1, R3 and so on upto R6 and R7. Suppose a new
record R2 has to be inserted in the sequence, then it will be inserted at the end of the file, and then it will sort
the sequence.

Pros of sequential file organization

 It contains a fast and efficient method for the huge amount of data.
 In this method, files can be easily stored in cheaper storage mechanism like magnetic tapes.
 It is simple in design. It requires no much effort to store the data.
 This method is used when most of the records have to be accessed like grade calculation of a student,
generating the salary slip, etc.
 This method is used for report generation or statistical calculations.

Cons of sequential file organization

 It will waste time as we cannot jump on a particular record that is required but we have to move sequentially
which takes our time.
 Sorted file method takes more time and space for sorting the records.

Heap file organization

 It is the simplest and most basic type of organization. It works with data blocks. In heap file
organization, the records are inserted at the file's end. When the records are inserted, it doesn't require
the sorting and ordering of records.
 When the data block is full, the new record is stored in some other block. This new data block need not
to be the very next data block, but it can select any data block in the memory to store new records. The
heap file is also known as an unordered file.
 In the file, every record has a unique id, and every page in a file is of the same size. It is the DBMS
responsibility to store and manage the new records.
Insertion of a new record
Suppose we have five records R1, R3, R6, R4 and R5 in a heap and suppose we want to insert a new record R2
in a heap. If the data block 3 is full then it will be inserted in any of the database selected by the DBMS, let's
say data block 1.

If we want to search, update or delete the data in heap file organization, then we need to traverse the data from
staring of the file till we get the requested record.
If the database is very large then searching, updating or deleting of record will be time-consuming because there
is no sorting or ordering of records. In the heap file organization, we need to check all the data until we get the
requested record.

Pros of Heap file organization

 It is a very good method of file organization for bulk insertion. If there is a large number of data which
needs to load into the database at a time, then this method is best suited.
 In case of a small database, fetching and retrieving of records is faster than the sequential record.

Cons of Heap file organization

 This method is inefficient for the large database because it takes time to search or modify the record.

 This method is inefficient for large databases.

Hash File Organization

Hash File Organization uses the computation of hash function on some fields of the records. The hash function's
output determines the location of disk block where the records are to be placed.

When a record has to be received using the hash key columns, then the address is generated, and the whole
record is retrieved using that address. In the same way, when a new record has to be inserted, then the address is
generated using the hash key and record is directly inserted. The same process is applied in the case of delete
and update.

In this method, there is no effort for searching and sorting the entire file. In this method, each record will be
stored randomly in the memory.
B+ File Organization
 B+ tree file organization is the advanced method of an indexed sequential access method. It uses a tree-like
structure to store records in File.
 It uses the same concept of key-index where the primary key is used to sort the records. For each primary key,
the value of the index is generated and mapped with the record.
 The B+ tree is similar to a binary search tree (BST), but it can have more than two children. In this method, all
the records are stored only at the leaf node. Intermediate nodes act as a pointer to the leaf nodes. They do not
contain any records.

The above B+ tree shows that:

 There is one root node of the tree, i.e., 25.

  There is an intermediary layer with nodes. They do not store the actual record. They have only pointers to the
leaf node.
 The nodes to the left of the root node contain the prior value of the root and nodes to the right contain next
value of the root, i.e., 15 and 30 respectively.
 There is only one leaf node which has only values, i.e., 10, 12, 17, 20, 24, 27 and 29.
 Searching for any record is easier as all the leaf nodes are balanced.
 In this method, searching any record can be traversed through the single path and accessed easily.

Pros of B+ tree file organization

 In this method, searching becomes very easy as all the records are stored only in the leaf nodes and sorted the
sequential linked list.
 Traversing through the tree structure is easier and faster.
 The size of the B+ tree has no restrictions, so the number of records can increase or decrease and the B+ tree
structure can also grow or shrink.
 It is a balanced tree structure, and any insert/update/delete does not affect the performance of tree.

Cons of B+ tree file organization

 This method is inefficient for the static method.

Indexed sequential access method (ISAM)

ISAM method is an advanced sequential file organization. In this method, records are stored in the file using the
primary key. An index value is generated for each primary key and mapped with the record. This index contains
the address of the record in the file.

If any record has to be retrieved based on its index value, then the address of the data block is fetched and the
record is retrieved from the memory.
Pros of ISAM:

 In this method, each record has the address of its data block, searching a record in a huge database is quick and
easy.
 This method supports range retrieval and partial retrieval of records. Since the index is based on the primary key
values, we can retrieve the data for the given range of value. In the same way, the partial value can also be
easily searched, i.e., the student name starting with 'JA' can be easily searched.

Cons of ISAM

 This method requires extra space in the disk to store the index value.
 When the new records are inserted, then these files have to be reconstructed to maintain the sequence.
 When the record is deleted, then the space used by it needs to be released. Otherwise, the performance of the
database will slow down.

Cluster file organization

 When the two or more records are stored in the same file, it is known as clusters. These files will have two or
more tables in the same data block, and key attributes which are used to map these tables together are stored
only once.
 This method reduces the cost of searching for various records in different files.
 The cluster file organization is used when there is a frequent need for joining the tables with the same condition.
These joins will give only a few records from both tables. In the given example, we are retrieving the record for
only particular departments. This method can't be used to retrieve the record for the entire department.
In this method, we can directly insert, update or delete any record. Data is sorted based on the key with which
searching is done. Cluster key is a type of key with which joining of the table is performed.

Types of Cluster file organization:

Cluster file organization is of two types:

1. Indexed Clusters:

In indexed cluster, records are grouped based on the cluster key and stored together. The above EMPLOYEE
and DEPARTMENT relationship is an example of an indexed cluster. Here, all the records are grouped based
on the cluster key- DEP_ID and all the records are grouped.

2. Hash Clusters:

It is similar to the indexed cluster. In hash cluster, instead of storing the records based on the cluster key, we
generate the value of the hash key for the cluster key and store the records with the same hash key value.
Pros of Cluster file organization

 The cluster file organization is used when there is a frequent request for joining the tables with same joining
condition.
 It provides the efficient result when there is a 1:M mapping between the tables.

Cons of Cluster file organization

 This method has the low performance for the very large database.
 If there is any change in joining condition, then this method cannot use. If we change the condition of joining
then traversing the file takes a lot of time.
 This method is not suitable for a table with a 1:1 condition.

Indexing in DBMS
 Indexing is used to optimize the performance of a database by minimizing the number of disk accesses required
when a query is processed.
 The index is a type of data structure. It is used to locate and access the data in a database table quickly.

Index structure:

Indexes can be created using some database columns.

 The first column of the database is the search key that contains a copy of the primary key or candidate key of
the table. The values of the primary key are stored in sorted order so that the corresponding data can be
accessed easily.
 The second column of the database is the data reference. It contains a set of pointers holding the address of the
disk block where the value of the particular key can be found.
Indexing Methods

Ordered indices

The indices are usually sorted to make searching faster. The indices which are sorted are known as ordered
indices.

Example: Suppose we have an employee table with thousands of record and each of which is 10 bytes long. If
their IDs start with 1, 2, 3....and so on and we have to search student with ID-543.

 In the case of a database with no index, we have to search the disk block from starting till it reaches 543. The
DBMS will read the record after reading 543*10=5430 bytes.
 In the case of an index, we will search using indexes and the DBMS will read the record after reading 542*2=
1084 bytes which are very less compared to the previous case.

Primary Index

 If the index is created on the basis of the primary key of the table, then it is known as primary indexing. These
primary keys are unique to each record and contain 1:1 relation between the records.
 As primary keys are stored in sorted order, the performance of the searching operation is quite efficient.
 The primary index can be classified into two types: Dense index and Sparse index.

Dense index

 The dense index contains an index record for every search key value in the data file. It makes searching faster.
 In this, the number of records in the index table is same as the number of records in the main table.
 It needs more space to store index record itself. The index records have the search key and a pointer to the
actual record on the disk.
Sparse index

 In the data file, index record appears only for a few items. Each item points to a block.
 In this, instead of pointing to each record in the main table, the index points to the records in the main table in a
gap.

Clustering Index

 A clustered index can be defined as an ordered data file. Sometimes the index is created on non-primary key
columns which may not be unique for each record.
 In this case, to identify the record faster, we will group two or more columns to get the unique value and create
index out of them. This method is called a clustering index.
 The records which have similar characteristics are grouped, and indexes are created for these group.

Example: suppose a company contains several employees in each department. Suppose we use a clustering
index, where all employees which belong to the same Dept_ID are considered within a single cluster, and index
pointers point to the cluster as a whole. Here Dept_Id is a non-unique key.
The previous schema is little confusing because one disk block is shared by records which belong to the
different cluster. If we use separate disk block for separate clusters, then it is called better technique.
Secondary Index

In the sparse indexing, as the size of the table grows, the size of mapping also grows. These mappings are
usually kept in the primary memory so that address fetch should be faster. Then the secondary memory searches
the actual data based on the address got from mapping. If the mapping size grows then fetching the address
itself becomes slower. In this case, the sparse index will not be efficient. To overcome this problem, secondary
indexing is introduced.

In secondary indexing, to reduce the size of mapping, another level of indexing is introduced. In this method,
the huge range for the columns is selected initially so that the mapping size of the first level becomes small.
Then each range is further divided into smaller ranges. The mapping of the first level is stored in the primary
memory, so that address fetch is faster. The mapping of the second level and actual data are stored in the
secondary memory (hard disk).
For example:

 If you want to find the record of roll 111 in the diagram, then it will search the highest entry which is smaller
than or equal to 111 in the first level index. It will get 100 at this level.
 Then in the second index level, again it does max (111) <= 111 and gets 110. Now using the address 110, it goes
to the data block and starts searching each record till it gets 111.
 This is how a search is performed in this method. Inserting, updating or deleting is also done in the same
manner.

B+ Tree
 he B+ tree is a balanced binary search tree. It follows a multi-level index format.
 In the B+ tree, leaf nodes denote actual data pointers. B+ tree ensures that all leaf nodes remain at the same
height.
 In the B+ tree, the leaf nodes are linked using a link list. Therefore, a B+ tree can support random access as well
as sequential access.

Structure of B+ Tree

 In the B+ tree, every leaf node is at equal distance from the root node. The B+ tree is of the order n where n is
fixed for every B+ tree.
 It contains an internal node and leaf node.
Internal node

 An internal node of the B+ tree can contain at least n/2 record pointers except the root node.
 At most, an internal node of the tree contains n pointers.

Leaf node

 The leaf node of the B+ tree can contain at least n/2 record pointers and n/2 key values.
 At most, a leaf node contains n record pointer and n key values.
 Every leaf node of the B+ tree contains one block pointer P to point to next leaf node.

Searching a record in B+ Tree

Suppose we have to search 55 in the below B+ tree structure. First, we will fetch for the intermediary node
which will direct to the leaf node that can contain a record for 55.

So, in the intermediary node, we will find a branch between 50 and 75 nodes. Then at the end, we will be
redirected to the third leaf node. Here DBMS will perform a sequential search to find 55.

B+ Tree Insertion

Suppose we want to insert a record 60 in the below structure. It will go to the 3rd leaf node after 55. It is a
balanced tree, and a leaf node of this tree is already full, so we cannot insert 60 there.

In this case, we have to split the leaf node, so that it can be inserted into tree without affecting the fill factor,
balance and order.
The 3rd leaf node has the values (50, 55, 60, 65, 70) and its current root node is 50. We will split the leaf node of
the tree in the middle so that its balance is not altered. So we can group (50, 55) and (60, 65, 70) into 2 leaf
nodes.

If these two has to be leaf nodes, the intermediate node cannot branch from 50. It should have 60 added to it,
and then we can have pointers to a new leaf node.

This is how we can insert an entry when there is overflow. In a normal scenario, it is very easy to find the node
where it fits and then place it in that leaf node.

B+ Tree Deletion

Suppose we want to delete 60 from the above example. In this case, we have to remove 60 from the
intermediate node as well as from the 4th leaf node too. If we remove it from the intermediate node, then the
tree will not satisfy the rule of the B+ tree. So we need to modify it to have a balanced tree.

After deleting node 60 from above B+ tree and re-arranging the nodes, it will show as follows: