Tablespace

A tablespace is a location in the file system where the files representing Database objects can be stored. It is the logical portion of the database used to allocate storage for table (database) data and index (database). Once created, a tablespace can be referred to by name when creating database objects.

A common use of tablespaces is to optimize performance. For example, an index, which is a heavily used database object, can be placed on a fast SCSI Hard disk. On the other hand, a database table which contains archived data that is rarely accessed could be stored on a less expensive but slower Advanced Technology Attachment disk.

Tablespaces are created by the CREATE TABLESPACE command, for example:

:CREATE TABLESPACE index_space LOCATION /mnt/sda1/index_data ;

There are three types of tablespaces: #Permanent tablespace #Undo tablespace #Temporary tablespace