Partitioned tables

Partitioned tables use a data organization scheme in which table data is divided across multiple storage objects, called data partitions or ranges, according to values in one or more table partitioning key columns of the table.

A data partition or range is part of a table, containing a subset of rows of a table, and stored separately from other sets of rows. Data from a given table is partitioned into multiple data partitions or ranges based on the specifications provided in the PARTITION BY clause of the CREATE TABLE statement. These data partitions or ranges can be in different table spaces, in the same table space, or a combination of both. If a table is created using the PARTITION BY clause, the table is partitioned.

All of the table spaces specified must have the same page size, extent size, storage mechanism (DMS or SMS), and type (REGULAR or LARGE), and all of the table spaces must be in the same database partition group.

A partitioned table simplifies the rolling in and rolling out of table data and a partitioned table can contain vastly more data than an ordinary table. You can create a partitioned table with a maximum of 32,767 data partitions. Data partitions can be added to, attached to, and detached from a partitioned table, and you can store multiple data partition ranges from a table in one table space.

Indexes on a partitioned table can be partitioned or nonpartitioned. Both nonpartitioned and partitioned indexes can exist together on a single partitioned table.