Reorganizing a Database

After you build your database using the SiteSearch Database Operations Tool (SSDOT) to manage the database utility programs, you may begin updating the database on a regular basis. When you add, replace, and delete records in a database, the associated pointers, terms, and records are modified in the five physical database files (HEDR, HDIR, POST, PDIR, and INDX). After you have done a significant number of updates, search and retrieval within the database becomes less efficient. For this reason you should periodically reorganize you physical database files to re-establish the efficiency of the database, much like defragmenting a hard drive. SSDOT accesses the database utility programs needed to reorganize the physical database files to improve searching efficiency.

Requirements

Before you reorganize the physical database files, consider how often you update your database and how many records are changed, deleted, or added with each database update. You should reorganize the physical database files if the database frequently has major record changes.

You can choose to reorganize the HEDR and HDIR files, the POST, PDIR, and INDX files, or all of the physical database files. The HEDR and HDIR files map and store the actual database records. These files should be reorganized if database records are constantly deleted and added to the database. The POST, PDIR, and INDX files map and store indexed terms. You should reorganize these files if the database has a significant amount of database indexes and fields defined for each index.

To reorganize a database, it must already be registered, initialized, updated, and validated within the SSDOT program. Before you reorganize your database, backup the database to ensure you will not lose any important information.

Procedure

If you want to reorganize all of the physical databases, reorganize the HEDR and HDIR files by completing the steps below and then repeat the steps to reorganize the POST, PDIR, and INDX files. The reorganization process is time-consuming and will be performed as a background job.

Start the SSDOT program and perform the following steps to reorganize the physical database files.

See Also

Maintaining the Integrity of a SiteSearch Database
Introduction to Database Files
Backing Up Your Database
Updating a Database
The SiteSearch Database Operations Tool (SSDOT)
Database Builder Utility Programs