Parent Partition

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Parent Partition

A parent partition is a physical partition within a storage device that contains one or more child partitions, which are logical divisions of storage space that can be treated as separate entities. Parent partitions provide administrative control over the distribution and management of storage space within the device.

What does Parent Partition mean?

Parent Partition is a concept in relational database management systems (RDBMSs) that refers to the table or partition that contains the primary key of a child table or partition. In other words, it is the table or partition that is used to enforce the referential integrity of child Data.

Parent Partitions are used to ensure that child data cannot be inserted, updated, or deleted without first ensuring that the corresponding parent data exists. This helps to maintain the integrity of the database and prevent data inconsistencies.

For example, if a customer table has a foreign key relationship with an order table, the order table would be the child table and the customer table would be the parent table. In this case, the customer table would be the Parent Partition for the order table.

Applications

Parent Partitions are essential for maintaining the integrity of relational databases. They are used in a variety of applications, including:

  • Data warehousing: Parent Partitions are used to ensure that data is correctly loaded into data warehouses. By partitioning data by parent, it is possible to ensure that child data is only loaded after the corresponding parent data has been loaded.
  • Data Integration: Parent Partitions are used to integrate data from Different sources. By partitioning data by parent, it is possible to ensure that child data is only integrated after the corresponding parent data has been integrated.
  • Data migration: Parent Partitions are used to migrate data from one database to another. By partitioning data by parent, it is possible to ensure that child data is only migrated after the corresponding parent data has been migrated.

History

The concept of Parent Partitions was first introduced in the 1970s as part of the relational database model. However, it was not until the 1990s that Parent Partitions were widely adopted by commercial RDBMSs.

The widespread adoption of Parent Partitions was driven by the increasing need for data integrity in business applications. As businesses became more reliant on data, it became more important to ensure that data was accurate and consistent. Parent Partitions helped to meet this need by providing a way to enforce referential integrity.

Today, Parent Partitions are a standard Feature of all major RDBMSs. They are an essential tool for maintaining the integrity of relational databases and ensuring the accuracy and consistency of data.