Scenario: ExampleBANK reclaiming table and index space - Space management policies

The database administrator at ExampleBANK, Olivia, struggled for years to effectively manage the size of databases.

During the normal course of business operation, batch deletes are done on tables to get rid of data that is no longer required. The tables and associated indexes have free unused space that cannot be used by any other object in the same table space after the batch deletes are complete. ExampleBank has a space management policy in place to free this unused space. Each month Olivia takes the affected databases offline so the tables and indexes can be reorganized. The reorganization of the objects frees the space. To minimize downtime, the work is done during off-peak hours.

This table and index space management policy takes time and manual intervention. Also, because Olivia takes the database offline to complete this task, the affected tables and indexes are not available to users during the reorganization.

Olivia is told about new command and statement parameters to reclaim space from tables and indexes. A new way to manage the space needed for tables and indexes is presented.