Table Buffering Types of Buffering

When picking a buffering type, consider how the table will be accessed and
its size
CHARACTERISTICS
FULL
All records of table loaded into
BUFFERING buffer, even when just access
one record
GENERIC
All records with matching
BUFFERING generic key are copied to the
buffer. Generic key is a leftjustified part of the primary
key but not a full key (this is
SINGLE-RECORD
BUFFERING)
SINGLEOnly those records
RECORD
ACTUALLY accessed from
BUFFERING the database are loaded into
the buffer

USES:
Table is small (because it
is read often and written to
infrequently)
Use when certain generic
areas of the table are
needed for processing, e.g.
language-dependent tables

Use when large table

where only a few records
are accessed repeatedly

When not to use buffering:

If you ALWAYS need the current data for a table
If the contents are modified frequently