Review - The Benchmark Handbook for Database and Transaction Systems.

Marianne Winslett: Review - The Benchmark Handbook for Database and Transaction Systems. ACM SIGMOD Digital Review 3: (2001)

Review

There's nothing more fun than database benchmarking. In the database world, performance numbers sell systems. With big bucks at stake, you can bet that database vendors do everything they can to get those performance results up above those of their competitors. How do they do it? What do their numbers really mean? What benchmarks should you, as a customer, be asking for? Or if you are on the other side of the fence, what features should you include in the benchmark you are writing? This book explains it all, in a straightforward, readable, and entertaining manner. You don't need to know anything about benchmarking when you start to read the book --- the authors even explain what a benchmark result is (a guarantee that the performance you get when using the system will never exceed the published figures). Separate chapters by the authors of the most famous database benchmarks explain the history and the details of their benchmarks. If you are thinking of writing your own benchmark, there is a chapter there to help you with that project. By the time you reach the end of the book, you'll have a firm grip on the basics of database benchmarking.

References

[1]: Jim Gray (Ed.): The Benchmark Handbook for Database and Transaction Systems (2nd Edition). Morgan Kaufmann 1993, ISBN 1-55860-292-5
Contents