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I am trying to compile a list of non-system-specific database indexes. I've looked at Oracle, DB2, MySQL, Postgres and Sybase, and almost every resource has a different list. So far I have seen:

clustered, multi-dimensional clustered, unclustered, unique,
non-unique, b-tree, hash, GiST, GIN, full-text, bitmap,
partitioned, function-based.

It seems that different systems have different names for the same types of indexes.

Are there standard index types across all systems?

Nathron
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4 Answers4

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If for whatever reason somebody else comes across this and is wondering the same thing, I ended up finding a good list at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_relational_database_management_systems#Indexes

Nathron
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Many of the these concepts are orthogonal. A clustered index means that the rows are arranged in the table in the same order as they appear in the index. Independently, that index can be implemented using a B-tree, a B+ tree, a hash, spatially, etc. And then it may partition the table or not. One aspect may constrain but does not necessarily imply another.

David Harkness
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  • In my most recent project I have used the few following index variations: clustered (primary key indexes in MySQL are by definition clustered), unclustered (foreign keys), unique, non-unique, B-Tree, and spatial. – David Harkness May 02 '13 at 08:37
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You should scour harder :-) - Wiki gives a good description

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_index

Adrian Cornish
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  • I saw the wiki article, but they have two different 'types' lists: non-clustered, clustered, cluster (oracle) and bitmap, dense, sparse, reverse Does this mean that there are clustered bitmaps, unclustered bitmaps, and so on for the other types? – Nathron Nov 30 '11 at 00:36
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http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175049.aspx

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v9r5/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.db2.luw.admin.dbobj.doc%2Fdoc%2Fc0020180.html

these links might give more clear idea...

sundeep
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