Sybase IQ

This section describes features specific to the Sybase IQ family of databases.

Note:

The DBMSs for Sybase IQ v12.0 and v12.4.3 are deprecated.

Sybase IQ (IQ) is a high-performance decision support server designed specifically for data warehousing, which provides features allowing an interactive approach to decision support including:.

Intelligent query processing using index-only access plans to process only the data needed to satisfy any type of query
Truly interactive, ad hoc query performance on a uniprocessor as well as on parallel systems. An ad hoc query is a query about which the system has no prior knowledge and for which no explicit tuning is required. Ad hoc queries are distinguished from standard or production reports, where only pre-defined variables, such as dates, are used to generate pre-defined reports on a regular basis.
Fully-flexible schema support
Efficient query execution without query-specific tuning by the System Administrator (under most circumstances)
Fast aggregations, counts, comparisons of data
Stored procedures
Entire database and indexing stored in less space than raw data
Numerous index types
Join indexes to improve overall query performance. Join indexes represent links between columns in different tables. They enable much faster query processing on multiple indexes in a very large database, and are usually applied instead of ad hoc queries.

Information Lifecycle Management
Sybase IQ 15.0 provides new data placement capabilities and supports hierarchical storage management with relocation of less critical data to cheaper storage. PowerDesigner provides a simple modeling structure to cost effectively manage "aging" of data inside the data center from 1st tier high performance storage for frequently accessed data through 2nd tier near-line storage for data that is infrequently accessed to 3rd tier archive storage for data that must remain available for regulatory audits.
Generating IQ Data Movement Scripts
PowerDesigner provides the capability to generate data movement scripts to populate your AS IQ data warehouse from your other databases. The script can be used to:
IQ Events
PowerDesigner supports Sybase AS IQ events for v12.7 and higher.
Dbspaces
Sybase IQ distributes user data across multiple disks at the application level by representing each device as a dbspace. A dbspace can be an operating system file or a raw disk partition. Dbspaces can contain both user data and internal database structures used for startup, recovery, backup, and transaction management.
Multiplex Servers
Sybase IQ multiplex is a highly scalable shared disk grid technology that allows concurrent data loads and queries via independent data processing nodes connected to a shared data source.
Login Policies
Sybase IQ defines the rules to be followed when establishing a user’s database connection in a database object called a login policy.
IQ Indexes
Before creating IQ indexes, you should consider the implications of various types of indexes on the database server memory and disk space.
IQ Join Indexes
A join index is a special type of index used in Sybase AS IQ, which represents a full outer join of two or more tables. The query engine may use this full outer join as a starting point for queries that include left outer, right outer, and inner joins. A full outer join is one where all rows from both the left and right specified tables are included in the result, with NULL returned for any column with no matching value in the corresponding column.
Sybase AS IQ Extended Attributes
The following extended attributes are defined by default in the Sybase AS IQ DBMS.

Parent topic: DBMS-Specific Features