Partitioning分区是Oracle一种重要的处理大量数据的特性,从Oracle 8开始引入range partition范围分区,到现在11g中出现的Interval Partition、REF Partitions、Partition Advisor等new feature,分区技术在一步步走向成熟。     下表列出了从Oracle 8到11g的各历史版本中出现的分区特性:  
Core functionalityPerformanceManageability
Oracle8Range partitioning“Static” partition pruningBasic maintenance operations: add, drop, exchange
Global range indexes
Oracle8iHash and composite range-hash partitioningPartition-wise joinsMerge operation
“Dynamic” pruning
Oracle9iList partitioning Global index maintenance
Oracle9i R2Composite range-list partitioningFast partition split
Oracle10gGlobal hash indexes Local Index maintenance
Oracle10g R21M partitions per table“Multi-dimensional” pruningFast drop table
Oracle Database 11gMore composite choices Interval Partitioning
REF PartitioningPartition Advisor
Virtual Column Partitioning
  复合分区(Composite Partitioning)最早在版本8i中被引入(Range-Hash),是一种二维的模式分区技术; 在11g中进一步扩展了Composite Partitioning,11g 支持RANGE-RANGE、 RANGE-LIST、LIST-LIST、LIST-HASH等几种模式。 其中RANGE-RANGE是我们久违了的,很多初学分区概念的同学都会惊讶于11g以前居然没有RANGE-RANGE分区可用。  
RangeListHash
Range11g9i8i
List11g11g11g