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[vj.jain]

Oracle 11g introduces a new feature called "reference partitioning" that allows partitioning of a child table based on a foreign key constraint to its parent table. In other words, when you have a parent-child relationship between two tables, the parent table can be defined with its partitions, while the child table can be equi-partitioned by defining the child table to inherit the partitioning key from the parent table without the need to duplicate the partition key columns. In a relational database, there are a countless number of situations where parent-child relationships exist. The possible application and usefulness of this new feature in an Oracle database is tremendous. Consider the abundance of parent-child table relationships in Oracle schemas that support online transaction processing or data warehousing.


For more information, examples, and use-cases for Reference Partitioning, make sure you get a copy of Oracle 11g New Features Guide by John Garmany, Steve Karam, Lutz Hartmann, V. J. Jain, and Brian Carr http://www.oracle-developer.com/oracle_11g_new_features.html