Managing partitioned cache

• Main Authors: Ho, Alexander C, Joshi, Ashok, Putzolu, Gianfranco, Loaiza, Juan R, Wood, Graham, Bridge, Jr., William H
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 09.04.2002

The present invention relates to computer systems and, more specifically, to a method for partitioning a buffer cache. The present invention provides a method and apparatus for partitioning a buffer cache for dynamically mapping data blocks with a particular replacement strategy based on the associated table's access and/or usage patterns. According to the method, a buffer cache in a computer system is managed by dividing the buffer cache into multiple buffer pools. In managing the buffer cache, when a data item is requested, it is first determined whether the requested data item is stored in a buffer within the buffer cache. If the requested data item is not stored in a buffer in the buffer cache, then a particular buffer pool in the buffer cache is dynamically selected for storing the requested data item. Once the particular buffer pool is selected, the requested data item is stored into a buffer in the particular buffer pool.