A generalized storage model for tertiary storage based systems

Most of the research in the area of database query optimization has dealt with data that is either in main memory or on disk. Lately there has been growing interest in making tertiary memory part of an information system. The authors propose a model for a generic storage system and generic data placement techniques. Such a model provides one with a tool to study query performance and optimization techniques in tertiary device based systems by varying the different storage system, data placement, and system configuration parameters. They then demonstrate one use of the model by using it in a tertiary storage system setup to measure the cost of relational join algorithms.