I just install Oracle Enterprise Linux on my new notebook.

I wanted to check how far could I improve the performance of a count(*)

SQL> drop table big_emp;

table big_emp dropped.
258ms elapsed

SQL> create table big_emp as 
  with l as(select 1 from dual connect by level<=3000) 
  select rownum empno,ename,job,mgr,hiredate,sal,comm,deptno from emp,l,l

table big_emp created.
330,390ms elapsed

SQL> alter table big_emp add primary key(empno)

table big_emp altered.
481,503ms elapsed

SQL> alter system flush buffer_cache

system flush altered.
2,701ms elapsed

SQL> alter system flush shared_pool
system flush altered.
137ms elapsed

SQL> select count(*) from big_emp
COUNT(*)               
---------------------- 
126000000              

9,769ms elapsed

SQL> select count(*) from big_emp
COUNT(*)               
---------------------- 
126000000              

8,157ms elapsed

SQL> alter table big_emp drop primary key

table big_emp altered.
905ms elapsed

SQL> alter table big_emp add primary key(empno) 
  using index (
    create index big_i on big_emp(empno) 
    global partition by hash(empno) 
    partitions 16 parallel 16)

table big_emp altered.
974,300ms elapsed

SQL> alter system flush buffer_cache

system flush altered.
601ms elapsed

SQL> alter system flush shared_pool

system flush altered.
140ms elapsed

SQL> select count(*) from big_emp

COUNT(*)               
---------------------- 
126000000              

5,201ms elapsed

SQL> select count(*) from big_emp

COUNT(*)               
---------------------- 
126000000              

2,958ms elapsed

As it is on a notebook, I suppose the benefit of partitioning is not as good as you could get on your server with lots of fast disks and lot’s of CPUs, but I am pretty happy with the results.

It is still counting 126 Million rows in less than 3 seconds

Thanks for the very kind sponsor of the notebook !