Structure and validation of an analytic performance predictor for SYSTEM 2000 databases

The efficiency and performance of database systems is substantially affected by many decisions which are required throughout the development stages. Unfortunately, the impact on performance of many design alternatives is not yet well understood. In this paper the authors present an analytical performance model of database systems that provides a means of quantitative comparison of design alternatives. Four levels of abstraction are distinguished for design choices and related performance measures. The authors describe the design and implemntation of a specialization of the present general layered model to SYSTEM 2000 environments. They report some preliminary results of the validation of the SYSTEM 2000 performance predictor against data measured in an actual operational environment.