This paper describes the StorHouse/Relational Manager (RM) database system that uses and exploits an active storage hierarchy. By active storage hierarchy, we mean that StorHouse/RM executes SQL queries directly against data stored on all hierarchical storage (i.e. disk, optical, and tape) without post processing a file or a DBA having to manage a data set. We describe and analyze StorHouse/RM features and internals. We also describe how StorHouse/RM differs from traditional HSM (Hierarchical Storage Management) systems. For commercial applications we describe an evolution to the Data Warehouse concept, called Atomic Data Store, whereby atomic data is stored in the database system. Atomic data is defined as storing all the historic data values and executing queries against them. We also describe a Hub-and-Spoke Data Warehouse architecture, which is used to feed or fuel data into Data Marts.

Object-relational database systems allow users to define new types and functions. This typing extension allows structural semantics to be applied to new data types (non-SQL92 data types). However, defining new, large, complex objects within a tuple is not always practical. Practicality alone requires that large object data structures be used. This implies that predicate evaluation can be performed on tuple columns that are physically stored outside of a tuple's physical record. This out-of-line storage mechanism is commonly used today for column values that are physically large (implemented with a large object descriptor in the tuple pointing to a large object data structure). This type of predicate-based evaluation presents new optimizer and run-time challenges to the database system on clustered and massively parallel processor shared-nothing architectures.