What can be specified for tables when using the CREATE TABLE or ALTER TABLE commands in ADW?

When creating or altering tables in Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse (ADW), one of the key features that can be specified is the compression methods for the table data. Compression is important in data warehousing environments because it helps reduce storage costs and improves query performance by reducing I/O. Oracle Autonomous Database provides several advanced compression techniques, including Hybrid Columnar Compression and in-memory compression, tailored for analytical queries.

Specifying compression methods allows database administrators to optimize the performance of queries and manage space efficiently. This capability is particularly crucial in data warehousing, where the volume of data can be substantial, and efficient data retrieval is essential for effective analysis.

While it’s true that data types can be specified, which impact how data is stored and handled, the question specifically focuses on aspects unique to ADW capabilities in terms of managing performance and storage efficiency, which is where compression truly stands out. Table size is generally managed by the underlying storage system and is not directly specified in the CREATE TABLE or ALTER TABLE commands. Indexes, while important for performance, are part of a different aspect of table optimization focusing on speeding up data retrieval rather than storage and compression efficiency.