B-tree indexes on partitioned tables can be global or local.
With Oracle8i and e
arlier releases, Oracle recommended that global indexes not be used in data warehouse environments because a partition DDL statement (for example, ALTER TABLE ... DRO P PARTITION) would invalidate the entire index, and rebuilding the index is expens ive. In Oracle Database 10g, global indexes can be maintained without Oracle marking them as unusable after DDL. This enhancement makes global indexes more effective for data warehouse environments. However, local indexes will be more common than global indexes. Global indexes should be used when there is a specific requirement which cannot be met by local indexes (for example, a unique index on a non-partitioning key, or a performance requirement). Bitmap indexes on partitioned tables are always local. Posted in: Index