TDB - Store Parameters

TDB (as of version Jena 3.0.0) supports configuration of the databases when they are first created and each time an application connects to an existing database. Databases using the default settings built-into TDB continue to work exactly as before.

Setting Store Parameters

In TDB, there is exactly one internal object for each dataset in the JVM and this is shared between all application datasets for that location of persistent storage.

Setting store parameters is done by setting the internal system state before any other access to the disk area occurs. It is not possible to have different setups for the same dataset on disk.

StoreParams are set by populating the internal state with the setup before an application level dataset is created.

TDBFactory.setup(Location location, StoreParams params)

This must be called before any application calls to get a Dataset (or DatasetGraph) object otherwise IllegalStateException is thrown by this function.

Location location = ... ;
StoreParams customParams = ... ;

TDBFactory.setup(location, customParams) ;

Dataset ds = TDBFactory.createDataset(location) ;
...

It is only possible to change store parameters by expelling the managed storage by calling TDBFactory.release(Location). This drops all caching. Access to the dataset is then a cold start.

Per-connect Options

The per-connect options are the ones that can be changed after the database has been created and can be different each time the application attaches to the database. A database can have at most one JVM attached to it (see Fuseki to share a database).

These options do not affect the on-disk structures.

JSON key name Default value Notes
tdb.file_mode See below
tdb.node2nodeid_cache_size 100,000 50,000 on 32 bit java
tdb.nodeid2node_cache_size 500,000 50,000 on 32 bit java
tdb.node_miss_cache_size 100
tdb.node_cache_initial_capacity_factor 0.25
tdb.block_read_cache_size 10000 Only in direct mode
tdb.block_write_cache_size 2000 Only in direct mode

File access - “mapped” and “direct” modes

TDB has two modes of operation for accessing block files - “mapped” and “direct”.

  • “mapped” uses memory mapped files and so the operating system is managing caching, flexing the amount of memory for file system cache to balance demands from other programmes on the same hardware.

  • “direct” using TDB’s own in-heap block caching. It avoids the problem that addressing is limited to a total of about 1.5Gbytes on 32 bit Java.

By default, TDB uses memory mapped files on 64 bit Java and its own file caching on 32 bit java.

On Microsoft Windows, “mapped” databases can not be deleted while the JVM is running on MS Windows. This is a known issue with Java.

TDB databases are compatible across these file modes. There is no difference to the file layouts. Memory mapped files may appear larger because they contain unused space. Some utilities report this in file size, some do not.

Caching options.

These are the useful tuning options. Only the node* choices have any effect when running in “mapped” mode.

All these options effect the amount of heap used. The block read/write cache sizes are tuned to 32 bit Java.

Increasing the Node/NodeId cache sizes on 64 bit machines may be beneficial.

Static Options

While it is possible to customize a database, this is considered to be experimental. It is possible to corrupt, unrecoverable, existing databases and create nonsense databases with inappropriate settings. It will be useful in very few real situations. Not all combinations of index choices will work. Only the standard layout is supported; alternative schemes are for experimentation only.

Block Size

The block size can not be changed once a database has been created.

While the code attempts to detect block size mismatches, in order to retain compatibility with existing database, the testing can not be perfect. If undetected, any update will permanently and irrecoverably damage the database.

Store Parameters File Format

JSON is used for the on-disk record of store parameters, see the example below. Unspecified options defaults to the for the running setup.

These are default settings for a 64 bit Java:

{ 
  "tdb.file_mode" :                           "mapped" ,
  "tdb.block_size" :                          8192 ,
  "tdb.block_read_cache_size" :               10000 ,
  "tdb.block_write_cache_size" :              2000 ,
  "tdb.node2nodeid_cache_size" :              100000 ,
  "tdb.nodeid2node_cache_size" :              500000 ,
  "tdb.node_miss_cache_size" :                100 ,
  "tdb.node_cache_initial_capacity_factor" :  0.25 ,
  "tdb.index_node2id" :                       "node2id" ,
  "tdb.index_id2node" :                       "nodes" ,
  "tdb.triple_index_primary" :                "SPO" ,
  "tdb.triple_indexes" :                      [ "SPO" , "POS" , "OSP" ] ,
  "tdb.quad_index_primary" :                  "GSPO" ,
  "tdb.quad_indexes" :                        [ "GSPO" , "GPOS" , "GOSP" , "POSG" , "OSPG" , "SPOG" ] ,
  "tdb.prefix_index_primary" :                "GPU" ,
  "tdb.prefix_indexes" :                      [ "GPU" ] ,
  "tdb.file_prefix_index" :                   "prefixIdx" ,
  "tdb.file_prefix_nodeid" :                  "prefix2id" ,
  "tdb.file_prefix_id2node" :                 "prefixes"
}

Choosing the store parameters

This is the policy applied when creating or reattaching to a database.

If the database location has a parameter file, tdb.cfg then use that. This is modified by any dynamic options supplied by the application. So to create a specialized database, one way to do that is to create an empty directory and put a tdb.cfg in place.

If there is no parameter file and this is a new database, use the application provided store parameters, or if there are no application provided parameters, use the system default parameters. If application supplied parameters are used, write a tdb.cfg file.

Finally, if this is an existing database, with no tdb.cfg, use the system default modified by any application parameters.

In other words, if there is no tdb.cfg assume the system defaults, except when creating a database.

Modification involves taking one set of store parameters and applying any dynamic parameters set in the second set. Only explicitly set dynamic parameters modify the original.