3.4.1 Using Indexes on Exadata

In the past, databases required indexes for good performance. However, Oracle Exadata can deliver superior scan rates without using indexes.

Review the application execution plans that use indexes to determine if they would run faster with Exadata Smart Scan Offload. To determine if a scan would be faster when there is no index, make the index invisible to the optimizer. An invisible index is maintained by DML operations, but it is not used by the optimizer.

To make an index invisible, use the following command and substitute the name of the index in place of index_name:

SQL> ALTER INDEX index_name INVISIBLE;