To improve performance, you can partition the database cache (buffer pool) into segments that are cached independently. Specific tables or ranges of tables can be assigned to use a specific portion of the cache. When an SQL statement accesses a portion of table that is assigned to a specific cache segment, all operations in that query are cached into the same cache segment.

Using cache segment partitioning can be beneficial in setups where you can classify data into parts that do not interfere with each other. For example, if your application accumulates a lot of history-type data that is queried occasionally, you might not want the occasional queries to flush all cache pages so that concurrent active queries are slowed down. If you assign the history-type data to dedicated cache segments, you can limit the maximum cache size that the occasional queries can use. Active queries can thus have sufficient cache capacity. When the occasional reports are not being run, the segmented cache parts are released for use by the active queries.