DISCRIMINATORY REPLAY OF LOG FILES DURING TABLE SPACE RECOVERY IN A DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A system and method for selectively processing log files for enhancing performance of table space recovery by processing only those log files required, as well as choosing which log file to process during recovery for both redo and rollback phases of recover y. The system and method skips the processing of log files that do not contain records of interest for the table space being recovered and determines whether a log file contains anything that nee ds to be played, in particular for the recovery of a subsystem in the database, such as a table space. Pre processing of the log files is not done, rather including tablespace ID correlated with log file ID information is collected while the log files are created. The cross-correlated informati on is used during tablespace recovery to selectively determine which of the log files to process. Some log files may be skipped in cases where not all of the database system is being recovered. A sub set of the database can be recovered, such as a tablespace, and which log files to process is determined based on lock intent.