Method for determining optimal database materializations using a query optimizer

The present invention relates to database management systems and more particularly to a method for determining optimal database materializations utilizing a query optimizer. A method for determining optimal database materializations utilizing a query optimizer in a database management system. The method takes one or more queries as inputs and using the query optimizer in the database management system generates a series of virtual materializations by materializing some subsets of the database. The virtual materializations are used to consider the relative performance benefits, i.e. cost-benefits, for the queries based on the various virtual materializations. If the query optimizer decides to use any of the materializations in its plan, then those materializations are recommended to the user, or created automatically for the user.