Patent attributes
Disclosed herein are systems and methods for processing queries over external tables. In an embodiment, a database platform receives a query directed at least to data in an external table stored in a storage platform that is external to the database platform. The database platform uses metadata that summarizes the data in the external table to identify one or more partitions of the external table as potentially including data satisfying the query, and generates a query plan that includes a plurality of discrete subtasks that collectively include instructions to scan the identified one or more partitions of the external table for data satisfying the query. The database platform assigns, based on the metadata, the plurality of discrete subtasks to one or more nodes in an execution platform, and refreshes the metadata in response to a threshold number of modifications being made to the external table.
