Armada: a Reference Model for an Evolving Database System

tinues to grow at an increasing rate. Distribution is a key solution to overcome this data explosion. However, existing solutions are mostly based on architectures with a single point of failure. In this paper, we present Armada, a model for a database architecture to handle large data volumes. Armada assumes autonomy of sites, allowing for a decentralised setup, where systems can largely work independently. Furthermore, a novel admin-istration schema in Armada, based on lineage trails, allows for flexible adaptation to the (query) work load in highly dynamic environments. The lineage trails capture the metadata and its history. They form the basis to direct updates to the proper sites, to break queries into multi-stage plans, and to provide a reference point for site consis-tency. The lineage trails are managed in a purely distributed fashion, each Armada site is responsible for their persistency and long term availability. They provide a minimal, but sufficient basis to handle all distributed query processing tasks. The analysis of the Armada reference architecture depicts a path for innovative re-search at many levels of a DBMS. Challenging many conventional database assump-tions and theories, it will eventually allow large databases to continue to grow and stay flexible.