After considering tables for partitioning, you need to select the most appropriate column or columns to define your partition. Consider the following guidelines:
The partition column selected must be the leading component of an index. Tables can only be partitioned on indexable columns (excluding RECIDs)
The partition selected should be frequently used as a filter criterion in queries frequently run against the table to take advantage of partition pruning.
The partition column selected should contain values that are relatively static over time. Static values reduce row movement between partitions when partition column values are changed, eliminating the performance cost of an expensive internal operation.
The partition column selected must have known values. You can not partition a table using a column that accepts the OpenEdge ABL UNKNOWN “?” value.
The partition column selected must be the leading component of an index. Tables can only be partitioned on indexable columns (excluding RECIDs)