can i reset a surrogate ky? 4 byte tracks 2 billion if more?

[nraj]

a surrogate key is 4 byte int bu which we can track 2 billion records,

if records more than 2 billion what is the solution

[ArndW]

If you choose a 64-bit integer in the Surrogate Key Stage you can track surrogate keys from 0 through 9223372036854775807 ((2^^64/2)-1). If you are using a 4-byte key ((2^^32/2)-1) you have 2147483647 positive numbers (double that if you also use negative ones).

I don't know what your actual question is. If you utilize a 4-byte integer in the database for the surrogate key you are limited as above and there is nothing you can do unless you either store less records or use another datatype or add an additional column in the table to make up a unique key.

[Sainath.Srinivasan]

Go for a larger datatype such as Number(38). You hardly can miss anything by that.

[ArndW]

Sainath - I can't find any way to make the Surrogate Key stage in Px use anything but integers. How do you specify NUMBER (and how can one really use a floating-point representation for a unique key without having to worry about duplicates)?

[Baldmartyr]

This topic does not belong in the FAQ Discussion forum. Should it be removed to the PX forum?

[ArndW]

Yes, it needs to be moved forthwith - I didn't realize which forum we were in.