After you create a distributed database, you must decide which tables will make up the distributed database. These tables can be entire local databases or a selection of tables from local databases. They are incorporated into the distributed database by registering them.

Tip: Registration simply describes the logical connection (link) between an object in the distributed database and an object in a local database. A registration is not an object in the same way that a table, view, or index is an object.

When you issue a query to Ingres Star, it generates sub-queries to the local databases, mapping table and column names occurring in the query into their corresponding local table and column names. Ingres Star cannot recognize local table or column names unless they have been registered in the distributed database.