• Partitioned tables--A table can be partitioned among many sub-tables (partitions). Rows are spread evenly among the partitions by use of a hash value. To define a table with partitions, use the WITH PARTITION= option in the CREATE TABLE statement.

• Parallel vwload is a new mode for the vwload command that speeds up data loading by parallelizing the processing. It is activated by adding the ‑‑cluster option to the command line. For more information, see vwload in Parallel Mode.

• Remote vwload--The vwload command can be used on a remote system to load data into a database over a direct network connection. It is no longer necessary to first copy the input data files to the machine where the database resides. Remote vwload requires a 64-bit client. For more information, see vwload from Remote System.

• The performance of spilling to disk is improved.

• Secondary indexes can be used to improve the performance of join operations. For details, see Secondary Indexes with Joins.

• Incremental Backup--You can make a dynamic backup of the database by using a checkpoint in combination with journals. Journals keep track of all changes made to journaled tables after the last checkpoint. Journals let you restore data up to the last journaled transaction. For more information, see the chapter “Performing Backup and Recovery.”

• The MERGE statement allows data to be inserted or updated if the data matches a specified condition.

• FIRST_VALUE and LAST_VALUE functions return the first or last position of each result row within a partition or group. These functions can be used as window functions or in a grouping specification.

• Declaration-only constraints--A [NOT] ENFORCED option can be added to referential (foreign key) constraint declarations. When you specify NOT ENFORCED, the constraint is not enforced when the constraint is defined or when the table is updated. NOT ENFORCED constraints can be used to generate improved SQL statements or query plans.