Description:

The Access Module Process is the heart of the Teradata RDBMS.  The AMP is a virtual processor that provides a BYNET interface and performs many database and file management tasks.

AMPs control the management of the Teradata RDBMS and also provide control over the disk subsystem, with each AMP being assigned to a virtual disk.

Each AMP controls the following set of functions:

• BYNET interface
• Database manager
  • Locking
  • Joins
  • Sorting
  • Aggregation
  • Output data conversion
  • Disk space management
  • Accounting
  • Journaling
• File system and disk management

Each AMP, as shown in the above table, is assigned a portion of the database to control.  Each AMP also maintains its portion of the database tables stored on disks.

AMP Clusters - AMPs are grouped into logical clusters to enhance the fault tolerance capabilities of the Teradata RDBMS. 

CONFIGURATION:

The AMPs are added and configured through the AWS.  The AMP vproc number ranges from 0 - 16,199.  They also have a cluster number that each AMP is associated with.  The cluster number ranges from 0 - 8099.  The maximum number of AMPs that can be assigned to a cluster is 16.  Example:  add amps 4 - 7, cn = 3