I read that making partitioned table improves performance for large data tables with frequent DMLs.
I also read that when you have to do large deletes(not all data) on a table dropping a partition will be fastest approach.
Can I drop a partition from inside PL/SQl block(stored procedure as it will be getting data from procedure and I would like to clear it at the end of procedure- just for that session).
I know you cannot do DML in Pl/sql. I am using Oracle8. Are partitions treated seperately ?
Is there any thumb rule as to when one should or should not do a partition and what column and values will go in partition, is it PK column based ?
Does it use same index across the partition ?


thanks a lot
Sonali