What is an extent?

An extent is according MOF-Specification a container which stores a set of elements.

“An Extent is a context in which an Element in a set of Elements in a set can be identified. An element may be a member of zero or more extents. An Extent is not an Element, it is part of a MOF capability.”

So, it is just a container. Quite boring, but that it is.

How is it connected to DatenMeister?

The DatenMeister create an Extent and depending of the data source, the extent may be

• Temporary or permanently stored

• Reflecting a file or just being in memory

The DatenMeister supports

• to load the data to create an extent and

• if the data source is reflecting a permanent file or database,

  • at request of the User or at shutdown of the system, the data is stored at the data source.

This means, that the DatenMeister supports multiple extents and also the foundation of its internal data structure model is based upon Extents.