30. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions for performing an operation on a partitioned object, wherein said operation changes a physical attribute of one or more partitions of said partitioned object, said sequences of instructions including instructions for performing the steps of: acquiring a first lock on a body of metadata associated with said one or more partitions; acquiring a data lock on said one or more partitions; while holding said data lock on said one or more partitions, releasing said first lock on said body of metadata; changing said one or more partitions; acquiring a second lock on said body of metadata; updating said body of metadata; releasing said data lock on said one or more partitions; and releasing said second lock on said body of metadata.
30. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions for performing an operation on a partitioned object, wherein said operation changes a physical attribute of one or more partitions of said partitioned object, said sequences of instructions including instructions for performing the steps of: acquiring a first lock on a body of metadata associated with said one or more partitions; acquiring a data lock on said one or more partitions; while holding said data lock on said one or more partitions, releasing said first lock on said body of metadata; changing said one or more partitions; acquiring a second lock on said body of metadata; updating said body of metadata; releasing said data lock on said one or more partitions; and releasing said second lock on said body of metadata. 35. The computer readable medium of claim 30, wherein said step of acquiring said first lock on said body of metadata comprises the step of acquiring a shared data dictionary lock on said body of metadata.