Hi, @rudra prasad biswas, Column families are used to optimize RegionServer memory by separating frequently and infrequently used columns. For example, when using HBase for document storage, document metadata is queried 5-10x for every one read of document content. In this type of application, you would store document content in one column family, and document metadata in another, allowing HBase to avoid loading document content into memory until it is explicitly accessed. As @Ryan Cicak hinted at, Phoenix tables assign columns to the first column family by default. However, you can specify which family to assign columns to: CREATE TABLE TEST (MYKEY VARCHAR NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY, A.COL1 VARCHAR, A.COL2 VARCHAR, B.COL3 VARCHAR) In this example, COL3 is stored in column family B, and other columns belong to family A. Assuming there is a subset of column qualifiers you know you will use, they should be defined in the table definition (DDL). However, this is not required. See the Phoenix docs on dynamic columns and views to see how to use Phoenix to support writing arbitrary column qualifiers to a table without pre-defining those columns. Views let you keep track of and expose dynamic columns when needed.
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