Storage of sparse numerical data (e.g. inverted index) - any conventions?

Question

Is there an accepted way of storing and accessing sparse numerical data (such as a search engine's inverted index / term by document matrix)? An RDBMS seems inappropriate for this kind of data, but it would be good to have it stored in some kind of database (saved to disk, running as a server, etc). Is there an accepted solution for this kind of problem (such as an existing database capable of supporting this kind of model)? Anyone know how Google stores and accesses their indexes so fast? Thanks!

Answer 1

Have a look here for more info on Google and links to more info.