4 Database Design Tips Everyone Should Know
When you are designing a database, there are some simple rules that can help you save a great deal of time and stress.
There are numerous tools such as Database ER Diagram Tool can help you with your database.
Here are some useful tips we have learned over the course of our experience.
1. Utilize Naming Conventions
Countless developers believe that naming conventions are not an essential part of the design phase. In reality, they provide information that will assist people with understanding a model.
If conventions are not very strong and/or inconsistent, this can cause errors while in the development stage. This can be discouraging for developers who have to access this as well as modelers and administrators who have to make adjustments in the future.
Naming conventions are a personal decision. Whichever you select, make sure that it has consistency and it is documented so everyone involved is on the same page. If there are any exceptions, make sure that you note this and explain the cause.
2. Indexes in Your Design
When you are designing, it is important that you index your model. It should revolve around your primary constraints and keys. Even if some changes need to make to the indexes during development, having them designed is an essential part of modeling. Think about the way the data will be queried since once of the main components of indexing is query optimization.
Fast Fact: Do not attempt to over-index a table. This can have a negative impact on performance.
3. Archiving Strategy
In many cases, people design databases without giving archiving and data retention much thought. Data is stored in database tables and remains accessible for a long time. many systems allow store date to remain there indefinitely. This is not a data retention strategy that should be used on a long term basis. Eventually, active data needs to be archived.
One of the best ways to approach this would be to include data retention as part of the design process. This will help you avoid redesigning archives later.
4. Do Not Forget About Testing
Are you interested in saving time and money? You should test during the early stages of development. Testing has always been seen as a challenge and many people leave this out when there is a lack of time. Even so, proper testing should be an integral part or database development and data modeling.
None of these activities will take an extensive amount of time, but they will have a large impact on overall database design quality.
