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Designing Databases

Designing a database requires an understanding of the business functions you want to model. It also requires an understanding of the database concepts and features that you want to use to represent those business functions. Make sure that you accurately design the database to model the business, because it can be time-consuming to significantly change the design of a database after you implement it. A well-designed database also performs better.

In This Section

Topic

Description

Developing a Database Plan

Describes the purpose of the database and how it affects the design. Provides guidelines for creating a database plan to fit your purpose.

Online Transaction Processing vs. Decision Support

Describes the characteristics of Online Transaction Process (OLTP) and Decision Support applications and their effect on the design considerations for a database.

Normalization

Describes database normalization rules that help prevent mistakes in the database design.

Data Integrity

Describes how to help protect the data integrity of the database.

Using Extended Properties on Database Objects

Describes how to use extended properties to add descriptive or instructional text, input masks, and formatting rules as properties of objects in a database or of the database itself.

Estimating the Size of a Database

Provides procedures for estimating how large the database will be when it is filled with data.

Designing Files and Filegroups

Describes how to use files and filegroups to manage database growth, enhance backup and restore strategies, and improve database performance.