Chapter 39. Database Design and Performance

by Bennett McEwan and Ray Rankins

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Basic Tenets of Designing for Performance

• Logical Database Design Issues

• Denormalizing the Database

• Database Filegroups and Performance

• RAID Technology

Various factors contribute to the optimal performance of a database application. Some of these factors include logical database design (rules of normalization), physical database design (denormalization, indexes, data placement), choice of hardware (SMP servers), network bandwidth (LAN versus WAN), client and server configuration (memory, CPU), data access techniques (ODBC, ADO, OLEDB), and application architecture (two-tier versus n- tier ). This chapter will help you understand some of the key database design issues that will ensure you have a reliable and high-performance application.

NOTE

Index design is often considered part of the physical database design. Because index design guidelines and the impact of indexes on query and update performance are covered in detail in Chapter 34, "Indexes and Performance," this chapter does not discuss index design, focusing instead on other aspects of database design and performance.