Today’s software applications are mostly database driven in desktop or web based applications, which makes it extremely challenging to design a database that adheres to multiple aspects of quality and stand ahead in the competition. The practice becomes more challenging especially when it needs to be delivered in a limited time span. Often, practitioners are left with either exploratory design techniques or their past experiences, which is in contrast with the design philosophy of systematic and methodical approach. Hence it becomes a need for database practitioners to follow expert guidelines for designing an effective database design for database performance tuning
1. Proper Data Type
Datatype is the primary unit which is a building block for holding data. It is up to the practitioner to select the suitable data type instead of a generic one. Improper data type can lead to a bloated database, which results into consuming more space and performance issues.
Normalization is one of the practices that can organize data efficiently into multiple tables by removing redundant data and only storing relevant data which should be purely interrelated. Through the normalization process, a practitioner ensures that the database size is as small as possible and the data is logically stored across the data tables.
3. Proper constraints
The primary job of a constraint is to enforce a rule in the database, which maintains the data integrity of the database and allows only those values which will follow the predefined rules, further eliminating the manual effort of re-validation during data entry. Otherwise a practitioner needs to write detailed code logic for the same.
Indexes are the order in which the column values are arranged which operate ‘behind the scenes’ in support of the database engine. By making the column indexed, the speed of fetching the data increases. However, every time some data manipulation is done in the database, the indexes also get updated making it a little slower. Hence it is advised by database experts to choose columns for indexing wisely rather than generously.
5. Optimized Queries
Queries are a set of statements which do different operations on the database and its contents. After applying the above mentioned rules on tables we need to look further for the formation of an optimized query for its best performance. While forming a query we need to take care of best practices and proper usage of operators and filters so that output can be fast and accurate.
6. Stored Procedures & Functions
A stored procedure is a group of SQL statements compiled into a single execution plan and multiple SQL statements can be written in stored procedures and functions. Another benefit is that the stored procedures are compiled statements so chances of error are less. Since these are compiled and error free the execution is faster.
Following the above guidelines leads to a well tuned database reflecting the best performance.