Design of MySQL Database

Good design of a new relational database is very important to accomplishing its purpose. Among the many strong points of a relational database is that it minimizes repition of data elements and allows for great flexibility and efficiency in retrieving the required data, often allowing for discovery of relationships that were not evident in the source data.

Database design continues where the examination of the source data leaves off. That is, once the needed fields are identified in the exam phase, it can be divided in a rational way and loaded into numerous tables (if necessary) to facilitate retrieval and to facilitate discovery of new relationships.

Relational databases, MySQL among them, allow multiple database users to access a database at the same time. This is a significant point for databases that support web accessible applications. There is a robust access control system that establishes which users have access to which databases and tables within databases. It also defines whether a user can only retrieve information or can also add, change, or delete information, or any combination of these.

Queries are not limited to one database. If there is another database (or several) in some way related to the current project, queries can be written that look for relationships and draw results from numerous databases.

Again, good database design is important to successful use of a realtional database system.