Beginning Database Design Solutions

Chapter 19. Database Maintenance

At this point, you've learned how to identify customer needs, design a database, refine the design, and implement the database interactively or by using scripts. Even after you start using the database, however, the work isn't done. You (or someone) must perform regular maintenance to keep the database healthy and efficient.

Like a high-performance sports car, the database needs regular maintenance to keep it running at peak efficiency. Just as the best engineering and construction in the world won't save your engine if you drive 100,000 miles without an oil change, your database design won't give you optimal performance if you don't give it regular tune-ups. (At least the database doesn't need collision insurance.)

This chapter describes some of the maintenance chores that must be performed to keep the database working smoothly. Unfortunately the details of performing these chores differ greatly in different databases so the exact steps you need to perform are not included here. Instead this chapter describes the issues that you should keep in mind when you design the database's maintenance schedule. You should consult the documentation for your particular database product to flesh out the details.

In this chapter you learn:

• What tasks are necessary to keep a database functional.

• How to schedule backups to safeguard data.

• What you can do to keep a database working efficiently.

Backups

Backups are one of the most important parts of database maintenance. ...