Enforcing Database Integrity
The integrity of a database is comprised of two elements: entity and referential integrity. Entity integrity requires that all primary keys must be unique within a table, and referential integrity dictates that all foreign keys must have corresponding values within a base table's primary key. Although the normalization process creates entity and referential integrity, either the RDBMS itself or your application must maintain that integrity during the data-entry process. Failure to maintain database integrity can result in erroneous data values and, ultimately, widespread corruption of the entire database.
Ensuring Entity Integrity and Auditability
Database managers differ widely in their capabilities to maintain entity ...
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