Relational Databases

Relational databases are a type of database that organizes data into structured tables with rows and columns, using a schema to define relationships between tables through keys. They are based on the relational model of data, introduced by E.F. Codd in 1970, and use SQL (Structured Query Language) for querying and manipulating data. This model ensures data integrity, consistency, and supports ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) transactions for reliable operations.

Also known as: RDBMS, SQL Databases, Relational DB, Relational Database Management System, Relational DBMS

🧊Why learn Relational Databases?

Developers should learn and use relational databases when building applications that require structured data, complex queries, and strong data integrity, such as financial systems, e-commerce platforms, or enterprise software. They are ideal for scenarios where data relationships are well-defined and transactional consistency is critical, as they provide robust tools for joins, constraints, and normalization to reduce redundancy and maintain accuracy.

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Relational Databases vs Nosql Databases→Relational Databases vs Graph Databases→Relational Databases vs Document Databases→

Learning Resources

W3Schools SQL Tutorial

PostgreSQL Documentation

Stanford Database Course on Coursera

Introduction to Relational Databases on YouTube

Database System Concepts Book

Related Tools

Sql Database Design Normalization Acid Transactions Data Modeling

Alternatives to Relational Databases

Nosql Databases Graph Databases Document Databases

Other Concepts

Always On Availability Groups

Always On Availability Groups is a high-availability and disaster recovery solution in Microsoft SQL Server that provides database-level failover for groups of databases. It allows multiple copies of a set of databases (availability replicas) to be maintained across different servers, ensuring data redundancy and automatic failover in case of primary server failure. This feature supports both synchronous and asynchronous data replication modes to balance performance and data protection needs.

Amazon Aurora is a fully managed, MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database service built for the cloud. It combines the performance and availability of high-end commercial databases with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of open-source databases, offering up to five times the throughput of standard MySQL and three times that of PostgreSQL. Aurora automatically handles tasks like hardware provisioning, database setup, patching, backups, and replication, while providing high durability and availability through distributed, fault-tolerant, self-healing storage.

Amazon Aurora Provisioned

Amazon Aurora Provisioned is a fully managed relational database service from AWS that offers high performance, scalability, and availability with MySQL and PostgreSQL compatibility. It uses a distributed, fault-tolerant storage system that automatically scales up to 128 TB per database instance, providing fast read replicas and continuous backup to Amazon S3. This provisioned model requires users to pre-allocate and pay for database instance capacity, making it suitable for predictable workloads.

Amazon Aurora Serverless

Amazon Aurora Serverless is an on-demand, auto-scaling configuration for Amazon Aurora, a MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud. It automatically starts up, shuts down, and scales capacity up or down based on application demand, eliminating the need to manage database instances. This serverless model is designed for applications with intermittent, unpredictable, or variable workloads.

Amazon Aurora Serverless

Amazon Aurora Serverless is an on-demand, auto-scaling configuration for Amazon Aurora, a MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud. It automatically starts up, shuts down, and scales capacity up or down based on application demand, eliminating the need to manage database instances. This serverless model is designed for applications with intermittent, unpredictable, or variable workloads.

Amazon DynamoDB

Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that offers fast and predictable performance with seamless scalability. It supports key-value and document data models, automatically replicates data across multiple Availability Zones for high availability and durability, and provides built-in security, backup, and in-memory caching capabilities.