The Importance of Choosing the Right Database for Your Application

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The Importance of Choosing the Right Database for Your Application
The Importance of Choosing the Right Database for Your Application

Choosing the right database for your application is not an easy task. There are several reasons for selecting a database for an application. You may want to create a new app, or your current app might not be working as per your expectations.

This is where you need to conduct research and look for the complete database that will help you boost your app’s performance.

The importance of research

You will find numerous database types if you take a look around in the market today. Each one has its share of pros and cons.

It is prudent to consult experienced IT managers and skilled DBAs to get an insight into the different types of databases available in the market so that you will not be overwhelmed by the choices available.

How should you start?

The Importance of Choosing the Right Database for Your Application
The Importance of Choosing the Right Database for Your Application

What is the best database in the market? This question is up for debate and you might have in your mind. There are several ways of finding this out. If you consult experienced IT experts in database management, you will find they do not have the right answer.

They say there is no such thing as “the best database” in the market. As mentioned above, there are different types of databases, and each has its advantages and disadvantages.

You need to ascertain what you are searching for, the budget you have for buying the database, the IT team you need for its maintenance and performance, the goals you have for the application, and other factors that will influence your final decision.

 As experienced experts from credible database management and administration company, RemoteDBA.com states that when searching for the perfect database for your applications, take the following 3 points into account-

Note that when you search for the right database for your application, do not debate the common subject- SQL versus NoSQL. If you check the Internet, you will find there are unlimited articles on the advantages and disadvantages of the SQL and NoSQL database.

They indeed give you an insight into the differences between the two; however, these articles will not help you with the decision- making process as they miss out on salient factors specific to your business.

For instance, you need to align the database you invest in the size, structure, and speed of your application. They have been discussed in detail below-

  • Size- This refers to the volume of data you should store and retrieve for critical data applications. Note, the ability of the database to manage data depends upon the structure combination you choose before the system faces a negative impact.

The database will also depend upon the optimization of the vendor and its ability to partition the data through several servers and networks of files.

  • Structure- The structure will determine the manner of storage and retrieval of data. Some applications manage data in many formats, so choosing the correct database means selecting the proper data structures for storage and retrieval.

In case you choose the right data structure for persisting the data of the business, the application needs extra development effort to work on these issues, and they will not scale at all.

  • The scale and the speed- The scale and the speed of the database will address the time it takes for servicing the inflow or reads as well as writes for the application. Some databases were created for the support of apps that have massive read data, while others support the write-heavy solution. It would help if you chose the database as per the I/O’s needs to give you the benefits of scalable architecture for a long time.

From the above, it is evident that the needs of your application will determine the nature of the database that it needs. So, please take into account its data size, the speeds of reading and writing, and the data structure. In case you are still not sure, you should perform data modeling to get an idea of the kind of map that is needed. So, take into consideration the following-

Data modeling helps you determine the selection of your database. It will help you map all the application features into the data structure that needs to be incorporated.

You can start with a conceptual model that allows you to identify the entity relationships, associated attributes, and the entities that you need.

As you go deeper into the process, you will get a clearer idea as to the type or the types of data structure required for implementation. With this information, you can choose the ideal database that serves the application the best. They consist of the following-

The Importance of Choosing the Right Database for Your Application
The Importance of Choosing the Right Database for Your Application
  1. Relational- Here, tables are used to classify records that can be identified with a primary key.

  2. Document-oriented- Here, the data is stored in a structured form with multiple fields that contain complex and simple values.

  3. Value or Key- This database offers you a simple interface when it comes to the storage of data. You get excellent scalability with reads as well as writes.

  4. Column-oriented- This database is much like the relational database as the data is stored in columns and rows. However, the columns contain several values that fetch and retrieve data.

  5. Graph- This database focuses on the storage of entities and their relationships. They are useful for navigation between entities and queries.

Therefore, when you begin to map the features of your application to the data structure, make sure you consider the different kinds of queries that you need support for the API or UI.

With the help of data modeling, you might discover that you need more than a single database for simple and complex queries.

So, in this case, you should call in professional experts in the field and consult with them to choose the best databases for your needs with success. They will guide you and offer your business customized solutions when it comes to aligning the database to your application needs!

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