Search code examples
sql-serverdatabasenormalization

Database normalization in archive systems


As of now I have my data normalized in the 4th form. I would like to create archive system that will be stored on other server. And questions: wouldn't it be better to store at the archive system all data in one table ( or not one but anyway denormalized)? Because I won't ever Perform delete Or update operations. In that way archive system ( designed mainly for analytics) will work faster. What do you think? Am I correct?


Solution

  • You should read up on the subjects of "Data Warehousing" and "Business Intelligence". Keeping a denormalized copy of historical data for reporting and analytics is very common.

    It isn't trivial to do, because you will probably want to report on recent history, not just distant history, and so your denormalized data is probably going to have to be updated more than you think as errors are found and corrected.

    This is a very broad topic, but there are many books and blogs to guide you.