Before you create a database with an
IBM® Informix® product,
you must decide what type of data model you want to use to design
your database. This manual describes the following database models:
- Relational data model
- This data model typifies database design for online transaction
processing (OLTP). The purpose of OLTP is to process a large number
of small transactions without losing any of them. An OLTP database
is designed to handle the day-to-day requirements of a business, and
database performance is tuned for those requirements. Basics of database design and implementation of this manual, describes how to build
and implement a relational data model for OLTP. Managing databases, contains information about how to
manage your databases.
- Object-relational data model
- IBM Informix supports
object-relational databases that employ basic relational design principles,
but include features such as extended data types, user-defined routines,
user-defined casts, and user-defined aggregates to extend the functionality
of relational databases. Object-relational databases of
this manual, contains information about how to use the extensible
features of Informix to
extend the kinds of data you can store in your database and to provide
greater flexibility in how you organize and access your data.
- Dimensional data model
- This data model is typically used to build data marts, which are
a type of data warehouse. In a data-warehousing environment, databases
are optimized for data retrieval and analysis. This type of informational
processing is known as online analytical processing (OLAP) or decision-support
processing.
The remainder of this chapter
describes the implications of these decisions and summarizes how the
decisions that you make affect your database.