The column (field) in a relational database that uniquely identifies the row in the table. For example, account number is often a primary key. A "composite primary key" or "super key" is made up ...

When working on a multidimensional design, every fact table within scope should be handled with care. In an ideal world, each low-level fact table represents the metrics related to a business event.

MySQL table primary keys and unique indexes prevent multiple rows with the same index from being added to the table. If you try to insert a duplicate row with a standard INSERT statement, you will ...

This, or these, attribute(s) are the candidate key(s) for the structure. The candidate key is also known as the primary key, or if a structure has multiple candidate keys, then one of them is ...

The superiority of surrogate versus natural keys is a hotly debated topic among database developers. Susan Harkins offers some insights into when -- and why -- you might choose one over the other.