Database(167 terms)

A full list of the Database terms and explanations covered by ITBGM. Use the search box below to filter by term name. Each term links to a page with a more detailed, engineer-oriented explanation.

ACID Properties Transactions
The umbrella name for the four properties a transaction should satisfy.
Apache Iceberg Analytics Platforms
An open table format that lets you work with huge data-lake tables the way you would a relational database.
AVG Function SQL
An aggregate function that computes the average of a column's values.
Backup Operations Management
Keeping a separate copy of data stored elsewhere.
BASE Properties NoSQL
A NoSQL design philosophy that prioritizes always being responsive and eventually reaching consistency.
BETWEEN Operator SQL
An operator that checks whether a value falls within a specified range.
B-Tree Index Performance
A tree-structured indexing method adopted as the default in most relational databases.
Buffer Pool Performance
A region that caches disk data in memory to speed up access.
Cache-Aside Performance
A caching pattern where the application reads from and writes to the cache and the database separately.
Candidate Key RDBMS Fundamentals
A column (or set of columns) that can uniquely identify a row and could serve as the primary key.
CAP Theorem NoSQL
The theory that consistency, availability, and partition tolerance can't all be satisfied at once.
CASE Expression SQL
Conditional logic usable within SQL that returns different values based on conditions.
Cassandra Major Products
A column-oriented NoSQL database that manages large-scale data in a distributed fashion.
CDC (Change Data Capture) Analytics Platforms
A mechanism for detecting database changes in real time and relaying them to other systems.
CHECK Constraint RDBMS Fundamentals
A constraint that guarantees a column's value satisfies a specified condition.
ClickHouse Major Products
A column-oriented analytics database strong at aggregating large volumes of data.
Clustered Index Performance
An indexing method that keeps the physical order of the stored data aligned with the index's own ordering.
CockroachDB Major Products
A SQL-compatible distributed database strong at spreading across multiple locations.
Column-Oriented Database NoSQL
A database that stores data by column, strong at aggregate processing.
Commit Transactions
The operation that finalizes a transaction's changes.
Composite Index Performance
An index built from a combination of multiple columns.
Composite Key RDBMS Fundamentals
A primary key formed by combining multiple columns.
Connection Leak Performance
A bug where an acquired database connection is not properly released, gradually exhausting the connection pool.
Connection Pool Performance
A mechanism that pre-establishes multiple DB connections and reuses them.
Constraint RDBMS Fundamentals
A rule set to keep data consistent.
COUNT Function SQL
An aggregate function that counts rows.
Covering Index Performance
An index containing every column a query needs, avoiding a read of the underlying table.
CTE SQL
A common table expression usable within a query under a temporary name.
Data Lake Analytics Platforms
A repository that stores raw data as-is, regardless of format.
Data Mart Analytics Platforms
A small-scale data platform tailored to a specific department or use case.
Data Warehouse Analytics Platforms
A mechanism for consolidating and accumulating large volumes of data for analysis.
DB2 Major Products
A commercial RDBMS from IBM, also used on mainframes.
DDL (Data Definition Language) SQL
A general term for the SQL statements that define or change the structure of a database itself, such as tables and indexes.
Deadlock Transactions
A state where multiple processes wait on each other's locks and none can proceed.
DELETE Statement SQL
A SQL statement for deleting data.
Denormalization RDBMS Fundamentals
A design technique that deliberately combines normalized tables, tolerating duplicate data to avoid the need for joins.
Differential Backup Operations Management
A backup method that captures only what changed since the most recent full backup.
Dimension Table Analytics Platforms
A table holding attribute information, such as dates or product names, that serves as an angle for analysis.
Dirty Read Transactions
A phenomenon where a transaction reads changes made by another transaction that hasn't been committed yet.
DISTINCT SQL
A qualifier that retrieves results with duplicate rows removed.
Distributed Transaction Transactions
A mechanism for treating an operation that spans multiple databases or services as a single atomic unit.
Document-Oriented Database NoSQL
A kind of NoSQL database that stores data in a JSON-like structure.
DuckDB Major Products
An embeddable, column-oriented database specialized for analytics.
Elasticsearch Major Products
An engine for fast full-text search and analysis over large volumes of data.
ELT Analytics Platforms
A data-integration approach that loads data first and transforms it inside the database.
ER Diagram RDBMS Fundamentals
A diagram representing the relationships between tables.
ETL Analytics Platforms
A pipeline that extracts, transforms, and loads data.
Eventual Consistency NoSQL
A consistency model that tolerates a temporary gap until an update reaches every node.
Exclusive Lock Transactions
A lock that prevents other processes from accessing something at the same time.
Execution Plan Performance
A plan showing how SQL will be executed.
EXISTS Operator SQL
An operator that checks only whether one or more rows exist in the result of a subquery.
Fact Table Analytics Platforms
A table holding the numeric data being analyzed, such as sales or counts.
Foreign Key RDBMS Fundamentals
A field that references another table's primary key, representing a relationship between tables.
Full Backup Operations Management
A backup method that captures the entire database in one go.
FULL OUTER JOIN SQL
A JOIN that keeps all rows from both tables, including the parts that don't match.
Full Scan Performance
Scanning every row without using an index.
Full-Text Search Index Performance
An index that treats words within text as searchable, enabling fast keyword search.
Graph Database NoSQL
A database well suited to representing and querying connections between data.
Greenplum Major Products
An open-source MPP analytics database built on top of PostgreSQL.
GROUP BY SQL
A clause that groups data by specified fields.
Hash Index Performance
An index specialized for exact-match lookups, using a value produced by running the search key through a hash function.
Hash Join Performance
A JOIN execution method that builds a hash table from the join key and uses it to quickly find matching rows.
HAVING Clause SQL
A clause that filters grouped results.
HBase Major Products
A distributed, wide-column NoSQL database for large-scale data that runs on top of HDFS.
Hot Standby Operations Management
A standby system kept running at all times, ready to switch over the moment there's a failure.
HTAP Analytics Platforms
An approach that handles both transactional and analytical processing within a single database.
Idempotency Transactions
The property where performing the same operation multiple times produces the same result as performing it once.
IN Operator SQL
An operator that checks whether a value matches any item in a specified list.
Incremental Backup Operations Management
A backup method that captures only what changed since the previous backup.
Index Performance
A table-of-contents-like data structure created to speed up searches.
InfluxDB Major Products
A database specialized for recording and analyzing time-series data.
INNER JOIN SQL
A join method that combines only the data matching on both sides.
INSERT Statement SQL
A SQL statement for adding new data.
Isolation Level Transactions
The degree to which concurrent transactions can affect one another.
JOIN SQL
An operation that associates and combines multiple tables.
Key-Value Store NoSQL
A simple NoSQL store that saves data as key-value pairs.
Lakehouse Analytics Platforms
A platform combining a data lake's flexibility with a data warehouse's management features.
LEFT JOIN SQL
A JOIN based on the left table that fills unmatched rows with NULL.
LIKE Operator SQL
An operator for searching strings by partial or prefix match, among others.
LIMIT Clause SQL
A clause that limits the number of result rows returned.
MariaDB Major Products
A highly compatible RDBMS developed as a fork of MySQL.
Master-Slave Configuration Operations Management
A configuration that consolidates writes onto one node and propagates them to replicas.
Materialized View Analytics Platforms
A view that stores a query's result as an actual copy, letting it be read back quickly.
Migration Operations Management
Moving a schema or data to another environment or version.
Milvus Major Products
An open-source vector database specialized for searching large-scale embedding vectors.
MongoDB Major Products
A leading document-oriented NoSQL database that handles data in a JSON-like format.
MVCC Transactions
A mechanism that shows readers a different version of data being updated, to reduce contention.
MySQL Major Products
The most widely used open-source RDBMS in the world.
N+1 Problem Performance
An inefficient state where a query that could be batched is instead issued repeatedly.
Neo4j Major Products
A graph database specialized for handling connections between data.
Nested Loop Join Performance
A JOIN execution method that, for each row in one table, scans through the other table looking for matching rows.
Non-Clustered Index Performance
An indexing method that keeps a separate sort order and pointers to the data, independent of the data's physical storage order.
Non-Repeatable Read Transactions
A phenomenon where reading the same row twice within one transaction returns different content because another transaction updated it in between.
Normalization RDBMS Fundamentals
Organizing table structure to reduce data duplication and inconsistency.
NoSQL NoSQL
An umbrella term for databases handling a variety of data models other than the relational one.
NOT NULL Constraint RDBMS Fundamentals
A constraint that disallows NULL in a specified column.
OLAP Analytics Platforms
A processing style for aggregating and analyzing data multidimensionally.
OLTP Analytics Platforms
A processing style that handles a high volume of small data operations, such as day-to-day transactions.
Optimistic Locking Transactions
A locking approach that checks for consistency only at update time, assuming conflicts are rare.
Oracle Database Major Products
A leading commercial RDBMS widely used in the enterprise space.
ORDER BY SQL
A clause that sorts results by a specified field.
OUTER JOIN SQL
A join method that includes data even when it doesn't match.
Parquet Analytics Platforms
An open, column-oriented data file format optimized for analytics.
Partition Key NoSQL
The key that determines which node data is placed on.
Partition Pruning Performance
An optimization that automatically excludes partitions from a search when a query's conditions show they can't contain relevant data.
Partitioning Performance
Splitting one large table into multiple physical units for management.
Pessimistic Locking Transactions
A locking approach that acquires a lock up front, assuming a conflict will occur.
Phantom Read Transactions
A phenomenon where running the same query twice within one transaction returns a different number of rows because another transaction committed in between.
Pinecone Major Products
A leading managed vector-database service, used in AI applications such as RAG.
Point-in-Time Recovery Operations Management
A feature for restoring data to its state at any given point in time.
PostgreSQL Major Products
A feature-rich, highly extensible open-source RDBMS.
Primary Key RDBMS Fundamentals
A field for uniquely identifying a row within a table.
Qdrant Major Products
An open-source vector database specialized for fast similarity search.
Query Optimizer Performance
The internal database component that determines the most efficient way to actually execute a SQL statement and builds its execution plan.
Query Tuning Performance
The work of improving how efficiently SQL executes.
Redis Major Products
A fast key-value data store that handles data in memory.
Referential Integrity RDBMS Fundamentals
A constraint that guarantees the data a foreign key points to always exists.
Relational Database RDBMS Fundamentals
A database that manages data in tables and links them through relationships.
Replication NoSQL
A mechanism that copies data to multiple locations to increase availability.
Replication Lag Operations Management
The time gap between when the master and a replica reflect data.
Restore Operations Management
Restoring data from a backup.
RIGHT JOIN SQL
A JOIN based on the right table that fills unmatched rows with NULL.
RocksDB Major Products
An embedded key-value store designed for high-performance reads and writes.
Rollback Transactions
An operation that cancels a transaction and reverts to its pre-execution state.
Row Level Security RDBMS Fundamentals
A feature that controls access to a table with fine-grained control down to the individual row.
Row-Level Locking Transactions
A locking method that locks only the rows being updated, rather than the whole table.
Row-Oriented Database RDBMS Fundamentals
The traditional database storage approach that stores data grouped together by row (record).
Savepoint Transactions
A marker set partway through a transaction that lets you partially roll back to it.
Schema RDBMS Fundamentals
A definition of a database's structure (tables and fields).
Schemaless NoSQL
The property of being able to store data without defining a strict structure up front.
Schema-on-Read Analytics Platforms
A design approach where the schema is applied at read time rather than at write time.
ScyllaDB Major Products
A Cassandra-compatible database built to deliver higher performance.
Secondary Index NoSQL
An additional index that enables efficient searching on columns other than the primary key.
SELECT Statement SQL
A SQL statement for retrieving data from a database.
Sharding NoSQL
A mechanism for distributing data across multiple servers.
Shared Lock Transactions
A lock that allows multiple readers but restricts writing.
SingleStore Major Products
A database for real-time analytics that handles both OLTP and OLAP in a single system.
Slow Query Log Performance
A log that records queries that took a long time to execute.
Snapshot Isolation Transactions
An isolation level that guarantees the view of data as it stood when a transaction began.
Snowflake Schema Analytics Platforms
A design that further normalizes the dimension tables of a star schema.
Sort Key NoSQL
A key that determines the order data is stored in within the same partition.
SQL Server Major Products
A commercial RDBMS from Microsoft.
SQLite Major Products
A lightweight RDBMS that requires no server and can be embedded in an app.
Star Schema Analytics Platforms
A data design where a central fact table is surrounded by multiple dimension tables.
Stored Procedure RDBMS Fundamentals
A sequence of logic registered ahead of time on the database side.
Subquery SQL
A SQL statement embedded inside another SQL statement.
SUM Function SQL
An aggregate function that sums a column's values.
Supabase Major Products
An open-source Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) built on PostgreSQL.
SurrealDB Major Products
A multi-model database that handles relational, document, and graph data in one.
Table RDBMS Fundamentals
A table made up of rows and columns that stores data.
TiDB Major Products
A MySQL-compatible distributed database that scales horizontally with ease.
Time Travel Query Analytics Platforms
A feature that lets you query a table's state as it existed at any point in the past.
TimescaleDB Major Products
A time-series database implemented as a PostgreSQL extension.
Transaction Transactions
A unit that treats multiple operations as one indivisible group.
Trigger RDBMS Fundamentals
Logic that automatically runs in response to a specific operation.
Two-Phase Commit Transactions
A procedure for keeping transactions consistent across multiple databases.
UNION SQL
An operator that stacks multiple SELECT results together, removing duplicates.
Unique Constraint RDBMS Fundamentals
A constraint that prevents a specified column's values from being duplicated within a table.
UPDATE Statement SQL
A SQL statement for updating existing data.
UPSERT SQL
An operation that updates a row if it already exists, or inserts it if it doesn't, all in a single statement.
Valkey Major Products
A BSD-licensed fork that emerged in response to Redis's license change.
Vector Database NoSQL
A database that stores embedding vectors and lets you search by semantic closeness. Widely used in RAG.
Vertica Major Products
A column-oriented MPP database built specifically for large-scale analytics.
View RDBMS Fundamentals
A virtual table that lets you treat a SELECT statement's result as if it were a table.
Weaviate Major Products
An open-source vector database known for hybrid search that combines vector search with keyword search.
Window Function SQL
A function that attaches a per-group aggregate value to each row without collapsing them.
YugabyteDB Major Products
A distributed SQL database with a PostgreSQL-compatible API.