Types of Databases and How to Choose the Right One

Modern companies store a huge amount of data about clients and internal business processes. Regular users alone generate information of about 1.7 MB per second. It is not deleted, but stored on servers for analysis and access when necessary.




If the company has grown from a small business, then Google Sheets will not be enough, and you need to create a full-fledged database to bring the data into a system with a clear structure and functions for automating work.


In this article, we will look at the main types of databases that companies actively work with.


What are databases
In a general sense, a DB is a set of data stored in tables organized in a common structure. Databases always consist of 2+ tables, since loading everything into one is not the best practice. Working with 50,000–100,000 rows and columns, Excel will start to freeze even on a powerful PC, and management will become too inconvenient.


Databases are used in all IT projects. A DB system can store huge amounts of information that a program needs to function. At the same time, even huge corporations' databases are easy to manage with any amount of information - if you work out the structure.


Types of databases
Databases are classified into different types. Here we Hungary Phone Number List will analyze the most common ones that companies use to solve everyday problems.


Hierarchical
As in any stepped hierarchy, information in the DB is classified by levels. At the same time, they are located based on a single anchor point, i.e. one "parent" can have 2+ "children", but "children" have only one "parent". As a result, entities have a low rank, and communities have a high rank.




It is worth noting that the departments and the administration are far from each other, but together they form a community.


This is the simplest type of database, not used in large projects, since adding new elements to the model will require a lot of time spent traversing.




The network database is a hierarchical system, but with a slight modification. Child records are given the right to link to multiple parents. The result is a complex network of files. Each Student, Faculty, and Resources component has two parent records.




A network is a natural way of building relationships between entities. SDBs are based on graph mathematics, i.e. the base can be represented as a directed graph. This is the name given to structures consisting of edges and nodes. The latter are SDB objects, and the edges show the connections between objects.


The functionality of network databases is broader than that of hierarchical ones, so there are more relevant solutions on the market. Examples: