Dear fellow Database Developers,

I need your perspective as database developers on the topic of referential integrity and other database integrity constraints through a short survey (5-8 minutes).

I am a practicing Database Administrator/Database Developer with over 18 years of related experience. I also double up as a graduate student in the newly developing science of “Information Quality”. (The world’s first graduate program in the field was implemented Fall 2006 (September 2006) by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

I have taken the opportunity of my situation to connect studies in the Information/Data Quality field with my experience as a database developer to research on some questions that have intrigued me in the past. In my working experience, I have come across quite a number of relational databases deficient in database integrity constraint implementation such as referential integrity (RI). The questions that came to me were; what are the major reasons behind this lack of constraints? Database integrity constraints have prompted tremendous research and development in vendor laboratories and in academia. However, industry may have exhibited some reluctance and I am on the quest for the actual reasons from the field. The results of this survey should be of interest to practitioners and theorists in the areas of relational database development as well Information/Data quality.

The database constraints being referred to include referential integrity constraints, check constraints (Rules in the case of SQLServer/Sybase/Oracle) and triggers. (To some, triggers may seem odd choice for business rules enforcement. However they offer a rich capability of rule enforcement besides it was also the only choice in certain RDBMs at one time).

Confidentiality and anonymity is guaranteed in our survey. We do not ask for any personal information. While your participation is critical to the success of the research, it is also voluntary. None of the questions in the survey are mandatory. You may quit from the survey at any time by closing the browser window. A copy of the results will be available upon request. This survey is not sponsored by any commercial entity.

To start the survey, please follow the link http://www.ualr.edu/tkdasgupta/dbquality.htm. (Corrected from original submission).

If you have any questions on the survey, do not hesitate to email me at tkdasgupta@ualr.edu.

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Tonmoy Dasgupta,
MSIQ Graduate Student,
IBM Certified DBA DB2 UDB V8.1 for z/OS
IBM Certified DBA DB2 UDB V8.1 for Linux, Unix and Windows
IBM Certified Solutions expert DB2 UDB V7.1

You should at least provide a workable link if you want people to participate. The URL you have given is not valid. A backslash is not allowed in a URL and my browser cannot open it.

To be fair, he only minored in "Information Quality".

Studying information and data quality, it is ironic that after all the preparation for my survey, I was finally urging participation with a weblink format not compatible with all browsers. I apologize for any aggravation I may have caused.

Here is the updated weblink to my survey and I earnestly appeal to all fellow developers/DBAs to participate.

http://www.ualr.edu/tkdasgupta/dbquality.htm

Thank you.

Tonmoy Dasgupta.
MSIQ Graduate Student,
IBM Certified DBA DB2 UDB V8.1 for z/OS
IBM Certified DBA DB2 UDB V8.1 for Linux, Unix and Windows
IBM Certified Solutions expert DB2 UDB V7.1

To all those who have participated in the survey “Perspectives on referential integrity & other database constraints” I express my sincere gratitude. And to those who have not, I once again beseech participation at http://www.ualr.edu/tkdasgupta/dbquality.htm

Every response is precious. It is a short survey and depending on your answers, could actually take as little as one minute, and at most six. Any database developer who has been involved in the implementation of a new relational database, qualifies – not just the DBA. I am seeking broad based perspectives, from practices in shops large and small. The topic of database integrity constraints is not of academic interest alone, otherwise we would not have quotes from the industry as listed in http://www.ualr.edu/tkdasgupta/Quote.htm.

Once again I am required to repeat that we guarantee confidentiality and anonymity in our survey. We do not collect any personal information. While your participation is critical to the success of the research, it is also voluntary. None of the questions in the survey are mandatory. You may quit from the survey at any time by closing the browser window. This survey is not sponsored by any commercial entity.

Some of the comments left behind by respondents, have been very insightful. If you do wish to be identified with your comments, it is your voluntary choice, and the only place for leaving a communication id is within the comments box.

Please do not hesitate to contact me on any question you may have.

Thank you for your time.

Tonmoy Dasgupta,
MSIQ Graduate Student,
IBM Certified DBA DB2 UDB V8.1 for z/OS
IBM Certified DBA DB2 UDB V8.1 for Linux, Unix and Windows
IBM Certified Solutions expert DB2 UDB V7.1

>> IBM Certified DBA DB2 UDB V8.1 for z/OS


Oh really...and what do actually do on big iron?

I can understand your humor. I work on the three major platforms today Windows/Unix(/Linux)/zOS and do not curse any. The big iron may not have the prettiest interface but is a extremely reliable platform, in my humble opinion.

ABS()

But What do you do on big iron?

I wear many hats on that platform...something that I have not seen others do. I do systems work like DB2 and other allied tool migration (which can get pretty detailed), regular DBA jobs like backup, recover, and all ther other DBA utilities, performance tuning, Database disaster recovery planning and exercises and now even helping out with application development. Basically anywhere they need me most. I am the resident sewage plumber - the inelegant but useful guy.

I thought that was the definition of a DBA....

I thought that was window washer

In any case, what is Quiesce, and what is it used for?

Real DBAs don't eat Quiesce.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiesce

Very good...you know how to google....but it is still incomplete

I would like you to take my quiz....ummm "survey"

I should throw this thread

Hmmm where did you come across quiesce? In DB2 we do a quiesce on one or more database objects to generate a recovery point. The buffers are externalized with a quiesce.

Blindman, it is pronounced kwaise not the keesh you eat!

BTW what survey...is there some survey you have Brett...I am not used to the forum yet...and still groping my way around...

It is pronounced "pun", not "pen".

Hint: it is pronounced "sarkazim".