I've never done any DB architecture, just maintenance type stuff. Took some relational db design classes back in college but never used what I learned in the real world so I feel like it sort of went in one ear and out the other.

Can anyone recommend a good book that would help me do a refresher? I won't have to design anything complicated. I need to go through my old text books and re-read the one from my DB class. Was just wondering if there is some must-have book that anyone knew of.

Thanks

Depends what part you are working on. Database design falls into two categories - logical design and physical design. Most books discuss logical design which is really about relational modelling. There are several to choose from on that front. However, many of the hard and important problems are in the "physical design" whch including picking indexes, memory tuning, materialized views etc.

Morgan Kaufmann publishers have just released a new book on physical database design covering how to design indexes, range and hash partitioning, materialized views, storage layout, RAID, warehouse design and other physical design areas. The book covers Oracle and several other major databases. Lots of diagrams and examples. It's actually a really good book. An excellent book for people who design and administer databases.

Available on Amazon and most other book sellers.

Physical Database Design: The Database Professional's Guide to Exploiting Indexes, Views, Storage, and More

Paperback, 448 pages, publication date: MAR-2007
ISBN-13: 978-0-12-369389-1
ISBN-10: 0-12-369389-6

Series: The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems

Link on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Physical-Datab.../dp/0123693896

Link on the publisher's web site:
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/boo...on#description

There's a companion book that focuses on logical design. A classic, already in its 4th edition. If you search Amazon.com for "database lightstone" you'll see both books.

http://www.databasedesign-resource.com/index.html

and his blog

http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/database/design

are good ..

Fabian Pascal's Practical Issues in Database Management is an interesting read as well.

Sathyaram

Sorry for the late reply, this was put on the backburner. Thanks for the suggestions. I'm more interested in logical design. Just subscribed to databasedesign-resource.com Thanks again