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🗃️ Types of relational databases

Relational databases store information in tables organized by rows (records) and columns (fields).
Tables can be related to each other using keys (fields that uniquely identify records).

Main types of relational databases​

1. Traditional relational databases (On-premise and Open Source)​

  • MySQL: Very popular for web applications and open source.
  • PostgreSQL: Powerful, advanced, and widely used in research and companies.
  • Oracle Database: Oriented to large companies, robust and with many features.
  • Microsoft SQL Server: Widely used in Windows enterprise environments.
  • MariaDB: Based on MySQL, with security and performance improvements.
  • SQLite: Lightweight, ideal for mobile applications and prototypes.

2. Cloud relational databases (Database as a Service)​

  • Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service): Allows using MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MariaDB, and Oracle in the AWS cloud.
  • Google Cloud SQL: Managed cloud version of MySQL and PostgreSQL.
  • Azure SQL Database: Microsoft's cloud solution.

3. Embedded relational databases​

  • SQLite: Integrated directly into the application, without the need for a server.
  • H2 Database: Common in Java applications for testing or small environments.

Main features​

  • Model based on tables and relationships between them
  • SQL language for data manipulation
  • Referential integrity (relationships between records from different tables)
  • High reliability and security

Visual example​

customer_idnameemail
1Juanjuan@email.com
2Lauralaura@email.com
order_idcustomer_iddatetotal
10112024-05-01$50.00
10222024-05-02$70.00
  • Here, the customers table is related to the orders table through the customer_id field.

Relational databases are ideal when data has a fixed structure and clear relationships.