Re: Integrity on large sites

Naz Gassiep wrote:
> I'm working in a project at the moment that is using MySQL, and people
> keep making assertions like this one:
>
> "*Really* big sites don't ever have referential integrity. Or if the few
> spots they do (like with financial transactions) it's implemented on the
> application level (via, say, optimistic locking), never the database level."
>
> This sounds to me like MySQLish. A large DB working with no RI would
> give me nightmares. Is it really true that large sites turn RI off to
> improve performance,
i know from having worked in the shop that handles it that the databases
used in processing of NYS Personal Income Tax (Informix) most assuredly
use referential integrity.

anything else would be suicide.

certain shops do turn it off for large databases. that doesn't make it a
good idea,
or the industry norm.

richard