A database usually performs the role of a storage component of a complex software solution. Depending on the type of the solution and what problem it aims to solve, the configuration of database and the data structure can be different. It is common to set up a database in regard to configuration and data structure in one of the two ways: online transaction processing (OLTP) and online analytical processing (OLAP).
When a database works as a backend for an application, it implements an OLTP solution. This means that the database is supposed to perform a lot of small transactions on a regular basis. The car portal database we used as an example in previous chapters can be an example of a typical OLTP data structure. The application working with this database executes a transaction each time a user does something: creates an account, modifies...
