Learning New Job Functions

news.usenetserver.com wrote:

Does anyone have some suggestions about good resources that could help
guide me in designing the structure of the databases?

Disclaimer: I am not a DBA. I also started as a sysadmin.

I found the following quite useful and well written:


Data Modeling Essentials - Third Edition (by G. Simsion - G. Witt)
SQL Programming Style (J.Celko)
Data and Databases; Concepts in Practice (J.Celko)

Although there is some overlap, you might benefit from several books and
grok more nuances.
Avoid traps and books with examples in mysql-ese or a deep love for
surrogate keys.

These 3 books are not about theory: if you are not bored by theory or
something doesn't click right in you head about how relations and
non-procedural stuff works, you could read "Databases in Depth:
Relational Theory for Practitioners" by C.J.Date.

If you are dealing with legacy schemas there are some recipes to keep
sanity:

Refactoring Databases: Evolutionary Database Design (S.W. Ambler -P.J.
Sadalage)

At last, when you know how to deal with correctness and clarity, you
will want to keep performance in mind from the start:

The Art of SQL (Stephane Faroult)