How are primary and foreign keys used in a relational database?
A primary key is used to ensure data in the specific column is unique. A foreign key is a column or group of columns in a relational database table that provides a link between data in two tables. It uniquely identifies a record in the relational database table. Only one primary key is allowed in a table.
Do foreign keys have to be primary?
A foreign key must refer to an entire primary key, and not just part of it. Consider a Department table with a primary key of company_name + department_name. An Employee table should only refer to both attributes and not to department_name alone.
Is there a limit to the number of foreign key references?
Greater than 253 foreign key references are not currently available for columnstore indexes, memory-optimized tables, Stretch Database, or partitioned foreign key tables. Unlike primary key constraints, creating a foreign key constraint does not automatically create a corresponding index.
When do primary key constraints guarantee unique data?
Because primary key constraints guarantee unique data, they are frequently defined on an identity column. When you specify a primary key constraint for a table, the Database Engine enforces data uniqueness by automatically creating a unique index for the primary key columns.
How does a FOREIGN KEY constraint affect referential integrity?
A foreign key constraint prevents this situation. The constraint enforces referential integrity by guaranteeing that changes cannot be made to data in the primary key table if those changes invalidate the link to data in the foreign key table.
What are the restrictions on foreign key increases?
The increase has the following restrictions: Greater than 253 foreign key references are only supported for DELETE DML operations. UPDATE and MERGE operations are not supported. A table with a foreign key reference to itself is still limited to 253 foreign key references.