[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Am 27.09.2005 um 16:02 schrieb Daryl Richter:


An attribute is redundant if it repeats a fact that can be learned without it. If one table contains IP addresses and another contains networks, then you can associate IP addresses and networks with a join of the two tables; indeed, this is how the "fix the network column" update works. Having a network column in the address table simply repeats what could be learned through the join.


I agree with Michael here.  I think the fundamental problem with your
schema is that it is possible to have contradictory data between the
network and address table, always a bad situation.
I would replace network.id with a serial type value and make the cidr a
separate column, for example: CREATE TABLE network ( id int not null PRIMARY KEY, address cidr not null, attr1 varchar(10) null ); CREATE TABLE address ( id inet PRIMARY KEY, network int NOT NULL REFERENCES network );


I agree with Michael too, but I understand him differently: What he says is:

"Get rid of the redundancy", which means to me: "remove the fk from address to network completly". The attribute "network" is not realy needed because we can always join address.id << network.id This reduces the necessary logic to keep things consistent. I still can have

my cascaded delete in network, have to do it with a trigger. I'm currently looking at performance issues. Introducing a synthetic pk in network does not really make things easier. Instead I introduced an insert/update trigger which prevents from overlaps in network (which is not as a matter of course for cidr columns, I have learnt):

Ok, I guess, but isn't tit true now that you can insert a new address row which doesn't belong to any valid network??

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION dd.ids_network_update_insert_check() RETURNS
TRIGGER AS $$ BEGIN -- check if new net overlapps with existing one PERFORM N.id FROM network N WHERE NEW.id << N.id OR NEW.id >> N.id; IF FOUND THEN RAISE EXCEPTION '?Attempt to insert overlapping network %', NEW.id; RETURN NULL; END IF; RETURN NEW; END; $$ LANGUAGE 'plpgsql'; Axel Axel Rau, Frankfurt, Germany +49-69-951418-0


--
Daryl

"We want great men who, when fortune frowns, will not be discouraged."
    -- Colonel Henry Knox, 1776


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