Generic Database Naming Convention

  • I'm just curious -- Do you have a generic database that you use to store one-off static tables that you've created whose purpose is to join to other tables in other databases on the same server? If so, what name have you given to the database that's representative of its purpose?

    The reason I ask is because I have a database that's completely refreshed by an external process and I want to join a few of its tables to some other tables I've created and I'd rather not store them in the same database that's managed by this external process.

    Mike Scalise, PMP
    https://www.michaelscalise.com

  • I have a couple of lookup databases (like lookup tables, but it's the whole database). I'm not sure if that's what you mean.

    I have one database called "Common", that houses lists of countries (ISO2 and ISO3 abbreviations and formal names), US and Canadian states/provinces (could add other countries but don't need them yet at my current job), a Numbers table (generically useful for lots of things), and a Calendar table (with holidays for multiple countries), and Languages (ISO3, native-name [Francais, Espanol, et al], and English-name [French, Spanish, et al]).

    Other databases have synonyms that point at that database, so I don't have to maintain those things in every database. There are tradeoffs because of that, but the positives outweigh the negatives in the environments I'm administering currently.

    Is that the kind of thing you mean by a "generic database"?

    - Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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  • I've done something similar to Gus, but I've usually then had an ETL process or replication that copied the information off to the other databases. The reason for me has been that if I want/need to move those databases, I don't want the cross database dependency. I can easily re-point the ETL or replication process.

  • Thanks, guys.

    @GSquared -- yes, that's exactly what I was talking about, and I think the DB name "Common" is a good way to represent all of that information.

    @steve-2 -- you make a good point about the cross-database dependency...I'll have to do some thinking to see which approach makes the most sense.

    Mike Scalise, PMP
    https://www.michaelscalise.com

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