Database choice for large data volume?

Question

I\'m about to start a new project which should have a rather large database.

The number of tables will not be large (<15), majority of data (99%) will be contain

Answer 1

Do you have a copy of "The Data Warehouse Toolkit"?

The suggestion there is to do the following.

1. Separate facts (measurable, numeric) values from the dimensions which qualify or organize those facts. One big table isn't really the best idea. It's a fact table that dominates the design, plus a number of small dimension tables to allow "slicing and dicing" the facts.

2. Keep the facts in simple flat files until you want to do SQL-style reporting. Don't create and back up a database. Create and back up files; load a data base only for the reports you must do from SQL.

3. Where possible create summary or extra datamarts for analysis. In some cases, you may need to load the whole thing to a database. If your files reflect your table design, all databases have bulk loader tools that can populate and index SQL tables from the files.