OLTP and OLAP databases

The database systems are usually designed either as an OLTP database or as an OLAP database. An OLTP database is typically characterized by a large number of short transactions that take no more than a few seconds (or minutes) to complete. The main emphasis of the OLTP systems is on very fast query processing, maintaining data integrity in multi-user environments. The number of transactions per second usually measures the performance of an OLTP database. The OLTP databases generally contain detailed and current data, and the data models are usually designed using the third normal form. In these systems, the data models are designed to have very little data duplication so that the database system can sustain high transaction rates. On the other hand, an OLAP database is typically characterized by a low volume of transactions. The queries are often very complex and involve aggregation of data from multiple tables. For OLAP systems, the response time to queries is an...