Schema Design Workshop

Overview

Balance normalized OLTP schemas, denormalized read models, and zero-downtime migration controls.

Good schema design is query design plus evolution strategy.

You will build 6 architecture steps that model production dependencies.

You will run 1 failure experiment to observe bottlenecks and recovery behavior.

Success target: Transactional writes remain consistent while read projections and migrations proceed safely.

Learning Objectives

• Can explain normalized vs denormalized responsibilities
• Can defend CDC-based projection architecture
• Can articulate zero-downtime migration strategy

Prerequisites

• Topic Hub: normalization
• Chapter 27: Schema Design
• Prior Lab: Storage Engines & Indexing Deep Dive

Experiments

1. Constrain DB connection pool too aggressively and watch write contention