Aster Database uses a dimensional model known as a star schema to provide high performance for large, data analytics workloads. The star schema consists of fact and dimension tables.
When you define an Aster table, you must specify whether it is a FACT or DIMENSION table. Your decision affects how Aster Database stores the table data and optimizes it for the types of operations that use the table, such as joins between tables.
- Fact Table
- A fact table is a single, large table that records business process data as facts, such as measurements or metrics for a specific event. Fact tables typically contain numeric values and foreign keys to the dimensional data stored in other tables.
- Dimension Table
- A dimension table is a set of tables that contain the domains of values that describe attributes for the events and factual data recorded in a fact table. Each dimension table contains a set of values for a specific dimension. For example, a customer contact table would contain detailed information about each customer such as customer _id, name, phone, address, and other information. A dimension table can be a distributed table or a replicated table.