Database Schema Design Audit Checklist

This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.

What this hour is for

The auditor reads a CREATE TABLE you paste. It can report that no PRIMARY KEY was found, that a varchar has no length, that a SELECT inside the DDL is unexpected, or that a table name is very short. If none of those are present, it says no item from the short design list was found. That sentence is a valid result.

Do not change the schema during the reading. Do not drop a constraint to make a check pass. An empty list is not a certification. One schema you administer.

192.0.2.10, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. A sample password is replaced. It is not a password you keep.

The change you can finish

Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the database named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the database, then decide.

Rollback is the backup, the file, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.

Paste one CREATE TABLE.
Read the notes.
Treat an empty list as a pass of this short list only.
Do not alter the schema.
Stop.

Mistakes that outlive the statement

Database Schema Design Audit Checklist goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.

The schema changed during the reading.
A constraint dropped to make the list empty.
The empty list treated as a certification.
A schema you do not administer.

Decisions to write down

One decision for Database Schema Design Audit Checklist: The DDL was read. The notes are written. Nothing was altered. And the database is yours.

Checks before you call it done

Confirm this before you call the change done: The table is named. The notes are written. An empty list is still a valid result. Nothing was altered. And the database is yours. If one of those fails, stop.

-- No PRIMARY KEY, a varchar with no length, or a short name.
-- No item from the short design list is a valid result.
-- Do not change the schema during the reading.
-- Do not drop a constraint to make a check pass.

Before you leave the database

Database Schema Design Audit Checklist ends when the database in the prompt is the database in the ticket. If it is not, you are on the wrong database. Stop.

The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the database. You delete a line that names a host, a database, or an account you did not write down.

192.0.2.10, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a database because a draft included them.

prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. A sample password in a draft is replaced. It is not a password you keep.

One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it.

If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. Restore the copy you took first.

A second person reads the database name and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done.

This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a database you do not administer. You do not disable authentication, a firewall, or TLS to make a check pass.

Tools for this guide

These tools run in the browser on this site. They do not log into your machines.

Database Schema Design Auditor

Database Configuration & Security Audit Guide

More in this cluster

The pillar for this page, and the next published pages filed with it.

Companion: Security: Server Hardening Guide.