Database Design Question: GUID + Natural Numbers
- by Alan
For a database I'm building, I've decided to use natural numbers as the primary key. I'm aware of the advantages that GUID's allow, but looking at the data, the bulk of row's data were GUID keys.
I want to generate XML records from the database data, and one problem with natural numbers is that I don't want to expose my database key's to the outside world, and allow users to guess "keys." I believe GUID's solve this problem.
So, I think the solution is to generate a sparse, unique iD derived from the natural ID (hopefully it would be 2-way), or just add an extra column in the database and store a guid (or some other multibyte id)
The derived value is nicer because there is no storage penalty, but it would be easier to reverse and guess compared to a GUID.
I'm (buy) curious as to what others on SO have done, and what insights they have.