Learn with Yasir

Share Your Feedback

DBA Student Final Project Guidelines


Comprehensive guidelines for designing, implementing, optimizing, and documenting a database project. Ideal for final-year DBA students working with PostgreSQL or similar RDBMS.

The dvdrental database is a popular sample dataset for PostgreSQL, designed to mimic the business processes of a 2000s-era DVD rental store. It is essentially the “PostgreSQL version” of the Sakila database originally created for MySQL.

It consists of 15 tables that cover everything from inventory and film details to customer payments and store locations.

1. Core Schema Overview

The database is structured into a few logical groups that handle different aspects of the business.

Film & Actor Data

  • film: The central table containing titles, descriptions, release years, and rental rates.
  • actor: Stores names of actors.
  • film_actor: A bridge table for the many-to-many relationship between films and actors.
  • category & film_category: Used to group movies (e.g., Action, Comedy, Horror).
  • language: Stores the language of the film.

Inventory & Store Operations

  • inventory: Tracks individual physical copies of a movie. One film can have many inventory items across different stores.
  • store: Contains store locations and connects to the manager (staff).
  • staff: Information about the employees.

Customer & Rental Activity

  • customer: Stores user data, email, and whether they are active.
  • rental: Records every time a customer takes a DVD. This table tracks rental_date and return_date.
  • payment: Tracks the financial transactions tied to a rental.

Geography

  • address, city, country: A normalized hierarchy for storing locations of both stores and customers.

2. Why it is Great for Learning

If you are practicing stored procedures or complex queries, this database is ideal because it provides:

  • Realistic Relationships: It uses foreign keys and bridge tables (like film_actor) to simulate real-world data complexity.
  • Varying Data Types: Includes timestamps, decimals for money, and text for descriptions.
  • Transaction Scenarios: As we saw in the process_return example, the link between rental and payment is perfect for practicing ACID properties and transaction management.

3. How to Load It

The database is usually provided as a .tar file. To get it into your local Postgres instance:

  1. Download the dvdrental.zip (standard on most tutorial sites).
  1. Extract it to get dvdrental.tar.
  2. Create a fresh database: CREATE DATABASE dvdrental;
  3. Restore it via command line: 
    pg_restore -U postgres -d dvdrental C:\path\to\dvdrental.tar

(Note: Replace postgres with your username and provide the correct path to the file.)

  1. Verification To make sure everything loaded correctly, connect to the database and list the tables:
\c dvdrental
\dt

You should see 15 tables, including actor, film, customer, and rental.

Restoring the dvdrental database using the pgAdmin 4 GUI

Restoring the dvdrental database using the pgAdmin 4 GUI is a straightforward process. Since the download is a .tar file, you will use the built-in Restore tool.

Follow these steps to get the database up and running:

1. Create the Destination Database

Before you can restore the data, you need an empty “container” for it.

  1. Open pgAdmin 4 and connect to your server.
  2. Right-click on Databases > Create > Database…
  3. Name the database dvdrental.
  4. Click Save.

2. Open the Restore Tool

  1. Right-click on your newly created dvdrental database in the browser tree.
  2. Select Restore… from the context menu.

3. Configure Restore Settings

A dialog box will appear. Fill in the following details:

  • Format: Select Directory or Custom or tar (Since the file is dvdrental.tar, choose Custom or tar).
  • Filename: Click the folder icon to browse your computer.
    • Note: In the file browser, make sure to change the file type filter to All Files (*) so you can see and select the .tar file.
  • Role name: Usually set to postgres (or your specific superuser).

4. Set Restore Options (Important)

Click the Restore options tab at the top of the dialog. To ensure a clean import, toggle these to Yes:

  • Pre-data: Yes
  • Data: Yes
  • Post-data: Yes
  • Do not save owner: Yes (This is helpful if the file was created by a user with a different name than yours).

5. Execute and Verify

  1. Click the Restore button.
  2. You will see a notification in the bottom right corner saying “Process started.”
  3. Once it finishes (you’ll see “Process completed”), right-click on the dvdrental database and select Refresh.
  4. Navigate to Schemas > public > Tables. You should now see all 15 tables.

Troubleshooting Tip: “Binary Path” Error

If pgAdmin says it cannot find the pg_restore utility, you need to tell it where your PostgreSQL “bin” folder is:

  1. Go to File > Preferences.
  2. Navigate to Paths > Binary paths.
  3. Scroll down to PostgreSQL Binary Path and enter the path to your version (e.g., C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\16\bin).
  4. Click Save and try the restore again.

See Also