Denormalization database

Question

I was taking a look at Star Schema Benchmark and then I was thinking is it possible to denormalize all tables from the SSB?

So database size will increase a lot but potentially the performance will grow up. Is that right? Is it possible?

Thanks and sorry for my poor English.

Answer 1

In most cases less relationships (joins) means higher performance. Usually denormalization is good in small portions and in balance with normalization. It is the balance between speed and good design. For example Data Warehouses are composed of very flat denormalized tables so they can increase the performance. The idea of flat databases is further developed in the Couch DB for example.

Answer 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimensional_database#Normalized_versus_dimensional_approach_for_storage_of_data