Using INT or GUID as primary key

Question

I was trying to create an ID column in SQL server, VB.net that would provide a sequence of numbers for every new row created in a database. So I used the following technique to create the ID column.

select * from T_Users
ALTER TABLE T_Users     
ADD User_ID INT NOT NULL IDENTITY(1,1) Primary Key

Then I registered few usernames into the database and it worked just fine. For example the first six rows would be 1,2,3,4,5,6. Then I registered 4 more users the NEXT day, but this time the ID numbers jumped from 6 to A very large number such as: 1,2,3,4,5,6,1002,1003,1004,1005. Then two days later, I registered two more users and the new rows read 3002,3004. So my question is why is it skipping such a large number every other day I register users. Is the technique I used to create the sequence wrong? If it is wrong can anyone please tell me how to do it right? Now as I was getting frustrated with the technique used above, alternatively I tried to use sequentially generated GUID values. The sequence of GUID values were generated fine. However, the only downside is, it generates a very long numbers (4 times the INT size). My question here is does using GUID have any significant advantage over INT?

Regards,

Answer 1

Upside of GUIDs:

GUIDs are good if you ever want offline clients to be able to create new records, as you will never get a primary key clash when the new records are synchronised back to the main database.

Downside of GUIDs:

GUIDS as primary keys can have an effect on the performance of the DB, because for a clustered primary key, the DB will want to keep the rows in order of the key values. But this means a lot of inserts between existing records, because the GUIDs will be random.

Using IDENTITY column doesn't suffer from this because the next record is guaranteed to have the highest value and so the row is just tacked on the end every time. No re-shuffle needs to happen.

There is a compromise which is to generate a pseudo-GUID which means you would expect a key clash every 70 years or so, but helps the indexing immensely.

The other downsides are that a) they do take up more storage space, and b) are a real pain to write SQL against, i.e. much easier to type UPDATE TABLE SET FIELD = 'value' where KEY = 50003 than UPDATE TABLE SET FIELD = 'value' where KEY = '{F820094C-A2A2-49cb-BDA7-549543BB4B2C}'

Your declaration of the IDENTITY column looks fine to me. The gaps in your key values are probably due to failed attempts to add a row. The IDENTITY value will be incremented but the row never gets committed. Don't let it bother you, it happens in practically every table.

EDIT:

This question covers what I was meaning by pseudo-GUID. INSERTs with sequential GUID key on clustered index not significantly faster

In SQL Server 2005+ you can use NEWSEQUENTIALID() to get a random value that is supposed to be greater than the previous ones. See here for more info http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189786%28v=sql.90%29.aspx

Answer 2

Is the technique I used to create the sequence wrong?

No. If anything your google skills are non-existing. A short look for "Sql server identity skipping values" will give you a TON of returns including:

SQL Server 2012 column identity increment jumping from 6 to 1000+ on 7th entry

and the canonical:

Why are there gaps in my IDENTITY column values?

You basically wrongly assume sql server will not optimize it's access for performance. Identity numbers are markers, nothing else, no assumption of having no gaps please.

In particular: SQL Server preallocates numbers in 1000 blocks and - if you restart the server (like on your workstation) the remainder is lost.

http://www.sqlserver-training.com/sequence-breaks-gap-in-numbers-after-restart-sql-server-gap-between-numbers-after-restarting-server/-

If you do a manual sqyuence instead (new nin sql server 2012) you can define the cache size for this (pregeneration) and set it to 1 - at the cost of slightly lower performance when you do a lot of inserts.

My question here is does using GUID have any significant advantage over INT?

Yes. You can have a lot more rows with GUID's than with int. For example, int32 is limited to about 2 billion rows. For some of us that is too low (I have tables in the 10 billion range) and even a 64 large int is limited. And a truly zetabyte database, you have to use a guid in sequence, self generated.

Any normal human does not see a difference as we all do not really deal with that many rows. And the larger size makes a lot of things slower (larger key size = larger space in indices = larger indices = more memory / io for the same operation). Plus even your sequential id will jump.

Why not just adjust your expectation to reality - identity is not meant to be without gaps - or use a sequence with cache 1.