Handling of Primary Keys

A primary key is a special column or a set of columns designated to be used for uniquely identifying every row in a database table. Primary keys must contain only unique values and cannot contain NULL values.

For example, an online store that stores customer information such as their names, past transactions, and mobile numbers uses the column customerID to uniquely identify each customer in its database.

Handling Primary Keys

Hevo handles primary keys differently for database and SaaS Sources.

For Database Sources: Hevo uses the pre-defined primary keys in the database to load data to the Destination.

For SaaS Sources: These Sources do not generate data with pre-defined primary keys. Therefore, Hevo defines the primary keys for them. Read the Schema and Primary Keys section of your respective Source to know about the primary keys defined for it.

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Role of Primary Keys in Loading Data to Destinations

Hevo uses the primary keys and Hevo-reserved metadata columns to deduplicate data when replicating data from your Source to the Destination. The data loading process differs depending on whether primary keys are defined in the Destination tables or not.

Read Loading Data in a Database Destination and Loading Data to a Data Warehouse.