Introduction to Relational Databases (RDBMS) (Coursera)

Offered by IBM,
Introduction to Relational Databases (RDBMS) (Coursera)

Are you ready to dive into the world of data engineering? You’ll need a solid understanding of how data is stored, processed, and accessed. You’ll need to identify the different types of database that are appropriate for the kind of data you are working with and what processing the data requires.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

In this course, you will learn the essential concepts behind relational databases and Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS). You’ll study relational data models and discover how they are created and what benefits they bring, and how you can apply them to your own data. You’ll be introduced to several industry standard relational databases, including IBM DB2, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.
This course incorporates hands-on, practical exercises to help you demonstrate your learning. You will work with real databases and explore real-world datasets. You will create database instances and populate them with tables.
No prior knowledge of databases or programming is required.
Anyone can audit this course at no-charge. If you choose to take this course and earn the Coursera course certificate, you can also earn an IBM digital badge upon successful completion of the course.

What You Will Learn

  • Fundamental Relational Database concepts. Types of RDBMS objects. Popular database systems.
  • Design a relational database and its schema. Create Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERD). Normalize data.
  • Work hands-on with Relational Databases such MySQL, PostgreSQL and Db2 using web tools and command line.
  • Create tables and load data. Export data from one database and import into another RDBMS.

Course 4 of 5 in the Data Engineering Foundations Specialization

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Relational Database Concepts
A relational database organizes data into tables that can be linked—or related—based on data common to each. By storing your business data in a relational database, you can retrieve and analyze the data to make important business decisions.
There are many companies that offer relational database systems and, regardless of which one you use, they all share a common set of characteristics that you must be familiar with before you can move on to more advanced operations with databases. In this module, you will learn some basic relational database concepts and how to diagram and describe the relationships between tables in a database. You will also learn the different deployment topologies and architectures that are commonly used, who the typical users of databases are, and some of the features and benefits of some common relational database management systems including Db2, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.

WEEK 2
Using Relational Databases
In this module, you will learn how to use a RDBMS GUI or web interface and SQL statements to create and manage the tables in a relational database and populate them with data. You will also learn how to employ some database design techniques that help improve the integrity of your data and the performance of your queries, including the use of Primary and Foreign keys to define relationships, indexes, normalization, and relational model constraints.

WEEK 3
MySQL and PostgreSQL
MySQL and PostreSQL are two common RDBMS tools for creating and managing relational databases. Both are free and open-source, have download/install and cloud versions, and offer both command-line and desktop and/or web interface options. In this module, you will learn the basics of creating databases and tables, defining keys and constraints in tables, and loading a database with data using MySQL and PostgreSQL. You will also learn how to define views in PostgreSQL to limit access to sensitive data and simplify data retrieval.

WEEK 4
Course Assignment
This module contains the final project for this course. You will consolidate the skills that you learned throughout this course by applying them to a specific scenario. To complete the project successfully, you must demonstrate that you have the skills to design a database from a new set of data, including creating an ERD to identify entities, attributes, and relationships. You will normalize tables, create your database, and load some data. You will also demonstrate some database management tasks by working with views.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Python Scripting: Files, Inheritance, and Databases (Coursera) Coursera
LearnQuest

Python Scripting: Files, Inheritance, and Databases (Coursera)

This course is the third course in a series that aims to prepare you for a role working as a programmer. In this course, you will be introduced to the three main concepts in programming: Files, Inheritance and external libaries. Labs will allow the students to apply the material in the lectures in simple computer programs designed to re-enforce the material in the lesson.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Python for Data Science, AI & Development (Coursera) Coursera
IBM

Python for Data Science, AI & Development (Coursera)

Kickstart your learning of Python for data science, as well as programming in general, with this beginner-friendly introduction to Python. Python is one of the world’s most popular programming languages, and there has never been greater demand for professionals with the ability to apply Python fundamentals to drive business solutions across industries.

Jun 23rd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Plant Bioinformatics Capstone (Coursera) Coursera
University of Toronto

Plant Bioinformatics Capstone (Coursera)

The past 15 years have been exciting ones in plant biology. Hundreds of plant genomes have been sequenced, RNA-seq has enabled transcriptome-wide expression profiling, and a proliferation of "-seq"-based methods has permitted protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions to be determined cheaply and in a high-throughput manner. These data sets in turn allow us to generate hypotheses at the click of a mouse or tap of a finger. In Plant Bioinformatics on Coursera.org, we covered 33 plant-specific online tools from genome browsers to transcriptomic data mining to promoter/network analyses and others, and in this Plant Bioinformatics Capstone we'll use these tools to hypothesize a biological role for a gene of unknown function, summarized in a written lab report.

Jun 22nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Health Information Technology Fundamentals (Coursera) Coursera
Johns Hopkins University

Health Information Technology Fundamentals (Coursera)

In this course you will receive an overview of the health IT ecosystem and the types of technologies IT support staff interact with the most. You will be introduced to the role of electronic health records (EHRs), clinical decision support, telemedicine, patient portals, and medical devices. We’ll cover common examples of how disruptions in these technologies can impact ongoing operations and routine clinical workflow. Although there is an interconnectedness to some aspects of healthcare, there are also limitations in data sharing. We want you to walk away from this course with an understanding of the family of technologies and tools that are critical in healthcare operations.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Introduction to Software, Programming, and Databases (Coursera) Coursera
IBM

Introduction to Software, Programming, and Databases (Coursera)

There are many types of software and understanding software can be overwhelming. This course aims to help you understand more about the types of software and how to manage software from an information technology (IT) perspective. This course will help you understand the basics of software, cloud computing, web browsers, development and concepts of software, programming languages, and database basics.

Jun 22nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Managing Big Data with MySQL (Coursera) Coursera
Duke University

Managing Big Data with MySQL (Coursera)

This course is an introduction to how to use relational databases in business analysis. You will learn how relational databases work, and how to use entity-relationship diagrams to display the structure of the data held within them. This knowledge will help you understand how data needs to be collected in business contexts, and help you identify features you want to consider if you are involved in implementing new data collection efforts.

Jun 22nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
AWS Cloud Technical Essentials (Coursera) Coursera
AWS

AWS Cloud Technical Essentials (Coursera)

Are you in a technical role and want to learn the fundamentals of AWS? Do you aspire to have a job or career as a cloud developer, architect, or in an operations role? If so, AWS Cloud Technical Essentials is an ideal way to start. This course was designed for those at the beginning of their cloud-learning journey - no prior knowledge of cloud computing or AWS products and services required!

Jun 23rd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Databases and SQL for Data Science with Python(Coursera) Coursera
IBM

Databases and SQL for Data Science with Python(Coursera)

Much of the world's data resides in databases. SQL (or Structured Query Language) is a powerful language which is used for communicating with and extracting data from databases. A working knowledge of databases and SQL is a must if you want to become a data scientist. The purpose of this course is to introduce relational database concepts and help you learn and apply foundational knowledge of the SQL language. It is also intended to get you started with performing SQL access in a data science environment.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Relational Database Support for Data Warehouses (Coursera) Coursera
University of Colorado System

Relational Database Support for Data Warehouses (Coursera)

Relational Database Support for Data Warehouses is the third course in the Data Warehousing for Business Intelligence specialization. In this course, you'll use analytical elements of SQL for answering business intelligence questions. You'll learn features of relational database management systems for managing summary data commonly used in business intelligence reporting. Because of the importance and difficulty of managing implementations of data warehouses, we'll also delve into storage architectures, scalable parallel processing, data governance, and big data impacts. In the assignments in this course, you can use either Oracle or PostgreSQL.

Jun 22nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Python Project for Data Engineering (Coursera) Coursera
IBM

Python Project for Data Engineering (Coursera)

This mini-course is intended to apply foundational Python skills by implementing different techniques to collect and work with data. Assume the role of a Data Engineer and extract data from multiple file formats, transform it into specific datatypes, and then load it into a single source for analysis. Continue with the course and test your knowledge by implementing webscraping and extracting data with APIs all with the help of multiple hands-on labs. After completing this course you will have acquired the confidence to begin collecting large datasets from multiple sources and transform them into one primary source, or begin web scraping to gain valuable business insights all with the use of Python.

Jun 22nd 2026
1 Week
JSON and Natural Language Processing in PostgreSQL (Coursera) Coursera
University of Michigan

JSON and Natural Language Processing in PostgreSQL (Coursera)

Within this course, you’ll learn about how PostgreSQL creates and uses inverted indexes for JSON and natural language content. We will use various sources of data for our databases, including access to an online API and spidering its data and storing the data in a JSON column in PostgreSQL. Students will explore how full-text inverted indexes are structured. Students will build their own inverted indexes and then make use of PostgreSQL built-in capabilities to support full-text indexes.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Introduction to Structured Query Language (SQL) (Coursera) Coursera
University of Michigan

Introduction to Structured Query Language (SQL) (Coursera)

In this course, you'll walk through installation steps for installing a text editor, installing MAMP or XAMPP (or equivalent) and creating a MySql Database. You'll learn about single table queries and the basic syntax of the SQL language, as well as database design with multiple tables, foreign keys, and the JOIN operation. Lastly, you'll learn to model many-to-many relationships like those needed to represent users, roles, and courses.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks