Diagram illustrating a relational database with student and course tables, relationships, and a database management system, in a painted style.

Tables, in which data is contained in rows and columns; relationships, which establish the relationship between data in one table and data in another table; and a database management system, which supports data retrieval and manipulation facilities, are the key elements of a relational database. A record is each row in a table, and an entity is each table, e.g., courses or students. The attributes or features of the entities are indicated by the columns. A students table, for instance, might have ID, name, and enrollment date columns. See more