Instance — The Actual Data
A database instance is the snapshot of the data in the database at a given moment.
It’s like the contents of the building at any point in time — people inside, furniture placement, etc. It keeps changing, but the building (schema) remains the same.
Example:
The current rows inside the Users table:
| id | name | email |
|----|----------|-------------------|
| 1 | Gaurav | gaurav@gmail.com |
| 2 | Neha | neha@gmail.com |This is a database instance.
💡 Characteristics:
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Data can change frequently (insert/update/delete)
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Every moment = new instance
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Follows the rules defined by the schema