shahsn11 (8/2/2012)
So does that mean that Surrogate Key is only the concept. And in lay man terms(i.e. mine) can we say that PK=Surrogate Key.If the above is true that what is the difference between Pk and surrogate key.
A surrogate key is by defination meaningless, aka a simple integer with no meaning attached which serves as a primary key. A primary key is a combination of one or more columns that uniquely identify a row. So it's possible this is for example a customerID, such as AW001578. This has meaning, as it is customer number 1578 of the Adventure Works company. Or it can be an emailaddress to uniquely identify a person. This is often called the "natural key".
So, a surrogate key is a primary key, but a primary key is not necessarily a surrogate key.
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