What does it mean to be ACID compliant?
ACID compliance refers to database transaction characteristics of atomicity, consistency, isolation and durability (ACID). Atomicity refers to the entire database transaction – and not just one component – being reliable. Consistency means that all the data follows the appropriate data validation rules. Isolation means that data can simultaneously process multiple transactions without affecting anything else. Durability means that data is saved once a transaction is completed, even if there is system failure such as a power outage.
Complying with these principles ensures that database transactions are reliably processed.
Being ACID compliant is important because these four principles provide reliability, validity and correctness. They ensure there are no mistakes, such as network errors, disruptions or hardware failures. Organizations need ACID compliance because they need transactions to reliably succeed (or fail) for critical applications such as financial transactions or time-sensitive data. Industries that require ACID compliance include financial institutions, manufacturing operations, transportation, IoT environments and energy production.