Good database design, variable number of attributes

Question

I\'m trying to create a database that contains a list of equipment. All of the equipment will have certain common attributes (such as manufacturer, model #, serial #, etc.), the

Answer 1

I think that you faced a regular database normalization. You need tables like:

Items -> Id, Name, Model, Brand Id
Brands -> Id, Name
Attribute Names -> id, name
Attribute Mappings -> Id, Names Id, Items Id, Attribute Description

In case if there is more than one Attribue, list then in Attribute Tables and associate with Product Id etc. Try to come up with 3rd normalized form

Database Normalization