Systems and techniques to identify records corresponding to a database system before they are stored in the database. In general, in one implementation, the technique includes: generating a mapping that may be usable to identify a record in a database by reference to a database key. The database key may have a corresponding record in the database and the database key can be a unique value based on information independent of both the content and organization of a record. The technique can include generating a second mapping usable to identify records in the database by reference to a second type of database key. The second type of database key may correspond to a record in the database and the second type of database key can be a unique value.