The persistent and non-persistent table differ in reference to referential integrity.

The following table shows which table types are allowed to refer to other types. For example, if a transient table is allowed to have a foreign key that references a persistent table, you will see "YES" in the cell at the intersection of the row "Transient Child" and the column "Persistent Parent". If the foreign key constraint is not allowed, you will see a dash (-).

Every type of table may reference itself. In addition, transient tables may reference persistent tables (but not vice-versa). All other combinations are invalid.