Unit 1:

Database system architecture

Database Architecture
 Database Users
1. Naïve Users:
◦ These are unsophisticated users who interact with the system by invoking one of the
application programs that have been written previously.
◦ The typical user interface is the forms, to be filled to generate the reports as an output.
2. Application Programmers:
◦ These are computer professionals who write application programs.
◦ Rapid application development (RAD) tools that allow to create forms and reports
without writing the programs.
◦ Programming languages are also used.
3. Sophisticated Users:
◦ They interact with the system without writing programs. They form their request in
database query language.
◦ They submit each such query to the query processor, whose function is to break
down the DML statements into instructions that the storage manager understands.
Eg. Analysts who explore data.
◦ Online Analytical processing (OLAP) tools allow analysts to view summaries of
data in different ways.
◦ Data Mining tools are used for finding patterns.
4. Specialized Users:
◦ They write specialized database applications that do not fit into the traditional data-
processing framework.
◦ These include CAD(computer-aided design) systems, knowledge base systems and
expert systems & environmental modelling systems.
 Database Administrator
 One of the main reasons for using DBMSs is to have central control
of both the data. and the programs that access those data.
 A person who has such central control over the system is called a
database administrator (DBA). The functions of a DBA include:
◦ Schema definition. The DBA creates the original database schema by
executing a set of data definition statements in the DDL.
◦ Storage structure and access-method definition.
◦ Schema and physical-organization modification. The DBA carries out
changes to the schema and physical organization to reflect the changing
needs of the organization, or to alter the physical organization to improve
performance.
◦ Granting of authorization for data access.
 Routine maintenance. Periodically backing up the database, Ensuring that
enough free disk space is available for normal operations, and upgrading
disk space as required and monitoring the jobs running to ensure the
performance.
 Data Storage and Querying
 A database system is partitioned into modules that deal with
each of the responsibilities of the overall system. The
functional components of a database system can be broadly
divided into the storage manager and the query processor
components.
 Need of storage manager:
◦ The storage manager is important because databases typically require a
large amount of storage space.
◦ Since the main memory of computers cannot store much information, the
information is stored on disks. Data are moved between disk storage and
main memory as needed.
◦ Since the movement of data to and from disk is slow relative to the speed
of the central processing unit, it is imperative that the database system
structure the data so as to minimize the need to move data between disk
and main memory.
Need of query processing:
 The query processor is important because it helps the database
system to simplify and facilitate access to data.
 The query processor allows database users to obtain good
performance while being able to work at the view level and not
be burdened with understanding the physical-level details of
the implementation of the system.
 It is the job of the database system to translate updates and
queries written in a nonprocedural language, at the logical
level, into an efficient sequence of operations at the physical
level.
 Storage Manager
 The storage manager is the component of a database system
that provides the interface between the low-level data stored in
the database and the application programs and queries
submitted to the system.
 The storage manager is responsible for the interaction with the
file manager.
 The storage manager translates the various DML statements
into low-level file-system commands.
 Thus, the storage manager is responsible for storing, retrieving,
and updating data in the database.
 The storage manager components include:
 Authorization and integrity manager, which tests for the
satisfaction of integrity constraints and checks the authority of users
to access data.
 Transaction manager, which ensures that the database remains in a
consistent (correct) state despite system failures, and that concurrent
transaction executions proceed without conflicting.
 File manager, which manages the allocation of space on disk
storage and the data structures used to represent information stored
on disk.
 Buffer manager, which is responsible for fetching data from disk
storage into main memory, and deciding what data to cache in main
memory.
 The buffer manager is a critical part of the database system, since it
enables the database to handle data sizes that are much larger than
the size of main memory.
The storage manager implements several data structures as part of
the physical system implementation:
 Data files, which store the database itself.
 Data dictionary, which stores metadata about the structure of
the database, in particular the schema of the database.
 Indices, which can provide fast access to data items. Like the
index in this textbook, a database index provides pointers to
those data items that hold a particular value. For example, we
could use an index to find the instructor record with a
particular ID, or all instructor records with a particular name.
 Hashing is an alternative to indexing that is faster in some but
not all cases.
 Query Processor
 The query processor components include:
 DDL interpreter, which interprets DDL statements and
records the definitions in the data dictionary.
 DML compiler, which translates DML statements in a query
language into an evaluation plan consisting of low-level
instructions that the query evaluation engine understands.
 A query can usually be translated into any of a number of
alternative evaluation plans that all give the same result. The
DMLcompiler also performs query optimization; that is, it
picks the lowest cost evaluation plan from among the
alternatives.
 Query evaluation engine, which executes low-level
instructions generated by the DML compiler.