The Database Management System DBMS

The Database Management
System (DBMS)
A software system that enables users to define, create, maintain, and
control access to the database.
Typically,
The DBMS is the software that interacts with the users’ application programs and the database.
a DBMS provides the following facilities:

• Data Definition Language (DDL).
• It allows users to define the database
• allows users to specify the data types and structures and the constraints on the data to be stored in the
database.
• Data Manipulation Language (DML)
• allows users to insert, update, delete, and retrieve data from the database
• The most common query language is the Structured Query Language
• It provides controlled access to the database.
• The most common query language is the Structured Query Language
• an integrity system, which maintains the consistency of stored data;
• a concurrency control system, which allows shared access of the database;
• a recovery control system, which restores the database to a previous consistent state following a
hardware or software failure;
• a user-accessible catalog, which contains descriptions of the data in the database.
(Database) Application Programs
• A computer program that interacts with the database by issuing an
appropriate request (typically an SQL statement) to the DBMS.
• Users interact with the database through a number of application
programs that are used to create and maintain the database and to
generate information.
• can be conventional batch applications or, more typically nowadays, they will
be online applications.
Views (view mechanism)
allows each user to have his or her own view of the database (a view is in essence some subset of the database).
views benefits:
• Views provide a level of security. Views can be set up to exclude data
that some users should not see.
• Views provide a mechanism to customize the appearance of the
database. For example, the Contracts Department may wish to call the
monthly rent field (rent) by the more obvious name, Monthly Rent.
• A view can present a consistent, unchanging picture of the structure of
the database, even if the underlying database is changed (for example,
fields added or removed, relationships changed, files split, restructured,
or renamed). If fields are added or removed from a file, and these fields
are not required by the view, the view is not affected by this change.
Components of the DBMS Environment
• Hardware
• The DBMS and the applications require hardware to run. The hardware can
range from a single personal computer, to a single mainframe, to a network of
computers. The particular hardware depends on the organization’s
requirements and the DBMS used.
This is called a client–server architecture:
the backend is the server and the
frontends are the clients.
• Software
• The software component comprises the DBMS software itself and the application programs,
together with the operating system, including network software if the DBMS is being used over
a network.
• Typically, application programs are written in a third-generation programming language (3GL),
such as ‘C’, C++, Java, Visual Basic, COBOL, Fortran, Ada, or Pascal, or using a fourth-generation
language (4GL), such as SQL, embedded in a third generation language.
• Data
• Perhaps the most important component of the DBMS environment, certainly from the end-
users’ point of view, is the data.
• The structure of the database is called the schema.
• Procedures
• Procedures refer to the instructions and rules that govern the design and use of the database.
• log on to the DBMS;
• use a particular DBMS facility or application program;
• start and stop the DBMS;
• make backup copies of the database;
• Procedures
• Procedures refer to the instructions and rules that govern the design and use
of the database.
• handle hardware or software failures. This may include procedures on how to identify
the failed component, how to fix the failed component (for example, telephone the
appropriate hardware engineer) and, following the repair of the fault, how to recover
the database;
• change the structure of a table, reorganize the database across multiple disks, improve
performance, or archive data to secondary storage.
• People
• The final component is the people involved with the system.
Roles in the Database Environment
• Data and Database Administrators
• Data and database administration are the roles generally associated with the management
and control of a DBMS and its data.
• The Data Administrator (DA) is responsible for the management of the data resource
including database planning, development and maintenance of standards, policies and
procedures, and conceptual/logical database design. The DA consults with and advises
senior managers, ensuring that the direction of database development will ultimately
support corporate objectives.
• The Database Administrator (DBA) is responsible for the physical realization of the
database, including physical database design and implementation, security and integrity
control, maintenance of the operational system, and ensuring satisfactory performance of
the applications for users.
• technically oriented
• In some organizations there is no distinction between these two roles
• Database Designers
• The logical database designer is concerned with identifying the data (that is, the
entities and attributes), the relationships between the data, and the constraints on
the data that is to be stored in the database.
• The logical database designer must have a thorough and complete understanding
of the organization’s data and any constraints on this data (the constraints are
sometimes called business rules).
• The physical database designer decides how the logical database design is to be
physically realized.
• mapping the logical database design into a set of tables and integrity constraints;
• selecting specific storage structures and access methods for the data to achieve good
performance;
• designing any security measures required on the data.
• Application Developers
• Once the database has been implemented, the application programs that
provide the required functionality for the end-users must be implemented.
• the application developers work from a specification produced by systems
analysts. Each program contains statements that request the DBMS to
perform some operation on the database. This includes retrieving data,
inserting, updating, and deleting data. The programs may be written in a
third-generation programming language or a fourth-generation language.
• End-Users
• The end-users are the ‘clients’ for the database, which has been designed and
implemented, and is being maintained to serve their information needs.
• Naïve users are typically unaware of the DBMS. They access the database
through specially written application programs that attempt to make the
operations as simple as possible.
• Sophisticated users. At the other end of the spectrum, the sophisticated end-
user is familiar with the structure of the database and the facilities offered by
the DBMS. Sophisticated end-users may use a high-level query language such
as SQL to perform the required operations. Some sophisticated end-users may
even write application programs for their own use.
Exercises
• Interview some users of database systems. Which DBMS features do
they find most useful and why? Which DBMS facilities do they find
least useful and why? What do these users perceive to be the
advantages and disadvantages of the DBMS?
• Include video during interview.

The Database Management System DBMS

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The Database Management

a DBMS provides the following facilities:

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