DBMS Interview Questions

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Contents

Basic DBMS Interview Questions

1. What is meant by DBMS and what is its utility? Explain RDBMS with examples.
2. What is meant by a database?
3. Mention the issues with traditional file-based systems that make DBMS a better
choice?
4. Explain a few advantages of a DBMS.
5. Explain different languages present in DBMS.
6. What is meant by ACID properties in DBMS?
7. Are NULL values in a database the same as that of blank space or zero?

Intermediate DBMS Interview Questions

8. What is meant by Data Warehousing?
9. Explain different levels of data abstraction in a DBMS.
10. What is meant by an entity-relationship (E-R) model? Explain the terms Entity,
Entity Type, and Entity Set in DBMS.
11. Explain different types of relationships amongst tables in a DBMS.
12. Explain the difference between intension and extension in a database.
13. Explain the difference between the DELETE and TRUNCATE command in a
DBMS.
14. What is a lock. Explain the major difference between a shared lock and an
exclusive lock during a transaction in a database.
15. What is meant by normalization and denormalization?

Advanced DBMS Interview Questions

16. Explain different types of Normalization forms in a DBMS.
17. Explain different types of keys in a database.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Advanced DBMS Interview Questions (.....Continued)

18. Explain the difference between a 2-tier and 3-tier architecture in a DBMS.

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Let's get Started
To consolidate your knowledge and concepts in DBMS, here we've listed the most
commonly asked DBMS interview questions to help you ace your interview!

Basic DBMS Interview Questions

1. What is meant by DBMS and what is its utility? Explain RDBMS
with examples.
As the name suggests DBMS or Database Management System is a set of applications
or programs that enable users to create and maintain a database. DBMS provides a
tool or an interface for performing various operations such as inserting, deleting,
updating, etc. into a database. It is so ware that enables the storage of data more
compactly and securely as compared to a file-based system. A DBMS system helps a
user to overcome problems like data inconsistency, data redundancy, etc. in a
database and makes it more convenient and organized to use it.
Examples of popular DBMS systems are file systems, XML, Windows Registry, etc.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System and was introduced in
the 1970s to access and store data more efficiently than DBMS. RDBMS stores data in
the form of tables as compared to DBMS which stores data as files. Storing data as
rows and columns makes it easier to locate specific values in the database and makes
it more efficient as compared to DBMS.
Examples of popular RDBMS systems are MySQL, Oracle DB, etc.

2. What is meant by a database?

A Database is an organized, consistent, and logical collection of data that can easily
be updated, accessed, and managed. Database mostly contains sets of tables or
objects (anything created using create command is a database object) which consist
of records and fields. A tuple or a row represents a single entry in a table. An attribute
or a column represents the basic units of data storage, which contain information
about a particular aspect of the table. DBMS extracts data from a database in the
form of queries given by the user.

3. Mention the issues with traditional file-based systems that

make DBMS a better choice?
The absence of indexing in a traditional file-based system leaves us with the only
option of scanning the full page and hence making the access of content tedious and
super slow. The other issue is redundancy and inconsistency as files have many
duplicate and redundant data and changing one of them makes all of them
inconsistent. Accessing data is harder in traditional file-based systems because data
is unorganized in them.
Another issue is the lack of concurrency control, which leads to one operation locking
the entire page, as compared to DBMS where multiple operations can work on a
single file simultaneously.
Integrity check, data isolation, atomicity, security, etc. are some other issues with
traditional file-based systems for which DBMSs have provided some good solutions.

4. Explain a few advantages of a DBMS.

Following are the few advantages of using a DBMS.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Data Sharing: Data from a single database can be simultaneously shared by

multiple users. Such sharing also enables end-users to react to changes quickly
in the database environment.
Integrity constraints: The existence of such constraints allows storing of data in
an organized and refined manner.
Controlling redundancy in a database: Eliminates redundancy in a database by
providing a mechanism that integrates all the data in a single database.
Data Independence: This allows changing the data structure without altering
the composition of any of the executing application programs.
Provides backup and recovery facility: It can be configured to automatically
create the backup of the data and restore the data in the database whenever
required.
Data Security: DBMS provides the necessary tools to make the storage and
transfer of data more reliable and secure. Authentication (the process of giving
restricted access to a user) and encryption (encrypting sensitive data such as
OTP, credit card information, etc.) are some popular tools used to secure data in
a DBMS.

5. Explain different languages present in DBMS.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Following are various languages present in DBMS:

DDL(Data Definition Language): It contains commands which are required to
define the database.
E.g., CREATE, ALTER, DROP, TRUNCATE, RENAME, etc.
DML(Data Manipulation Language): It contains commands which are required
to manipulate the data present in the database.
E.g., SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, DELETE, etc.
DCL(Data Control Language): It contains commands which are required to
deal with the user permissions and controls of the database system.
E.g., GRANT and REVOKE.
TCL(Transaction Control Language): It contains commands which are required
to deal with the transaction of the database.
E.g., COMMIT, ROLLBACK, and SAVEPOINT.

6. What is meant by ACID properties in DBMS?

ACID stands for Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability in a DBMS these are
those properties that ensure a safe and secure way of sharing data among multiple
users.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Atomicity: This property reflects the concept of either executing the whole
query or executing nothing at all, which implies that if an update occurs in a
database then that update should either be reflected in the whole database or
should not be reflected at all.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Consistency: This property ensures that the data remains consistent before and
a er a transaction in a database.

Isolation: This property ensures that each transaction is occurring

independently of the others. This implies that the state of an ongoing
transaction doesn’t affect the state of another ongoing transaction.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Durability: This property ensures that the data is not lost in cases of a system
failure or restart and is present in the same state as it was before the system
failure or restart.

7. Are NULL values in a database the same as that of blank space

or zero?
No, a NULL value is very different from that of zero and blank space as it represents a
value that is assigned, unknown, unavailable, or not applicable as compared to blank
space which represents a character and zero represents a number.
Example: NULL value in “number_of_courses” taken by a student represents that its
value is unknown whereas 0 in it means that the student hasn’t taken any courses.

Intermediate DBMS Interview Questions

8. What is meant by Data Warehousing?

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 DBMS Interview Questions

The process of collecting, extracting, transforming, and loading data from multiple
sources and storing them into one database is known as data warehousing. A data
warehouse can be considered as a central repository where data flows from
transactional systems and other relational databases and is used for data analytics. A
data warehouse comprises a wide variety of organization’s historical data that
supports the decision-making process in an organization.

9. Explain different levels of data abstraction in a DBMS.

The process of hiding irrelevant details from users is known as data abstraction. Data
abstraction can be divided into 3 levels:

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Physical Level: it is the lowest level and is managed by DBMS. This level
consists of data storage descriptions and the details of this level are typically
hidden from system admins, developers, and users.
Conceptual or Logical level: it is the level on which developers and system
admins work and it determines what data is stored in the database and what is
the relationship between the data points.
External or View level: it is the level that describes only part of the database
and hides the details of the table schema and its physical storage from the users.
The result of a query is an example of View level data abstraction. A view is a
virtual table created by selecting fields from one or more tables present in the
database.

10. What is meant by an entity-relationship (E-R) model?

Explain the terms Entity, Entity Type, and Entity Set in
DBMS.
An entity-relationship model is a diagrammatic approach to a database design where
real-world objects are represented as entities and relationships between them are
mentioned.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Entity: An entity is defined as a real-world object having attributes that

represent characteristics of that particular object. For example, a student, an
employee, or a teacher represents an entity.
Entity Type: An entity type is defined as a collection of entities that have the
same attributes. One or more related tables in a database represent an entity
type. Entity type or attributes can be understood as a characteristic which
uniquely identifies the entity. For example, a student represents an entity that
has attributes such as student_id, student_name, etc.
Entity Set: An entity set can be defined as a set of all the entities present in a
specific entity type in a database. For example, a set of all the students,
employees, teachers, etc. represent an entity set.

11. Explain different types of relationships amongst tables in a

DBMS.
Following are different types of relationship amongst tables in a DBMS system:
One to One Relationship: This type of relationship is applied when a particular
row in table X is linked to a singular row in table Y.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

One to Many Relationship: This type of relationship is applied when a single

row in table X is related to many rows in table Y.

Many to Many Relationship: This type of relationship is applied when multiple

rows in table X can be linked to multiple rows in table Y.

Self Referencing Relationship: This type of relationship is applied when a

particular row in table X is associated with the same table.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

12. Explain the difference between intension and extension in a

database.
Following is the major difference between intension and extension in a database:
Intension: Intension or popularly known as database schema is used to define
the description of the database and is specified during the design of the
database and mostly remains unchanged.
Extension: Extension on the other hand is the measure of the number of tuples
present in the database at any given point in time. The extension of a database
is also referred to as the snapshot of the database and its value keeps changing
as and when the tuples are created, updated, or destroyed in a database.

13. Explain the difference between the DELETE and TRUNCATE

command in a DBMS.
DELETE command: this command is needed to delete rows from a table based on
the condition provided by the WHERE clause.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

It deletes only the rows which are specified by the WHERE clause.
It can be rolled back if required.
It maintains a log to lock the row of the table before deleting it and hence it’s
slow.
TRUNCATE command: this command is needed to remove complete data from a
table in a database. It is like a DELETE command which has no WHERE clause.
It removes complete data from a table in a database.
It can be rolled back even if required.
It doesn’t maintain a log and deletes the whole table at once and hence it’s fast.

14. What is a lock. Explain the major difference between a

shared lock and an exclusive lock during a transaction in a
database.
A database lock is a mechanism to protect a shared piece of data from getting
updated by two or more database users at the same time. When a single database
user or session has acquired a lock then no other database user or session can modify
that data until the lock is released.
Shared Lock: A shared lock is required for reading a data item and many
transactions may hold a lock on the same data item in a shared lock. Multiple
transactions are allowed to read the data items in a shared lock.
Exclusive lock: An exclusive lock is a lock on any transaction that is about to
perform a write operation. This type of lock doesn’t allow more than one
transaction and hence prevents any inconsistency in the database.

15. What is meant by normalization and denormalization?

Normalization is a process of reducing redundancy by organizing the data into
multiple tables. Normalization leads to better usage of disk spaces and makes it
easier to maintain the integrity of the database.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Denormalization is the reverse process of normalization as it combines the tables

which have been normalized into a single table so that data retrieval becomes faster.
JOIN operation allows us to create a denormalized form of the data by reversing the
normalization.

Advanced DBMS Interview Questions

16. Explain different types of Normalization forms in a DBMS.
Following are the major normalization forms in a DBMS:

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Considering the above Table-1 as the reference example for understanding

different normalization forms.
1NF: It is known as the first normal form and is the simplest type of
normalization that you can implement in a database. A table to be in its first
normal form should satisfy the following conditions:
Every column must have a single value and should be atomic.
Duplicate columns from the same table should be removed.
Separate tables should be created for each group of related data and each
row should be identified with a unique column.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Table-1 converted to 1NF form

2NF: It is known as the second normal form. A table to be in its second normal
form should satisfy the following conditions:
The table should be in its 1NF i.e. satisfy all the conditions of 1NF.
Every non-prime attribute of the table should be fully functionally
dependent on the primary key i.e. every non-key attribute should be
dependent on the primary key in such a way that if any key element is
deleted then even the non_key element will be saved in the database.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Breaking Table-1 into 2 different tables to move it to 2NF.

3NF: It is known as the third normal form. A table to be in its second normal
form should satisfy the following conditions:
The table should be in its 2NF i.e. satisfy all the conditions of 2NF.
There is no transitive functional dependency of one attribute on any
attribute in the same table.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Breaking Table-1 into 3 different tables to move it to 3NF.

BCNF: BCNF stands for Boyce-Codd Normal Form and is an advanced form of
3NF. It is also referred to as 3.5NF for the same reason. A table to be in its BCNF
normal form should satisfy the following conditions:
The table should be in its 3NF i.e. satisfy all the conditions of 3NF.
For every functional dependency of any attribute A on B
(A->B), A should be the super key of the table. It simply implies that A can’t
be a non-prime attribute if B is a prime attribute.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

17. Explain different types of keys in a database.

There are mainly 7 types of keys in a database:
Candidate Key: The candidate key represents a set of properties that can
uniquely identify a table. Each table may have multiple candidate keys. One key
amongst all candidate keys can be chosen as a primary key. In the below
example since studentId and firstName can be considered as a Candidate Key
since they can uniquely identify every tuple.
Super Key: The super key defines a set of attributes that can uniquely identify a
tuple. Candidate key and primary key are subsets of the super key, in other
words, the super key is their superset.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

Primary Key: The primary key defines a set of attributes that are used to
uniquely identify every tuple. In the below example studentId and firstName are
candidate keys and any one of them can be chosen as a Primary Key. In the given
example studentId is chosen as the primary key for the student table.
Unique Key: The unique key is very similar to the primary key except that
primary keys don’t allow NULL values in the column but unique keys allow them.
So essentially unique keys are primary keys with NULL values.
Alternate Key: All the candidate keys which are not chosen as primary keys are
considered as alternate Keys. In the below example, firstname and lastname are
alternate keys in the database.
Foreign Key: The foreign key defines an attribute that can only take the values
present in one table common to the attribute present in another table. In the
below example courseId from the Student table is a foreign key to the Course
table, as both, the tables contain courseId as one of their attributes.
Composite Key: A composite key refers to a combination of two or more
columns that can uniquely identify each tuple in a table. In the below example
the studentId and firstname can be grouped to uniquely identify every tuple in
the table.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

18. Explain the difference between a 2-tier and 3-tier

architecture in a DBMS.
The 2-tier architecture refers to the client-server architecture in which applications
at the client end directly communicate with the database at the server end without
any middleware involved.
Example – Contact Management System created using MS-Access or Railway
Reservation System, etc.

The above picture represents a 2-tier architecture in a DBMS.

The 3-tier architecture contains another layer between the client and the server to
provide GUI to the users and make the system much more secure and accessible. In
this type of architecture, the application present on the client end interacts with an
application on the server end which further communicates with the database system.
Example – Designing registration form which contains a text box, label, button or a
large website on the Internet, etc.

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 DBMS Interview Questions

The above picture represents a 3-tier architecture in a DBMS.

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