DBMS SHORT NOTES

a. What is the significance of Physical Data

Independence?

Ans. Physical data independence helps you to separate

conceptual levels from the internal/physical levels. It allows
you to provide a logical description of the database without
the need to specify physical structures.

b. List the four functions of DBA.

Ans.

 1. Schema definition
 2. Storage structure and access method definition
 3. Schema and physical organization and
modification
 4. Granting of authorization for data access

c. When a relation set is called a recursive

relationship set ?

Ans. When there is a relationship between two entities of

the same type, it is known as a recursive relationship. This
means hat the relationship is between different instances
of the same entity type.
d. What do you mean by currency with respect to
database ?

Ans. The DBMS uses currency to keep track of the

database location (db-key) of the most recently accessed
record occurrences for the run unit, record type, set, and
area. By keeping track of the most recently accessed
records, currency enables you to navigate the database
with a minimum of effort.

e. What is Relational Calculus ?

Ans.

 1. Relational calculus is a non-procedural query

language.
 2. Relational calculus is a query system where
queries are expressed as formulas consisting of a
number of variables and an expression involving
these variables.
 3. In a relational calculus, there is no description
of how to evaluate a query.

f. What is Equi-Join in database?

Ans. An equi-join is a type of join that combines tables
based on matching values in specified columns. The
column names do not need to be the same. The resultant
table contains repeated columns. It is possible to perform
an equi-join on more than two tables.

g. What is a CLAUSE in terms of SQL ?

Ans. A CLAUSE in SQL is a part of a query that lets us filter

or customizes how we want our data to be queried to us.

h. Define the closure of an attribute set.

Ans. The closure of a set of attributes X is the set of those

attributes that can be functionally determined from X. The
closure of X is denoted as X+ When given a closure
problem, we’ll have a set of functional dependencies over
which to compute the closure and the set X for which to
find the closure.

i. When is a transaction Rolled Back ?

Ans. A rollback is the operation of restoring a database to

a previous state by canceling a specific transaction or
transaction set. Rollbacks are either performed
automatically by database systems or manually by users.
j. List the various levels of locking?

Ans. Levels of Locking in DBMS:

 1. Database Level
 2. Table Level
 3. Page Level
 4. Row Level

Section B: Database Management System

Important Notes
a. Draw the overall structure of DBMS and explain
its various components.

Ans. 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 two components:
1. Storage Manager (SM): A storage manager is a
program module that provides the interface between the
low level data stored in the database and the application
programs and queries submitted to the system. The SM
components include:

 a. Authorization and integrity manager: It

tests for the satisfaction of integrity constraints
and checks the authority of users to access data.
  b. Transaction manager: It ensures that the
database remains in a consistent state despite of
system failures and that concurrent transaction
executions proceed without conflicting.
 c. File manager: It manages the allocation of
space on disk storage and the data structures are
used to represent information stored on disk.
 d. Buffer manager: It 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.
2. Query Processor (QP): The Query Processor (Query
Optimizer) is responsible for taking every statement sent to
SQL Server and figure out how to get the requested data or
perform the requested operation.

The QP components are:

 a. DDL interpreter: It interprets DDL

statements and records the definition in data
dictionary.
 b. DML compiler: It translates DML statements
in a query language into an evaluation plan
consisting of low-level instructions that the query
evaluation engine understands.
 c. Query optimization: It picks the lowest cost
evaluation plan from among the alternatives.
 d. Query evaluation engine: It executes low-
level instructions generated by the DML compiler.
b. Which relational algebra operations require the
participating tables to be union-compatible ? Give
the reason in detail.

Ans. 1. The basic relational algebraic operations are the

four set operations: UNION, INTERSECTION, SET
DIFFERENCE and CARTESIAN PRODUCT.

2. Three of these operations: UNION, INTERSECTION and

SET DIFFERENCE require that the tables (relations) involved
be union compatible.

3. Two relations are said to be union compatible if the

following conditions are satisfied:

i. The two relations/tables must contain the same number

of columns (have the same degree).

ii. Each column of the first relation/table must be either the

same data type as the corresponding column of the second
relation/ table or convertible to the same data type as
corresponding column of the second.

4. Now consider the two relations CLASS and LIBRARY.

5 The class and library contains the entire list of Reg_No
and Stu_Name.

6. For simplicity we will call the class relation as C and the

library relation as L.

7. The two relations, as we can see, are union compatible.

c. What do you understand by transitive

dependencies ? Explain with an example any two
problems that can arise in the database if transitive
dependencies are present in the database.

Ans. A. Transitive dependencies:

 1. A transitive dependency in a database is an

indirect relationship between values in the same
table that causes a functional dependency.
 2. To achieve the normalization standard of Third
Normal Form (3NF), we eliminate any transitive
dependency.
 3. A transitive dependency exists when you have
the following functional dependency pattern:

 4. Consider the following example:

  5. If you have a Course you can easily get
its Instructor so Course → Instructor.
 6. If you have an Instructor you can’t get
his Course as he might be teaching different
courses.
 7. If you have an Instructor you can easily get
his Phone so Instructor → Phone.
 8. That means if you have a Course then you can
get the Instructor Phone which means Course
→ Instructor Phone (i.e., Transitive
dependency).
B. Transitive dependencies have following problem:

 1. If you delete both

the French and English courses then you will
delete their instructor Abha Dixit as well and his
phone number will be lost forever.
 2. There is no way to add a new Instructor to
your database unless you add a Course for him
first or you can duplicate the data in
an Instructors table which is even worse.
 3. If Instructor Abha Dixit changes her phone
number then you will have to update all Courses
that she teaches with the new info which can be
very prone to mistakes
 4. You can’t delete an instructor from your
database unless you delete all the courses he
teaches or set all his fields to null.

d. List ACID properties of transaction. Explain the

usefulness of each. What is the importance of log ?
Ans. A. ACID properties:

1. Atomicity: It implies that either all of the operations of

the transaction should execute or none of them should
occur.

Example: All operations in this set must be done.

If the system fails to add the amount in B’s account after

deleting from A’s account, revert the operation on A’s
account.

2. Consistency: The state of database before the

execution of transaction and after the execution of
transaction should be same.

Example: Let us consider the initial value of accounts A

and B are Rs.1000 and Rs. 1500. Now, account A transfer
Rs. 500 to account B.

Before transaction: A + B = 1000 + 1500 = 2500

After transaction: A + B= 500 + 2000 = 2500

Since, total amount before transaction and after

transaction are same. So, this transaction preserves
consistency.

3. Isolation: A transaction must not affect other

transactions that are running parallel to it.

Example: Let us consider another account C. If there is

any ongoing transaction between C and A, it should not
make any effect on the transaction between A and B. Both
the transactions should be isolated.
4. Durability: Once a transaction is completed
successfully. The changes made by transaction persist in
database.

Example: A system gets crashed after completion of all

the operations. f the system restarts it should preserve the
stable state. An amount in A and B account should be the
same before and after the system gets a restart.

B. Usefulness of ACID properties:

Atomicity: Atomicity is useful to ensure that if for any

reason an error occurs and the transaction is unable to
complete all of its steps, then the system is returned to the
state it was in before the transaction was started.

Consistency: The consistency property is useful to ensure

that a complete execution of transaction from beginning to
end is done without interference of other transactions.

Isolation: Isolation property is useful to ensure that a

transaction should appear isolated from other transactions,
even though many transactions are executing
concurrently.

Durability: Durability is useful to ensure that the changes

applied to the database by a committed transaction must
persist in the database.

C. Importance of log:

Features of deferred database modification:

 1. All logs written onto the database is updated

when a transaction commits.
 2. It does not require old value of data item on
the log.
  3. lt do not need extra I/O operation before
commit time.
 4 It can manage with large memory space.
 5. Locks are held till the commit point.
Features of immediate database modification:

 1. All logs written onto the database is updated

immediately after every operation.
 2. It requires both old and new value of data item
on the log.
 3. It needs extra I/O operation to flush out block-
buffer.
 4. It can manage with less memory space.
 5. Locks are released after modification.

e. What do you mean by time stamping protocol for

concurrency controlling ? Discuss multi version
scheme of concurrency control.

Ans. Time stamping: The timestamp ordering protocol

ensures that any conflicting read and write operations are
executed in timestamp order. This protocol operates as
follows:

 1. Suppose that transaction Ti issues read(Q).

 a. If TS(Ti) < W-timestamp(Q), then
Ti needs a value of Q that was already
overwritten. Hence, read operation is
rejected, and Ti is rolled back.
 b. If TS(Ti) ≥ W-timestamp (Q), then the
read operation is executed, and R-
 timestamp (Q) is set to the maximum of R-
timestamp(Q) and TS(Ti).
 2. Suppose that transaction Ti issues write l (Q).
 a. If TS(T|) < R-timestamp(Q), then the
value of Q that Ti is producing Was needed
previously, and the system assumed that
the value would never be produced.
Hence, the system rejects write operation
and rolls T back.
 b. If TS(Ti) < W-timestamp(Q), then Ti is
attempting to Write an obsolete value of
Q. Hence, the system rejects this write
operation and rolls back Ti.
 c. Otherwise, the system executes the
write operation and sets W-timestamp(Q)
to TS(Ti). If a transaction Ti is rolled by the
concurrency control scheme, the system
assigns it a new timestamp and restarts it.
Multiversion scheme:

 1. Multiversion concurrency control is a schemes

in which each write (Q) operation creates a new
version of .
 2. When a transaction issues a read(Q) operation,
the concurrency-control manager selects one of
the version of Q to be read.
 3. The concurrency control scheme must ensure
that the version to be read is selected in manner
that ensures serializability.

Section 3: Data Models in DBMS Long

Answers
a. What are the different types of Data Models in
DBMS ? Explain them.

Ans. Data models:

 1. Data models define how the logical structure of

the database is modeled.
 2. Data models are a collection of conceptual
tools for describing data, data relationships, data
semantics and consistency constraints.
 3. Data models define how data is connected to
each other and how they are processed and
stored inside the system.
Types of data models:

 1. Entity relationship model:

 a. The entity relationship (ER) model
consists of a collection of basic objects,
called entities and of relationships among
these entities.
 b. Entities are represented by means of
their properties, called attributes.

 2. Relational model:
 a. The relational model represents data
and relationships among data by a
collection of tables, each of which has a
number of columns with unique names.
 b. Relational data model is used for data
storage and processing.
  c. This model is simple and it has all the
properties and capabilities required to
process data with storage efficiency.
 3. Hierarchical model:
 a. In hierarchical model data elements are
linked as an inverted tree structure (root
at the top with branches formed below).
 b. Below the single root data element are
subordinate elements each of which in
turn has its own subordinate elements and
so on, the tree can grow to multiple
levels.
 c. Data element has parent child
relationship as in a tree.
 4. Network model:
 a This model is the extension of
hierarchical data model.
 b. In this model there exist a parent child
relationship but a child data element can
have more than one parent element or no
parent at all.
 5. Object-oriented model:
 a. Object-oriented models were introduced
to overcome the shortcomings of
conventional models like relational,
hierarchical and network model.
 b. An object-oriented database is
collection of objects whose behaviour,
state, and relationships are defined in
accordance with object oriented concepts
(such as objects, class, etc.).
b. State the procedural DML and non-procedural
DML with their differences.

Ans. Procedural and non-procedural DML:

i. Procedural DMLs: It requires a user to specify what

data are needed and how to get those data.

ii. Declarative DMLs (Non-procedural DMLs): It

requires user to specify what data are needed without
specifying how to get those data.

S.
Procedural DML Non-procedural DML
No.

1. It is command-driven language. It is a function-driven language

2. It works through the state of machine. It works through the mathematical

3. Its semantics are quite tough. Its semantics are very simple.

4. It returns only restricted data types and allowed values. It can return any data type or value

Overall efficiency is low as compa

5. Overall efficiency is very high.
Procedural Language.

Size of the Non-Procedural langua

6. Size of the program written in Procedural language is large.
small.

7. It is not suitable for time critical applications. It is suitable for time critical applic

Iterative loops and Recursive calls both are used in the Recursive calls are used in Non-Pr
8.
Procedural languages. languages.
Section 4: Database Management System
Aktu Important Notes
a. Consider the following schema for institute
library:

Student (RolINo, Name, Father_ Name, Branch)

Book (ISBN, Title, Author, Publisher)

Issue (RolINo, ISBN, Date-of-Issue)

Write the following queries in SQL and relational

algebra:

I. List roll number and name of all students of the

branch CSE

II. Find the name of student who has issued a book

published by ‘ABC’ publisher.

III. List title of all books and their authors issued to

a student ‘RAM’.

IV. List title of all books issued on or before

December 1, 2020.

V. List al books published by publisher ‘ABC’.

Ans. 1. select Roll_No, Name from Student where

Branch=”CSE”;

2. select Name
from Student

join Issue on Student. Roll_No = Issue. Roll_No

join Book on Issue.lSBN = Book.ISBN

where Publisher =”ABC”;

3. select Author, Title

from Student

join Issue on Student.Roll _No = Issue.Roll_No

join Book on Issue.ISBN = Book.ISBN

where Name =”RAM”

4. select Title

from Book

join Issue on Issue.ISBN = Book.ISBN

where date »=”2020-12-01″;

5. select Title from Book

wherePublisher =”ABC”;

b. What do you mean by trigger ? Explain it by a

suitable example.

Ans. Triggers at is executed automatically:

  1. A trigger is a procedure (code segment) when
some specific events occur in a table view of a
database.
 2. Triggers are mainly used for maintaining
integrity in a database. Triggers are also used for
enforcing business rules, auditing changes in the
database and replicating data.
Following are different types of triggers:

 1. Data Manipulation Language (DML)

triggers:
 a. DML triggers are executed when a DML
operation like INSERT, UPDATE OR DELETE
is fired on a Table or View.
 b. DML triggers are of two types:
 i. AFTER triggers:
 1. AFTER triggers are executed
after the DML statement completes
but before it is committed to the
database.
 2. AFTER triggers if required can
rollback its actions and source DML
statement which invoked it.
 ii. INSTEAD OF triggers:
 1. INSTEAD OF triggers are the
triggers which get executed
automatically in place of triggering
DML (1.e., INSERT, UPDATE and
DELETE) action.
 2. It means if we are inserting a
record and we have a INSTEAD OF
trigger for INSERT then instead of
INSERT whatever action is defined
in the trigger that gets executed.
 2. Data Definition Language (DDL) triggers:
  a. DDL triggers are executed when a DDL
statements like CREATE, ALTER, DROP,
GRANT, DENY, REVOKE, and UPDATE
STATISTICS statements are executed.
 b. DDL triggers can be DATABASE scoped
or SERVER scoped. The DDL triggers with
server level scope gets fired in response to
a DDL statement with server scope like
CREATE DATABASE, CREATE LOGIN,
GRANT_SERVER, ALTER DATABASE, ALTER
LOGIN etc.
 c. Where as DATABASE scoped DDL
triggers fire in response to DDL statement
with DATABASE SCOPE like CREATE TABLE,
CREATE PROCEDURE, CREATE FUNCTION,
ALTER TABLE, ALTER PROCEDURE, ALTER
FUNCTION etc.
 3. LOGON triggers:
 a. LOGON triggers get executed
automatically in response to a LOGON
event.
 b. They get executed only after the
successful authentication but before the
user session is established.
 c. If authentication fails the LOGON
triggers will not be fired.
 4. CLR triggers:
 a. CLR triggers are based on the Sql CLR.
 b. We can write DML and DDL triggers by
using the supported .NET CLR languages
like CH, VB.NET etc.
 c. CCR triggers are useful if heavy
computation is required in the trigger or a
reference to object outside SQL is
required.
Section 5: Armstrong’s axioms Important
Quantum Notes
a. Describe Armstrong’s axioms in detail. What is
the role of these rules in database development
process ?

Ans. 1. The term Armstrong axioms refer to the sound and

complete set of inference rules or axioms that are used to
test the logical implication of functional dependencies.

2. If P is a set of functional dependencies then the closure

of F, denoted as F+, is the set of all functional
dependencies logically implied by F.

3. Armstrong’s axioms are a set of rules, that when applied

repeatedly, generates a closure of functional
dependencies.

4. Armstrong’s axioms has mainly two different sets of

rules:

A. Primary Rule:

B. Secondary Rule Rule:

b. Describe the term MVD in the context of DBMS by
giving an example. Discuss 4NF and 5NF also.

Ans. MVD:

1. MVD occurs when two or more independent multivalued

facts about the same attribute occur within the same
relation.

2. MVD is denoted by X →→Y specified on relation schema

R, where X and Y are both subsets of R.

3. Both X and Y specifies the following constraint on any

relation state r of R: If two tuples t1 and t2 exist in r such
that t1(X) = t2(X), then two tuples t3 and t4 should also exist
in r with the following properties, where we use Z to
denote
4 An MVDX → Y in R is called a trivial MVD if

a. X is a subset of Y or

An MVD that satisfies neither (a) nor (b) is called a non-

trivial MVD.

For example:

4NF and 5NF:

Fourth Normal Form (4NF):

1. A table is in 4NF, if it is in BCNF and it contains

multivalued dependencies.

2 A relation schema R is in 4NF, with respect to a set of

dependencies F (that includes FD and multivalued
dependencies) if, for every nontrivial multivalued
dependency X → → Y in F*, X is superkey for R.
For example: A Faculty has multiple courses to teach and
he is leading several committees, This relation is in BCNF,
since all the three attributes concatenated together
constitutes its key. The rule for decomposition is to
decompose the offending table into two, with the multi-
determinant attribute or attributes as part of the key of
both. In this case to put the relation in 4NF, two separate
relations are formed as follows:

Fifth Normal Form (5NF):

1. A relation is in 5NF, if it is 4NF and cannot be further

decomposed.

2. In 5NF, we use the concept of join dependency which is a

generalized form of multivalued dependency.

3. A relation schema R is in 5NF or Project Join Normal Form

(PJNF) with respect to a set F of functional, multivalued and
join dependencies if, for every non-trivial join dependency
JD (R1, R2, …….Rn) in F* (that is implied by F), every Ri is a
superkey of R.

For example:
The table is in 4NF as there is no multivalued dependency.

If we decompose the table then we will lose information,

which can be as follows:

Suppose the table is decomposed into two parts as:

The redundancy has been eliminated but we have lost the
information. NOW suppose that the original table to be
decomposed in three parts, Company_Product, Company
_Supplier and Product_Supplier, which is as follows:

So, it is clear that if a table is in 4NF and cannot be further

decomposed, it is said to be in 5NF.

Section 6: Serializable
Schedule Important Questions
a. Describe serializable schedule. Discuss con flict
serializability with suitable example.

Ans. Serializable schedule: Serializability is a property

of a transaction schedule which is used to keep the data in
the data item in consistent state. It is the classical
concurrency scheme.
Serializability is required:

 1. To control concurrent execution of transaction.

 2. To ensure that the database state remains
consistent.
Serializability of schedule:

 1. In DBMS, the basic assumption is that each

transaction preserves database consistency.
 2. Thus, the serial execution of a set of
transaction preserves database consistency.
 3. A concurrent schedule is serializable if it is
equivalent to a serial schedule.
Conflict serializability:

 1. Consider a schedule S, in which there are two

consecutive instructions Ii and Ij of transactions
Ti and Tj respectively (i ≠ j).
 2 If Ii and Ij refer to different data items, then
swap Ii and Ij without affecting the results of any
instruction in the schedule.
 3. However, if Ii and Ij refer to the same data item,
then the order of the two steps matter.
 4. Following are four possible cases:
  5. Ii and Ij conflict if there are operations by
different transactions on the same dataitem, and
at least one of these instructions is a write
operation.
For example:

i. The write (A) instruction of T1 conflicts with read (A)

instruction of T2. However, the write (A) instruction of
T2 does not conflict with the read (B) instruction of T 1 as
they access different data items.

Schedule S’
ii. Since the write (A) instruction of T2 in Schedule S’ does
not conflict with the read (B) instruction of T1 we can swap
these instructions to generate an equivalent schedule.

iii. Both schedules will produce the same final system state.

6. If a schedule S can be transformed into a schedule S’ by

a series of Swaps of non-conflicting instructions, we say
that S and S’ are conflict equivalent.

7. The concept of conflict equivalence leads to the concept

of conflict serializability and the schedule Sis conflict
serializable.

b. Discuss the procedure of deadlock detection and

recovery in transaction ?

Ans. Deadlock:
  1. A deadlock is a situation in which two or more
transactions are waiting for locks held by the
other transaction to release the lock.
 2. Every transaction is waiting for another
transaction to finish its operations.
Methods to handle a deadlock:

 1. Deadlock prevention protocol: This

protocol ensures that the system will not go into
deadlock state. There are different methods that
can be used for deadlock prevention:
 a. Pre-declaration method: This
method requires that each transaction
locks all its data item before it starts
execution.
 b. Partial ordering method: In this
method, system imposes a partial ordering
of all data items and requires that a
transaction can lock a data item only in
the order specified by partial order.
 c. Timestamp method: In this method,
the data item are locked using the
timestamp of transaction.
 2. Deadlock detection:
 a. When a transaction waits indefinitely to
obtain a lock, system should detect
whether the transaction is involved in a
deadlock or not.
 b. Wait-for-graph is one of the methods for
detecting the deadlock situation.
 c. In this method a graph is drawn based
on the transaction and their lock on the
resource.
 d. If the graph created has a closed loop or
a cycle, then there is a deadlock.
 3. Recovery from deadlock:
 a. Selection of a victim: In this we
determine which transaction (or
transactions) to roll back to break the
deadlock. We should rollback those
transactions that will incur the minimum
cost.
 b. Rollback: The simplest solution is a
“total rollback”. Abort the transaction and
then restart it.
 c. Starvation: In a system where
selection of transactions, for rollback, is
based on the cost factor, it may happen
that the some transactions are always
picked up.
 4. Deadlock avoidance: Deadlock can be
avoided by following methods:
 a. Serial access: If only one transaction
can access the database at a time, then
we can avoid deadlock.
 b. Autocommit transaction: It includes
that each transaction can only lock one
resource immediately as it uses it, then
finishes its transaction and releases its
lock before requesting any other
resource.
 c. Ordered updates: If transactions
always request resources in the same
order (for example, numerically ascending
by the index value of the row being
 locked) then system do not enters in
deadlock state.
 d. By rolling back conflicting transactions.
 e. By allocating the locks where needed.

Section 7: database Management System

Repeated Questions
a. Given a schedule S for transactions T1 and T2
with set of read and write operations,

S: R1(X) R2(X) R2(Y W2(Y) RI(Y) W1(X).

Identify, whether given schedule is equivalent to

serial schedule or not ?

Ans. Schedule S

This schedule is conflict serializable. The schedule is

conflict equivalent to T2T1.
b. Discuss 2 phase commit (2PC) protocol and time
stamp based protocol with suitable example. How
the validation based protocols differ from 2PC?

Ans. Two phase commit:

 1. Two-phase commit (2PC) is a standardized

protocol that ensures atomicity, consistency,
isolation and durability (ACID) of a transaction; it
is an atomic commitment protocol for distributed
systems.
 2. In a distributed system, transactions involve
altering data on multiple databases or resource
managers, causing the processing to be more
complicated since the database has to coordinate
the committing or rolling back of changes in a
transaction as a self contained unit; either the
entire transaction commits or the entire
transaction rolls back.
Time stamp based protocol: Timestamp based protocol
ensures serializability. It selects an ordering among
transactions in advance using timestamps.

Difference:

S.
2PC Validation Based Protocol
No.

The 2PC protocol is a blocking Two- The validation based protocol (3PC) is a non-blocking Thr
1.
Phase commit protocol. commit protocol.
 For 2PC, the coordinator may abort the For 3PC, the coordinator can abort the transaction globally
2. transaction globally or resend the commit message to the participants or simply send the glob
global decision. all sites that have not acknowledged.