UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO DBMS

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DBMS)

• Collection of interrelated data

• Set of programs to access the data
• DBMS contains information about a particular enterprise
• DBMS provides an environment that is both convenient and efficient to use.
• Database Applications:
• Banking: all transactions
• Airlines: reservations, schedules
• Universities: registration, grades
• Sales: customers, products, purchases
• Manufacturing: production, inventory, orders, supply chain
• Human resources: employee records, salaries, tax deductions
• Databases touch all aspects of our lives
PURPOSE OF DATABASE SYSTEM

• In the early days, database applications were built on top of file systems. Drawbacks of using file
systems to store data:
• Data redundancy and inconsistency - duplication of information in different files.
• Uncontrolled duplication of data is undesirable for following reasons:
• Duplication costs time and money to enter data more than once.
• It takes additional storage space thus again increasing associated costs. It can be avoided by sharing data files.
• It may lead to data inconsistency.

• Difficulty in accessing data

• Need to write a new program to carry out each new task.
DRAWBACKS OF FILE SYSTEMS

• Data isolation — multiple files and formats.

• When data is isolated in separate files, it is more difficult to access data and to ensure that data
is correct.
• Also, the structure of file depends on application programming language. Thus, the direct
incompatibility of such files makes it difficult to process jointly.

• Integrity problems
• Integrity constraints (e.g. account balance > 0) become part of program code
• Hard to add new constraints or change existing ones.
DRAWBACKS OF FILE SYSTEMS (CONT.)

• Atomicity of updates
• Failures may leave database in an inconsistent state with partial updates carried out.
• E.g. transfer of funds from one account to another should either complete or not happen at all.

• Concurrent access by multiple users

• Concurrent accessed needed for performance.
• Uncontrolled concurrent accesses can lead to inconsistencies
• E.g. two people reading a balance and updating it at the same time.
• Security problems

Database systems offer solutions to all the above problems

LEVELS OF ABSTRACTION

• Physical level/Internal level : It describes how a record (e.g., customer) is stored.

• Logical level/Conceptual level: It describes data stored in database, and the relationships among the data.
type customer = record
name : string;
street : string;
city : integer;
end;
• View level/ External Level: Application programs hide details of data types. Views can also hide information
(e.g., salary) for security purposes.
VIEWS OF DATA
VIEWS OF DATA

• Physical level/Internal level : The physical representation of the database on the

computer. This level describes how the data is stored in the database.
 It includes :
 Where the data is located
 File structures
 Access methods
 Indexes.

• The physical schema is managed by the DBA.

VIEWS OF DATA

• Logical level/Conceptual level: The community view of the database. This level
describes what data is stored in the database and the relationships among the data.

• What are the entities and Relationships in organization.

• What information these entities and relationships should store in database.
• What integrity constraints/business rules it should have?
• It consists of the schemas we have described with CREATE TABLE statements.
VIEWS OF DATA

• View level/ External Level: The users view of the database. This level describes that part
of the database that is relevant to each user.
• Each external schema is a combination of base tables and views, tailored to the needs of a
single user.
• It is managed by the data designer and the user.
ADVANTAGES OF DBMS

• Control of data redundancy

• Data consistency

• Sharing of data

• Improved data integrity

• Improved security

• Enforcement of standards

• Balance of conflicting requirements

• Improved data accessibility and responsiveness

• Increased productivity

• Improved maintenance through data independence

DISADVANTAGES OF DBMS

• Complexity – provision of the functionality we expect from DBMS makes it extremely

complex.
• Size – complexity and breadth of functionality makes DBMS extremely large piece of
software.
• Cost of DBMSs – it varies significantly depending on the environment & functionality
provided.
• Additional hardware costs – to achieve required performance, it is necessary to procure
large memory.
DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR

• Coordinates all the activities of the database system; the database administrator has a
good understanding of the enterprise’s information resources and needs:
• Database administrator’s duties include:
• Schema definition
• Storage structure and access method definition
• Schema and physical organization modification
• Granting user authority to access the database
• Monitoring performance and responding to changes in requirements
DATABASE USERS

• Users are differentiated by the way they expect to interact with the system.
1. Application programmers: They are the developers who interact with the database by
means of DML queries. These DML queries are written in the application programs like C,
C++, JAVA, C# etc. These queries are converted into object code to communicate with the
database.
• For example, writing a Java program to generate the report of employees who are working
particular department will involve a query to fetch the data from database. It will include a
embedded SQL query in the JAVA Program
DATABASE USERS

2. Sophisticated users :They are database developers, who write SQL queries to select/insert/delete/update data.
They do not use any application or programs to request the database. They directly interact with the database by
means of query language like SQL.

• These users will be scientists, engineers, analysts who thoroughly study SQL and DBMS to apply the concepts
in their requirement. In short, we can say this category includes designers and developers of DBMS and SQL.

3. Specialized users: These are also sophisticated users, but they write special database application programs.
They are the developers who develop the complex programs to the requirement
OVERALL
SYSTEM
STRUCTURE