Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.

Mary Jacob

Introduction to Database Management System

What is Database??
Data base is a collection of related data, i.e known facts that can be recorded and have implicit
meaning.

Implicit Property of Database

A database represents some aspect of the real world.
A database is a logically coherent collection of data with some inherent meaning.
A database is designed built & populated with data for a specific purpose.

Database Management System

DBMS is a collection of programs that enables users to create and maintain the database.
It is a general purpose software system that facilitates the process of defining, constructing &
manipulating database for various applications.
Defining: To specify the data types, structures & constraints of data to be stored in the database.
Constructing: To stored the data itself on some storage medium that is controlled by the DBMS.
Manipulating: Querying the database to retrieve specific data updating the database to reflect
changes in number and generating reports of data.
Database Environment
Users /Programmers

Application programs/Queries

DBMS Software
S/w to process Queries/programs

S/w to access the stored data

Stored Stored
database database
definition
(Metadata)
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Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.Mary Jacob

Database users:
Actors on the scene:
The persons whose jobs involve the day to day use of the large database are called actors on the
scene.
Database Administrators (DBA):
DBA is the chief administrator to oversee and manage the resources i.e (the primary resource is
the database itself and the secondary resource is DBMS and related software)
He is responsible for authorizing access to the database for coordinating and monitoring its uses
for acquiring software and hardware resources as needed.
He is responsible for breach of security poor response time etc.
Database designers:
They are responsible for identifying data to be stored in the database and for choosing
appropriate structures to represent and store the data.
They have to study the requirements of the various users to come up with the design that meets
the requirements.
This task is done before the database is implements populated with data.
They also talk to the perspective users & develop the view for different users t meet their
processing requirements.
End users:
End users are the people where jobs require the access to the Database for querying, updating &
generating reports several categories of end users.
Casual End users:
They occasionally access the database but they may need different information each time.
They use a sophisticated database query language to specify their requests & are typically middle
of high level manager or occasional browsers.
Naïve or parametric End users:
They job revolves around constantly querying and updating the database using standard types of
queries & updates called canned transactions.
Eg. Bank tellers, reservation clerks etc.
Sophisticated End users:
They familiarize themselves with the facilities of the DBMS, to implement their applications to
meet their complex requirements.
Eg. engineers, scientists etc.
Stand alone users:
They maintain personal database by using ready made program packages. They are easy to use
menu of graphical Interfaces.
System analysts and Application programmers:
System Analyst: They study the requirements of End users specially having users and make the
specifications for canned transactions.

III Sem BCA Database Management System Kristu Jayanti College

Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.Mary Jacob

Application programmer: They implement the specifications as programs. i.e., test debug,
document & maintain the canned transactions. Both together are called Software engineers.

Workers behind the scene:

These persons are typically not interested in the database itself.
DBMS system designers & Implementers:
These persons designs and implement the DBMS modules and interfaces as a software package.
DBMS has several modules like recovery, security, concurrency control etc.
DBMS must interface with other system software, such as operating system & compilers of
programming languages.
Tool Developers:
These persons design & implement the tools i.e. the software packages that facilitate database
system design & use and help improve performance.
Operators and maintenance personnel:
These are the administration personnel who ate responsible for the actual running & maintenance
of the hardware and software environment for the database system.

Characteristics of the database Approach:

1. Self describing nature of the Database system:
The database system contains not only the database itself but also a complete definition or
description of the database structure and constraints. This definition is stored in system catalog.
The information stored in catalog is called metadata.

2. Insulation between programs and data, data Abstraction:

DBMS Access programs do not require undergoing changes when the structure of the data files
is changed because the structure of data file is stored separately in DBMS catalog separately.
This property is called program data Independence.
In object oriented database users can define operations on data as part of database definitions.
The operation has the interface and implementation. The implementation is specified separately
and can be changed without affecting the interface. User programs can operate on the data by
invoking these operations through the interface regardless of how the operations are
implemented. This property is called program operation independence.
These characteristics of program data independence and program operation independence are
called data abstraction.

3. Support of multiple views of data:

A database has many users and each of them may require a different perspective or view of
database.
View is the subset of the database or it is containing the virtual data derived from the database
files but is not explicitly stored.
A multiuser DBMS whose user has a variety of application must provide facilities for defining
multiple views.
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4. Sharing of Data & Multiuser Transaction Processing:

A multiuser DBMS must allow multiple users to access the database at the same time.
This is essential if data for multiple applications is to be integrated and maintained in a single
database.
The DBMS must include concurrency control software to ensure that several users trying to
update the same data do so in a controlled manner so that the result of the updates is correct.

Implications of the database approach

The implications of using the database approach that can benefit most organizations are:
1. Potential for Enforcing Standards
The database approach permits the DBA to define and enforce standards among database users in
a large organization. Standards can be defined for names and formats of data elements, display
formats, report structures and so on.

2. Reduced Application Development Time

The main advantage of database approach is that developing a new application takes a very little
time. Once a database is up and running, less time is required to create new applications using
DBMS facilities.

3. Flexibility
DBMS allows certain types of changes to the structure of the database without affecting the
stored data and the existing application programs.

4. Availability of up-to-date Information

A DBMS makes the database available to all users. When one user updates a database, all other
users can immediately see this update. This availability of up-to-date information is essential for
reservation systems, banking databases etc.

5. Economies of scale
Wasteful overlap of resources and personnel can be avoided by consolidating data and
applications across departments.

Advantages of using DBMS:

1. Controlling redundancy:
In DBMS approach the data required for different users can be stored in a centralized manner
without duplicating the data multiple times.
When the data is stored redundantly several problems like the following arise,
 Duplication of effect as several data has to be entered many times
 Wastage of storage space as the same data is stored many times
 Data may become inconsistent as the updating requires to be done separately on all files.

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 Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.Mary Jacob

2. Restricting unauthorized access:

When multiple users share the database it is required that the users be authorized and given
certain operation permissions. This is taken care by the authorization and security subsystem,
where the DBA creates accounts and specifies the account restrictions.

3. Providing persistent storage for program objects and data structures:

Database provides persistent storage for program objects and data structures. This is one of the
main reasons for the emergence of object oriented database. The data structures provided by
DBMS are compatible with the programming language data structures.

4. Permitting inferencing & actions using rules:

Some data bases provide capabilities for defining deduction rules for inferencing new
information from the stored database facts. Such systems are called deductive database systems.
As the miniworld rules changes the declared deduction rules can be changed than to recode the
procedural programs. Active database systems provide the active rules that can automatically
initiate actions.

5. Representing complex relationships among data:

DBMS must have the capability to represent a variety of complex relationships among the data
as well as to retrieve and update related data easily & efficiently.

6. Providing multiple user interfaces:

Since person with varying levels of technical knowledge use the database DBMS should provide
a variety of user interface. They include query language for naïve users menu & natural language
interfaces for stand alone users.

7. Enforcing integrity constraints:

DBMS must provide capabilities for defining and enforcing the constraints (rules). Constraints
include specifying the data type, uniqueness of data item etc.

8. Providing backup & recovery:

DBMS must provide facilities for recovering from hardware & software failures. The back up
and recovery subsystem is responsible for recovery.

When not to use a DBMS

In spite of the advantages of using a DBMS, there are few situations in which there are
overhead costs such as:
 High initial investment in hardware, software and training.
 Overhead for providing generality, security, concurrency control, recovery, and integrity
functions.

III Sem BCA Database Management System Kristu Jayanti College

 Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.Mary Jacob

A DBMS may be unnecessary if,

 the database and applications are simple, well defined and not expected to change.
 there are stringent real-time requirements that may not be met because of DBMS overhead.
 access to data by multiple users is not required.

DATABASE SYSTEM CONCEPTS AND ARCHITECTURE

Data models
DBMS allows a user to specify the data to be stored in terms of a data model. A data model is a
collection of higher level data description constraints that hides lower level storage details. It is the
collection of concepts that can be used to describe the structure of a database. (Structure means the data
types, relationships & constraints that are held on the data).

Data models are of three types:

1. Object based / High-level data models

2. Record based / Representational data models

3. Physical data model / low-level data models

1) High Level or Conceptual Data Model:

It provides the concepts that are close to the way many users perceive the data. Conceptual Data Model
uses the concepts like entity, attributes, relationship.

Entity: It is the real world object.

Attribute: property of the entity.

Relationship: Interaction between entities.

2) Representational or Implementation Data Model:

3) It provides the concepts understood by the end users and not far from the way data is organized on the
computer. It includes the relational model, hierarchical and network model.

III Sem BCA Database Management System Kristu Jayanti College

Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.Mary Jacob

There are 3 types of record based data model. They are:

i. Hierarchical data model.

ii. Network data model.

iii. Relational data model.

i. Hierarchical data model

The data is sorted hierarchically, using a downward tree. This model uses pointers to navigate
between stored data. It was the first DBMS model.

ii. Network data model

Like the hierarchical model, this model uses pointers toward stored data. However, it does not
necessarily use a downward tree structure.

iii. Relational data model (RDBMS, Relational database management system)The data is stored in two-
dimensional tables (rows and columns). The data is manipulated based on the relational theory of
mathematics.

3) Low Level or Physical Data Model:

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Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.Mary Jacob

It provides the concepts that describe the details of how data is stored in the computer. Physical Data
Model describes the storage of data in the computer by representing information such as record formats,
record orderings and access path. Concepts provided by these models are generally meant for computer
specialists, not for typical end users.

Schema, Instances & Database State

Database Schema: It is the description of the database specified during database design and is not
expected to change frequently.

Schema Diagram: The schema displayed diagrammatically is called schema diagram.

Schema Construct: Each object in the schema is called schema construct.

E.g.) of schema diagram

Student

Name Id phone

(Student & course are schema constraints)

Course

Cid Cname dept

Database State or Snapshot:

The data in the database at a particular moment of time is called database state or snapshot. Also called
current set of occurrences or instances in the database.

Meta Data: The DBMS stores the description of the schema constructs and constraints called meta data
in DBMS catalog.

 Schema is called intension and database state is called the extension.

Three Schema Architecture:

III Sem BCA Database Management System Kristu Jayanti College

Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.Mary Jacob

The architecture is defined at 3 levels.

Internal level:

 This level has an internal schema.

 It describes the physical storage structure of the database

 The internal schema uses a physical data model and describes the complete details of data storage
and access path of the database.

Conceptual Level:

 This level has a conceptual schema, which describes the structure of the whole database for a
community of users.

 It hides the details of physical storage structure and concentrates on describing entities, data types,
relationships, constraints and user operations.

External or View Level:

 It includes the external schemas or user views.

 Each external schema describes the part of the database that a particular user group is interested
in and hides the rest of the database from that user group.

Mappings:
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The three schemas are only descriptions of data and the actual data exists only at physical level.

 Each user group refers to only the external schema and the DBMS must transfer the request against the
conceptual schema and then to the internal schema for processing over the stored database.

 If the request is the database retrieval, the data extracted from the stored database should be
reformatted to the external view of user. This process of transferring requests and results between levels is
called mapping.

Data Independence:
It is the capacity to change the schema at one level of the database system without having to change the
schema at the next higher level.

1. Logical Data Independence:

It is the capacity to change the conceptual schema without having to change external schemas or
application programs.

2. Physical Data Independence:

It is the capacity to change the internal schema without to change the conceptual schemas.

Database language and Interfaces:

DBMS languages:

1. Data Definition Language (DDL):

The DDL is used by DBA and database designers to define the conceptual and internal schema when
there is no clean separation between them. If a clear separation is maintained between the conceptual and
internal schema then DDL is used to define only the conceptual schema.

2. Storage Definition Language (SDL):

This is used to specify only the internal schema.

3. View Definition Language (VDL):

VDL is used to specify the user views and their mappings to the conceptual schema

4. Data Manipulation Languages (DML):

DML is used to perform the various manipulations on the database such as to retrieve, insert, delete,
modify etc.
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Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.Mary Jacob

There are two types of DML’s:

a) High level or nonprocedural DML:

 It can be used to specify complex database operations in a concise manner.

 High level DML’s can either be entered interactively from a terminal or it can be embedded in a
general purpose programming language.

 It is also called set-at-a time as many records are processed at a time.

b) Low level of procedural DML:

 This must be embedded in a general purpose programming language. This DML retrieves
individual record from the database and processes each separately. Therefore it is called record at
a time DML.

In the above both low level and high level DML’s when embedded in a programming language. The
language is called host language and the DML is called the data sublanguage.

DBMS Interfaces:
1. Menu Based Interfaces:

 This Interface provides the user with a list of options called menu that leads the user through the
formulation of a request.

 Query is composed in step by step by picking options from a menu that is displayed by the system.

 It is often used in browsing interfaces.

2. Form based interface:

 A form based interface displays a form to each user.

 Users can fill out the form entries or certain entries using which the queries will be created.

 DBMS’s will have the form specification languages that help programmers to specify such form.

3. Graphical user interface (GUI):

 GUI displays schema to the user in diagrammatic form and user can specify the request by
manipulating the diagram.

 GUI’s use menu and forms.

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III Sem BCA Database Management System Kristu Jayanti College

Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.Mary Jacob

4. Natural language interface:

 This interface accepts the request in English or some other language.

 Natural language interface has its own schema and a set of words to interpret the request.

5. Interfaces for parametric users:

 Parametric users like bank tellers have a small set of operations that must be performed
repeatedly.

 The function keys in a terminal can be programmed to initiate various commands.

6. Interfaces for DBA:

 It is the set of privileged commands used by the DBA staff, to create accounts, grant
authorizations etc.

Database System Environment

1. DBMS component Modules.

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III Sem BCA Database Management System Kristu Jayanti College

Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.Mary Jacob

The database and DBMS catalog is stored on the disk. Access to the disk is controlled primarily by the
operating system which schedules disk input/output.

A higher level stored data manager module of DBMS controls access to DBMS information that is
stored on the disk (i.e.) database or DBMS catalog. It uses the basic operating system services for
carrying out low level data transfer between disk and main storage.

The DDL compiler processes schema definitions specified in DDL and stores the descriptions of the
schema in the DBMS catalog.

The run time database processor handles database accesses at run time. It receives the retrieval or
update operations and carries them out on the database.

Access to the disk goes through stored data manager.

The Query Compiler handles high level queries that are entered interactively. It passes, analyzes and
compiles or interprets a query by creating database access code and then generates calls to the run time
processor for executing the code.

Pre-compiler extracts DML commands from an application program written in host programming
language. These commands are send to DML Compiler for compilation into object code for database
access.

The rest of the program is sent to host language compiler. The object code for DML commands and the
rest of the program are linked forming canned transactions, whose executable code includes calls to the
runtime database processor.

2. Database system utilities:

Common database utilities have these functions.

i. Loading:

It is used to load the existing data files such as text files or sequential files into the database when the
source file format and target file format is different, this utility does the conversion automatically.

ii. Backup:

This creates a backup copy of the database, usually dumping the entire database on the tape. Incremental
backups are also used to record the change to the previous backup.

iii. File Reorganization:

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Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.Mary Jacob

This is used to reorganize a database file into a different file organization to improve performance.

iv. Performance Monitoring:

It monitors database usage and provides statistics files to improve performance. Other utilities exist for
sorting, file compressions etc.

3. Tools, Applications Environments and communications facilities:

 CASE Tools :

It is used in the design phase to help speed up the development process.

 Data dictionary system

It stores catalog information about schemas and constraints, as well as design decisions,
usage standards, application program descriptions, user information. It is also called as
information repository. It can be accessed directly by DBA or users when needed.

 Application development environments

It provides an environment for developing database applications and includes facilities to

help in database design, querying and updating, GUI development and application
development. (i.e. JBuilder)

 Communication software

It allows the users at remote locations to access the database through computer terminals,
workstations or personal computers. It is connected to the database through data
communications hardware such as phone lines, local area networks etc.

.Classification of Database Management systems

DBMS can be classified in various ways:

1. Based on the Data Model

 Relational data model

The relational Data Model represents a database as a collection of tables, where each table can be
stored as a separate file.
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Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.Mary Jacob

 Hierarchical data model

In a hierarchical data model, data is organized into a tree like structure.

 Network data model

The network data model represents data in terms of records and also 1: N relationship.

 Object relational data model

These add new object storage capabilities to the relational systems at the core of modern
information systems, by encapsulating methods with data structures.

2. Based on the number of Users

 Single User systems

A single user system supports one user at a time. It is used mainly in personal computers.

 Multi User systems

A multiuser system supports multiple users at a time, which is implemented in most of the
computers.

3. Based on the number of Sites on which database is distributed

 Centralized DBMS

It contains the database at only one computer site, which can support multiple users.

 Distributed DBMS

It contains the database and DBMS software stored over many sites connected by network.

 Homogeneous

It uses the same DBMS software at multiple sites.

 Federated DBMS (Multiple database system)

The participating DBMS’s are loosely coupled and have a degree of local autonomy.

 Online transaction processing(OLTP)

These support a large number of concurrent transactions without imposing excessive delays.

4. Based on types of access path

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III Sem BCA Database Management System Kristu Jayanti College

Unit 1: Introduction to DBMS Ms.Mary Jacob

 Special purpose

It is a package developed to suit the needs of a particular user, which cannot be used by other
users.

 General purpose

It can be used for any type of application.

5. Based on Cost

Majority of DBMS cost more. Single user low-end system that works with microcomputers cost
relatively lesser between $100 and $3000.

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III Sem BCA Database Management System Kristu Jayanti College