Fundamentals of Database

System(cosc2041)

Chapter Two
Database System Concepts and
Architecture
 Chapter outline
 Data Models and Their Categories
 History of Data Models
 Schemas, Instances, and States
 Three-Schema Architecture
 Data Independence
 DBMS Languages and Interfaces
 Database System Utilities and Tools
 Centralized and Client-Server Architectures
 Classification of DBMSs

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Data Model:
• A set of concepts to describe the structure of a database, the operations for
manipulating these structures, and certain constraints that the database
should obey.
Data Model Structure and Constraints:
• Constructs are used to define the database structure
• Constructs typically include elements (and their data types) as well as
groups of elements (e.g entity, record, table), and relationships among such
groups
• Constraints specify some restrictions on valid data; these constraints must
be enforced at all times
Data Model Operations:
• These operations are used for specifying database retrievals and updates by
referring to the constructs of the data model.
• Operations on the data model may include basic model operations (e.g.
generic insert, delete, update) and user-defined operations;
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Categories of Data Models
A. Conceptual (high-level, semantic) data models:
• Provide concepts that are close to the way many users perceive data.
• The way users perceive the data.
• (Also called entity-based or object-based data models.)
• The community view of the database.
• This level describes what data is stored in the database and the relationships
among the data.
• All the constraints on the data;
• Semantic information about the data;
• security and integrity information.
• entities, their attributes, and their relationships;

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B. Physical (low-level, internal) data models:
• The way the DBMS and the operating system perceive the data.
• Provide concepts that describe details of how data is stored in the
computer.
• The physical representation of the database on the computer.
• The internal level is concerned with such things as:
• Storage space allocation for data and indexes;
• Record descriptions for storage (with stored sizes for data items);
• Record placement;
• Data compression and data encryption techniques.
C. Implementation (representational) data models:
• Provide concepts that fall between the above two, used by many
commercial DBMS implementations (e.g. relational data models used in
many commercial systems).
• which provide concepts that may be easily understood by end users.
• Representational data models hide many details of data storage on disk
but can be implemented on a computer system directly.
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Schemas versus Instances
Database schema: A database schema is the skeleton structure that
represents the logical view of the entire database.
• It defines how the data is organized and how the relations among them
are associated.
• It formulates all the constraints that are to be applied on the data.
• Simply Schema is the description of a database.
• Includes descriptions of the database structure, data types, and the
constraints on the database.
• The data in the database at any particular point in time is called a
database instance.
Schema Diagram:
• An illustrative display of (some aspects of) a database schema.
Schema Construct:
• A component of the schema or an object within the schema, e.g., student,
course.

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Database State:
• The actual data stored in a database at a particular moment in time. This
includes the collection of all the data in the database.
• Also called database instance (or occurrence or snapshot).
• The term instance is also applied to individual database components, e.g.
record instance, table instance, entity instance
Initial Database State:
• Refers to the database state when it is initially loaded into the system.
Valid State:
• A state that satisfies the structure and constraints of the database.
Distinction
• The database schema changes very infrequently.
• The database state changes every time the database is updated.

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• Schema is sometimes called the intension of the database
• Instance is called an extension(or state) of the database.

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• The following relations contains database instances or values

Name Student_num Class Major

ber

Smith 17 1 CS

Brown 8 2 CS

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Three-Schema Architecture

• Proposed to support DBMS characteristics of:

• Program-data independence.

• Support of multiple views of the data.

• Not explicitly used in commercial DBMS products, but has been useful in
explaining database system organization

Defines DBMS schemas at three levels:

• at the internal level to describe physical storage structures and access paths.
Internal schema
• Is a complete description of the internal model, containing the definitions of
stored records, the methods of representation, the data fields, and the
indexes and storage structures used.
• Typically uses a physical data model.
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• Conceptual schema at the conceptual level to describe the structure and
constraints for the whole database for a community of users.
• Describes all the entities, attributes, and relationships together with integrity
constraints.
• Uses a conceptual or an implementation data model.
• External schemas (also called subschema) at the external level to
describe the various user views.
• Correspond to different views of the data.
• Usually uses the same data model as the conceptual level.
The three-schema architecture

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The three-schema architecture

• Mappings among schema levels are needed to transform requests and data.
• Programs refer to an external schema, and are mapped by the DBMS to the
internal schema for execution.
• Data extracted from the internal DBMS level is reformatted to match the
user’s external view (e.g. formatting the results of an SQL query for display
in a Web page).

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Data independence: is the ability to modify the schema definition in one
level should not affect the schema definition in the next higher level.
• Two types of Data Independence:
1. Physical Data Independence
2. Logical Data Independence
Logical Data Independence:
• Logical data is data about database, that is, it stores information about how
data is managed inside.
• The capacity to change the conceptual schema without having to change the
external schemas and their associated application programs.
Physical Data Independence:
• The capacity to change the internal schema without having to change the
conceptual schema.
• For example, the internal schema may be changed when certain file structures
are reorganized or new indexes are created to improve database performance

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• When a schema at a lower level is changed, only the mappings
between this schema and higher-level schemas need to be changed in
a DBMS that fully supports data independence.
• The higher-level schemas themselves are unchanged.
• Hence, the application programs need not be changed since they refer
to the external schemas.

 DBMS Languages
• A data sublanguage consists of two parts:
• Data Definition Language(DDL)
• Data Manipulation Language(DML).
• The DDL is used to specify the database schema
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• The DML is used to both read and update the database.
• These languages are called data sublanguages because they do not include
constructs for all computing needs such as conditional or iterative statements,
which are provided by the high-level programming languages.
• Many DBMSs have a facility for embedding the sublanguage in a high-level
programming language such as COBOL, Fortran, Pascal, Ada, ‘C’, C++, Java, or
Visual Basic.
High-Level or Non-procedural Languages: These include the
relational language SQL. May be used in a standalone way or may be embedded
in a programming language
Low Level or Procedural Languages: These must be embedded in a
programming language.
View definition language (VDL)- Specifies user views/mappings to
conceptual schema.
 Storage definition language (SDL)- Specifies the internal schema

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Data Definition Language (DDL):
• Used by the DBA and database designers to specify the conceptual schema of a
database.
• In many DBMSs, the DDL is also used to define internal and external schemas
(views).
• In some DBMSs, separate storage definition language (SDL) and view
definition language (VDL) are used to define internal and external schemas.
• SDL is typically realized via DBMS commands provided to the DBA and
database designers
Data Manipulation Language (DML):
• Used to specify database retrievals and updates
• DML commands (data sublanguage) can be embedded in a general-purpose
programming language (host language), such as COBOL, C, C++, or Java.
• A library of functions can also be provided to access the DBMS from a
programming language
• Alternatively, stand-alone DML commands can be applied directly (called a query
language).
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• Types of DML
High Level or Non-procedural Language:
• For example, the SQL relational language
• Are “set”-oriented and specify what data to retrieve rather than how to
retrieve it.
• Also called declarative languages.
Low Level or Procedural Language:
• Retrieve data one record-at-a-time;
• Constructs such as looping are needed to retrieve multiple records, along
with positioning pointers.
DBMS Interfaces
 Stand-alone query language interfaces
• Example: Entering SQL queries at the DBMS interactive SQL interface
(e.g. SQL*Plus in ORACLE)
 Programmer interfaces for embedding DML in programming languages

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 User-friendly interfaces
• Menu-based, forms-based, graphics-based, etc.
 Menu-based interfaces for Web clients or browsing
 Forms-based interfaces
 Graphical user interfaces
 Natural language interfaces
 Speech input and output
 Interfaces for parametric users
 Interfaces for the DBA
Database System Utilities
To perform certain functions such as:
 Loading data stored in files into a database. Includes data conversion tools.

 Backing up the database periodically on tape.

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  Reorganizing database file structures.

 Report generation utilities.

 Performance monitoring utilities.

 Other functions, such as sorting, user monitoring, data compression, etc.

Other Tools
Data dictionary / repository:
 Used to store schema descriptions and other information such as design
decisions, application program descriptions, user information, usage
standards, etc.
 Active data dictionary is accessed by DBMS software and users/DBA.

 Passive data dictionary is accessed by users/DBA only.

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Application Development Environments and CASE (computer-aided software
engineering) tools:
Examples:
 PowerBuilder (Sybase)

 JBuilder (Borland)

 JDeveloper 10G (Oracle)

The next figure shows

Typical DBMS
component module of

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Centralized and Client-Server DBMS Architectures
Centralized DBMS:
 Combines everything into single system including:-
 DBMS software,
 hardware,
 application programs, and
 user interface processing software.
 User can still connect through a remote terminal.
 however, all processing is done at centralized site.

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Basic 2-tier Client-Server Architectures
• Specialized Servers with Specialized functions
• Print server
• File server
• DBMS server
• Web server
• Email server
• Clients can access the specialized servers as needed

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Clients
• Provide appropriate interfaces through a client software module to access
and utilize the various server resources.
• Clients may be diskless machines or PCs or Workstations with disks with only
the client software installed.
• Connected to the servers via some form of a network.
• (LAN: local area network, wireless network, etc.)
DBMS Server
• Provides database query and transaction services to the clients
• Relational DBMS servers are often called SQL servers, query servers, or
transaction servers
• Applications running on clients utilize an Application Program Interface (API)
to access server databases via standard interface Like

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 • ODBC: Open Database Connectivity standard
• JDBC: for Java programming access
• Client and server must install appropriate client module and server module
software for ODBC or JDBC
Two Tier Client-Server Architecture
• A client program may connect to several DBMSs, sometimes called the data
sources.
• In general, data sources can be files or other non-DBMS software that
manages data.
• Other variations of clients are possible: e.g., in some object DBMSs, more
functionality is transferred to clients including data dictionary functions,
optimization and recovery across multiple servers, etc.

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Three Tier Client-Server Architecture
• Common for Web applications
• Intermediate Layer called Application Server or Web Server:
• Stores the web connectivity software and the business logic part of the
application used to access the corresponding data from the database
server
• Acts like a conduit for sending partially processed data between the
database server and the client.
• Three-tier Architecture Can Enhance Security:
• Database server only accessible via middle tier
• Clients cannot directly access database server

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Classification of DBMS
I. Based on the data model used
• Traditional: Relational, Network, Hierarchical.
• Emerging: Object-oriented, Object-relational.
II. Other classifications
• Single-user (typically used with personal computers)
vs. multi-user (most DBMSs).
• Centralized (uses a single computer with one database)
vs. distributed (uses multiple computers, multiple databases)

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