Unit 1

Unit 1 Introduction

1.1 E.F.Codd’s Rule

1.2 Overview of Oracle Architecture
1.2.1 Oracle Physical Architecture
1.2.2 Oracle Instance Architecture

1.1 E.F.Codd’s Rule

Database Management System or DBMS essentially consists of a comprehensive set of

application programs that can be leveraged to access, manage and update the data,
provided the data is interrelated and profoundly persistent. Just like any management
system, the goal of a DBMS is to provide an efficient and convenient environment in
which it becomes easy to retrieve and store the information into the database. It goes
without mentioning that databases are used to store and manage large amounts of
information.

To achieve this, the following are the absolute must-haves:

● Data Modeling − It is all about defining the structures for information storage.
● Provision of Mechanisms − To manipulate processed data and modify file and
system structures, it is important to provide query processing mechanisms.
● Crash Recovery and Security − To avoid any discrepancies and ensure that the
data is secure, crash recovery and security mechanisms are must.
● Concurrency Control − If the system is shared by multiple users, concurrency
control is the need of the hour.
Dr Edgar F Codd
Dr E.F.Codd, also known to the world as the ‘Father of Database Management Systems’
had propounded 12 rules which are in-fact 13 in number. The rules are numbered from
zero to twelve. According to him, a DBMS is fully relational if it abides by all his twelve
rules. Till now, only a few databases abide by all the eleven rules. His twelve rules are
fondly called ‘E.F.Codd’s Twelve Commandments’. His brilliant and seminal research
paper ‘A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks’ in its entirety is a visual
treat to eyes.

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Relational Database Management System

There is an unspoken rule in the jargon of Database Management Systems. As the
databases that implement all the E.F.Codd’s rules are scare, the unspoken rule has been
gaining transactions.

● If a management system or software follows any of 5-6 rules proposed by

E.F.Codd, it qualifies to be a Database Management System (DBMS).
● If a management system or software follows any of 7-9 rules proposed by
E.F.Codd, it qualifies to be a semi-Relational Database Management System (semi-
RDBMS).
● If a management system or software follows 9-12 rules proposed by E.F. Codd, it
qualifies to be a complete Relational Database Management System (RDBMS).

Dr Edgar F Codd’s Twelve Commandments

Here is brief note on E.F Codd’s Twelve rules:

Rule 0 − Foundation rule

Any relational database management system that is profounded to be RDBMS or

advocated to be a RDBMS should be able to manage the stored data in its entirety
through its relational capabilities.

Rule 1 − Rule of Information

Relational Databases should store the data in the form of relations. Tables are relations
in Relational Database Management Systems. Be it any user defined data or meta-data,
it is important to store the value as an entity in the table cells.

Rule 2 − Rule of Guaranteed Access

The use of pointers to access data logically is strictly forbidden. Every data entity which
is atomic in nature should be accessed logically by using a right combination of the name
of the table, primary key represented by a specific row value and column name
represented by attribute value.

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Rule 3 − Rule of Systematic Null Value Support

Null values are completely supported in relational databases. They should be uniformly
considered as ‘missing information’. Null values are independent of any data type. They
should not be mistaken for blanks or zeroes or empty strings. Null values can also be
interpreted as ‘inapplicable data’ or ‘unknown information.’

Rule 4 − Rule of Active and online relational Catalog

In the Database Management Systems lexicon, ‘metadata’ is the data about the
database or the data about the data. The active online catalog that stores the metadata
is called ‘Data dictionary’. The so-called data dictionary is accessible only by authored
users who have the required privileges and the query languages used for accessing the
database should be used for accessing the data of the data dictionary.

Rule 5 − Rule of Comprehensive Data Sub-language

A single robust language should be able to define integrity constraints, views, data
manipulations, transactions and authorizations. If the database allows access to the
aforementioned ones, it is violating this rule.

Rule 6 − Rule of Updating Views

Views should reflect the updates of their respective base tables and vice versa. A view is
a logical table which shows restricted data. Views generally make the data readable but
not modifiable. Views help in data abstraction.

Rule 7 − Rule of Set level insertion, update and deletion

A single operation should be sufficient to retrieve, insert, update and delete the data.

Rule 8 − Rule of Physical Data Independence

Batch and end user operations are logically separated from physical storage and
respective access methods.

Rule 9 − Rule of Logical Data Independence

Batch and end users can change the database schema without having to recreate it or
recreate the applications built upon it.

Rule 10 − Rule of Integrity Independence

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Integrity constraints should be available and stored as metadata in a data dictionary and
not in the application programs.

Rule 11 − Rule of Distribution Independence

The Data Manipulation Language of the relational system should not be concerned
about the physical data storage and no alterations should be required if the physical data
is centralized or distributed.

Rule 12 − Rule of Non Subversion

Any row should obey the security and integrity constraints imposed. No special
privileges are applicable.

Almost all full scale DBMSs are RDMSs. Oracle implements 11+ rules and so does Sybase.
SQL Server also implements 11+ rules while FoxPro implements 7+ rules.

1.2 Overview of Oracle Architecture

Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system developed and

marketed by Oracle Corporation. Oracle Database is commonly referred to as Oracle
RDBMS or simply Oracle.

Database and Instance

An Oracle Database consists of a database and at least one instance.

An instance, or database instance, is the combination of memory and processes that are
a part of a running installation and a database is a set of files that store data.

The following picture illustrates the Oracle Database server architecture.

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Sometimes, a database instance is referred to as an entire running database. However, it

is important to understand the distinctions between the two.

First, you can start a database instance without having it accessing any database files.
This is how you create a database, starting an instance first and creating the database
from within the instance.

Second, an instance can access only one database at a time. When you start an instance,
the next step is to mount that instance to a database. And an instance can mount only
one database at a single point in time.

Third, multiple database instances can access the same database. In a clustering
environment, many instances on several servers can access a central database to enable
high availability and scalability.

Finally, a database can exist without an instance. However, it would be unusable because
it is just a set of files.

Physical storage structures

The physical storage structures are simply files that store data. When you execute a
CREATE DATABASE statement to create a new database, Oracle creates the following
files:

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● Data files: data files contain real data, e.g., sales order and customer data. The
data of logical database structures such as tables and indexes are physically
stored in the data files.
● Control files: every database has a control file that contains metadata. The
metadata describes the physical structure of the database including the database
name and the locations of data files.
● Online redo log files: every database has an online redo log that consists of two
or more online redo log files. An online redo log is made up of redo entries that
record all changes made to the data.

Besides these files, an Oracle database includes other important files such as parameter
files, network files, backup files, and archived redo log files for backup and recovery.

Database Instance

A Database Instance is an interface between client applications (users) and the database.
An Oracle instance consists of three main parts: System Global Area (SGA), Program
Global Area (PGA), and background processes.

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The SGA is a shared memory structure allocated when the instance started up and
released when it is shut down. The SGA is a group of shared memory structures that
contain data and control information for one database instance.

Different from the SGA, which is available to all processes, PGA is a private memory area
allocated to each session when the session starts and released when the session ends.

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