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Facts about internal schema

DBMS Schemas • The internal schema is the lowest
Database systems comprise of complex level of data abstraction
data structures. Thus, to make the • It helps you to keeps information
system efficient for retrieval of data and about the actual representation of
reduce the complexity of the users, the entire database. Like the
developers use the method of Data actual storage of the data on the
Abstraction. disk in the form of records
• The internal view tells us what data
There are mainly three levels of data is stored in the database and how
abstraction: • It never deals with the physical
devices. Instead, internal schema
Internal Level: Actual PHYSICAL storage views a physical device as a
structure and access paths. collection of physical pages
Conceptual or Logical Level: Structure
and constraints for the entire database
Conceptual Schema/Level
External or View level: Describes
The conceptual schema describes the
various user views
Database structure of the whole
database for the community of users.
This schema hides information about
the physical storage structures and
focuses on describing data types,
entities, relationships, etc.
This logical level comes between the
user level and physical storage view.
However, there is only single
conceptual view of a single database.

Internal level Schema Facts about Conceptual schema

The internal schema defines the • Defines all database entities, their
physical storage structure of the attributes, and their relationships
database. The internal schema is a very • Security and integrity information
low-level representation of the entire • In the conceptual level, the data
database. It contains multiple available to a user must be
occurrences of multiple types of internal contained in or derivable from the
record. In the ANSI term, it is also called physical level
“stored record’.

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Goals of 3 level/Schema of
External Schema/Level Database
An external schema describes the part Here, are some Objectives of using
of the database which specific user is Three schema Architecture:
interested in. It hides the unrelated
details of the database from the user. • Every user should be able to access
There may be “n” number of external the same data but able to see a
views for each database. customized view of the data.
• The user need not to deal directly
Each external view is defined using an with physical database storage
external schema, which consists of detail.
definitions of various types of external • The DBA should be able to change
record of that specific view. the database storage structure
without disturbing the user’s views
An external view is just the content of • The internal structure of the database
the database as it is seen by some should remain unaffected when
specific particular user. For example, a changes made to the physical
user from the sales department will see aspects of storage.
only sales related data.
Advantages Database Schema
Facts about External Schema • You can manage data independent
• An external level is only related to of the physical storage
the data which is viewed by • Faster Migration to new graphical
specific end users. environments
• This level includes some external • DBMS Architecture allows you to
schemas. make changes on the presentation
• External schema level is nearest to level without affecting the other two
the user layers
• The external schema describes • As each tier is separate, it is possible
the segment of the database to use different sets of developers
which is needed for a certain user • It is more secure as the client doesn’t
group and hides the remaining have direct access to the database
details from the database from the business logic
specific user group • In case of the failure of the one-tier
no data loss as you are always secure
by accessing the other tier

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Disadvantages Database
Schema
• Complete DB Schema is a complex
structure which is difficult to
understand for every one
• Difficult to set up and maintain
• The physical separation of the tiers
can affect the performance of the
Database

Summary
• There are mainly three levels of data
abstraction: Internal Level,
Conceptual or Logical Level or
External or View level
• The internal schema defines the
physical storage structure of the
database
• The conceptual schema describes
the Database structure of the whole
database for the community of users
• An external schema describe the part
of the database which specific user is
interested in
• DBMS Architecture allows you to
make changes on the presentation
level without affecting the other two
layers

References
https://www.guru99.com/dbms-
schemas.html

IT 313 - Database Management System