A database is an integrated collection of logically-related records or files

consolidated into a common pool that provides data for one or more multiple uses.
One way of classifying databases involves the type of content, for example:
bibliographic, full-text, numeric, and image.

Other classification methods start from examining database models or database

architectures: see below. Software organizes the data in a database according to a
database model. As of 2010 the relational model occurs most commonly. Other
models such as the hierarchical model and the network model use a more explicit
representation of relationships.

Database management systems

A database management system (DBMS) consists of software that organizes the
storage of data. A DBMS controls the creation, maintenance, and use of the database
storage structures of social organizations and of their users. It allows organizations to
place control of organization wide database development in the hands of Database
Administrators (DBAs) and other specialists. In large systems, a DBMS allows users
and other software to store and retrieve data in a structured way.

Database management systems are usually categorized according to the database

model that they support, such as the network, relational or object model. The model
tends to determine the query languages that are available to access the database. One
commonly used query language for the relational database is SQL, although SQL
syntax and function can vary from one DBMS to another. A common query language
for the object database is OQL, although not all vendors of object databases
implement this, majority of them do implement this method. A great deal of the
internal engineering of a DBMS is independent of the data model, and is concerned
with managing factors such as performance, concurrency, integrity, and recovery
from hardware failures. In these areas there are large differences between the
products.

A relational database management system (RDBMS) implements features of the

relational model. In this context, Date's "Information Principle" states: "the entire
information content of the database is represented in one and only one way. Namely
as explicit values in column positions (attributes) and rows in relations (tuples).
Therefore, there are no explicit pointers between related tables."

This contrasts with the object database management system (ODBMS), which does
store explicit pointers between related types.
Types
Operational database

These databases store detailed data needed to support the operations of an entire
organization. They are also called subject-area databases (SADB), transaction
databases, and production databases. For example:

 customer databases
 personal database
 inventory databases
 accounting databases

Analytical database

These databases store data and information extracted from selected operational and
external databases. They consist of summarized data and information most needed by
an organization's management and other[which?] end-users. Some people refer to
analytical databases as multidimensional databases, management databases, or
information databases.

Data warehouse

A data warehouse stores data from current and previous years — data extracted from
the various operational databases of an organization. It becomes the central source of
data that has been screened, edited, standardized and integrated so that it can be used
by managers and other end-user professionals throughout an organization. Data
warehouses are characterized by being slow to insert into but fast to retrieve from.
Recent developments in data warehousing have led to the use of a Shared nothing
architecture to facilitate extreme scaling.

Distributed database

These are databases of local work-groups and departments at regional offices, branch
offices, manufacturing plants and other work sites. These databases can include
segments of both common operational and common user databases, as well as data
generated and used only at a user’s own site.

End-user database

These databases consist of a variety of data files developed by end-users at their

workstations. Examples of these are collections of documents in spreadsheets, word
processing and even downloaded files.

External database

These databases provide access to external, privately-owned data online — available

for a fee to end-users and organizations from commercial services. Access to a wealth
of information from external database is available for a fee from commercial online
services and with or without charge from many sources in the Internet.

Hypermedia databases on the web

These are a set of interconnected multimedia pages at a web-site. They consist of a

home page and other hyperlinked pages of multimedia or mixed media such as text,
graphic, photographic images, video clips, audio etc.

Navigational database

In navigational databases, queries find objects primarily by following references from

other objects. Traditionally navigational interfaces are procedural, though one could
characterize some modern systems like XPath as being simultaneously navigational
and declarative.

In-memory databases

In-memory databases primarily rely on main memory for computer data storage. This
contrasts with database management systems which employ a disk-based storage
mechanism. Main memory databases are faster than disk-optimized databases since
the internal optimization algorithms are simpler and execute fewer CPU instructions.
Accessing data in memory provides faster and more predictable performance than
disk. In applications where response time is critical, such as telecommunications
network equipment that operates emergency systems, main memory databases are
often used.

Document-oriented databases

Document-oriented databases are computer programs designed for document-oriented

applications. These systems may be implemented as a layer above a relational
database or an object database. As opposed to relational databases, document-based
databases do not store data in tables with uniform sized fields for each record. Instead,
they store each record as a document that has certain characteristics. Any number of
fields of any length can be added to a document. Fields can also contain multiple
pieces of data.

Real-time databases

A real-time database is a processing system designed to handle workloads whose state

may change constantly. This differs from traditional databases containing persistent
data, mostly unaffected by time. For example, a stock market changes rapidly and
dynamically. Real-time processing means that a transaction is processed fast enough
for the result to come back and be acted on right away. Real-time databases are useful
for accounting, banking, law, medical records, multi-media, process control,
reservation systems, and scientific data analysis. As computers increase in power and
can store more data, real-time databases become integrated into society and are
employed in many applications.
Relational Database

The standard of business computing as of 2009, relational databases are the most
commonly used database today. It uses the table to structure information so that it can
be readily and easily searched through.

COMPONENTS
RDBMS components

 Interface drivers - A user or application program initiates either schema

modification or content modification. These drivers are built on top of SQL. They
provide methods to prepare statements, execute statements, fetch results, etc.
Examples include DDL, DCL, DML, ODBC, and JDBC. Some vendors provide
language-specific proprietary interfaces. For example MySQL provides drivers for
PHP, Python, etc.

 SQL engine - This component interprets and executes the SQL query. It comprises
three major components (compiler, optimizer, and execution engine).

 Transaction engine - Transactions are sequences of operations that read or write

database elements, which are grouped together.

 Relational engine - Relational objects such as Table, Index, and Referential

integrity constraints are implemented in this component.

 Storage engine - This component stores and retrieves data records. It also provides
a mechanism to store metadata and control information such as undo logs, redo logs,
lock tables, etc.

ODBMS components

 Language drivers - A user or application program initiates either schema

modification or content modification via the chosen programming language. The
drivers then provide the mechanism to manage object lifecycle coupling of the
application memory space with the underlying persistent storage. Examples include
C++, Java, .NET, and Ruby.
 Query engine - This component interprets and executes language-specific query
commands in the form of OQL, LINQ, JDOQL, JPAQL, others. The query engine
returns language specific collections of objects which satisfy a query predicate
expressed as logical operators e.g >, <, >=, <=, AND, OR, NOT, GroupBY, etc.
  Transaction engine - Transactions are sequences of operations that read or write
database elements, which are grouped together. The transaction engine is
concerned with such things as data isolation and consistency in the driver cache and
data volumes by coordinating with the storage engine.
 Storage engine - This component stores and retrieves objects in an arbitrarily
complex model. It also provides a mechanism to manage and store metadata and
control information such as undo logs, redo logs, lock graphs,

Primary tasks of DBMS packages

 Database Development: used to define and organize the content, relationships, and
structure of the data needed to build a database.
 Database Interrogation: can access the data in a database for information retrieval
and report generation. End users can selectively retrieve and display information
and produce printed reports and documents.
 Database Maintenance: used to add, delete, update, correct, and protect the data
in a database.
 Application Development: used to develop prototypes of data entry screens,
queries, forms, reports, tables, and labels for a prototyped application. Or use 4GL
or 4th Generation Language or application generator to develop program codes.