IT 24

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

ALDERSGATE COLLEGE

LECTURE 1
FUNDAMENTAL DATABASE CONCEPTS
WHAT IS A DATABASE?

• A database is any collection of data.

• A DBMS is a software system

designed to maintain a database.

• We use a DBMS when

• there is a large amount of data
• security and integrity of the data are important
• many users access the data concurrently
 EXAMPLE DATABASE APPLICATION

• Consider a Phone Company, such as AT&T

• Kinds of information they deal with:

customer records
employee records

billing information
management records

switching and wiring diagrams

customer service orders

CONCERNS OF A DATABASE USER

• With all that data,

AT&T must be concerned with questions such as:

• Where is the information kept?

• How is the data structured?
• How is the data kept consistent?
• How is the data described?
• How is the data kept secure?
• How do different pieces of data interrelate?
 WHY USE A DBMS?

• Without a DBMS, we'd have:

Access by a collection
of ad hoc programs
in C++, Java, PHP, etc.
users of
the data

There is no control or
coordination of what
these programs do
data stored as bits on disks
organized as files with the data
 WHY USE A DBMS?

• With a DBMS, we have: applications

DBMS users of
the data

DBMS provides control

data stored as bits on disks and coordination to
organized as files protect the data.
 DBMS STRUCTURE

application
application
program(s)
application
program(s)
application
program(s) users of
program(s)
the data
external/application view
internal/implementation view
query processor
security manager
DBMS
software concurrency manager
components index manager

data
data definition data
description processor data
dictionary
 DBMS LANGUAGES
application
application
DML: data manipulation language application
program(s)
application
program(s) users of
QL: query language program(s)
program(s) the data
GPL: general purpose languages

query processor
security manager
concurrency manager system
index manager configuration
languages
DDL:
data data
definition definition data
language processor data
dictionary
ADVANTAGES OF USING A DBMS

• Anything you can do with a DBMS,

you can do with a file system, a network
and a heap of C code

• So why spend the money to buy a DBMS?

• there is a well defined collection of capabilities common to a certain
class of applications

• for applications in this class, the DBMS already has these capabilities
and probably does them better than you could with home-brewed
code
DATABASE
FUNCTIONALITY
 ADVANTAGES OF USING A DBMS
application
application
application
program(s)
application
program(s) users of
program(s)
program(s) the data

query processor
software operating
security manager
between the data and
concurrency manager the applications can
index manager provide many
capabilities
in a generic way
data
definition data
processor data
dictionary
PERSISTENCE

• A DBMS provides
persistent objects, types and data structures

• persistent = having a lifetime longer than

the programs that use the data

• any information that fits the data model

of a particular DBMS
can be made persistent with little effort

• data model = concepts that can be used to describe the data

CONCURRENCY

• A DBMS supports access by concurrent users

• concurrent = happening at the same time

• concurrent access, particularly writes (data changes),

can result in inconsistent states
(even when the individual operations are correct)

• the DBMS can check the actual operations of concurrent users, to

prevent activity that will lead to inconsistent states
ACCESS CONTROL

• A DBMS can restrict access to authorized users

• security policies often require control that is more fine-grained than

that provided by a file system

• since the DBMS understands the data structure, it can enforce fairly
sophisticated and detailed security policies
• on subsets of the data
• on subsets of the available operations
REDUNDANCY CONTROL

• A DBMS can assist in controlling redundancy

• redundancy = multiple copies of the same data

• with file storage, it's often convenient to store multiple copies of the
same data, so that it's "local" to other data and applications

• this can cause many problems:

• wasted disk space
• inconsistencies
• need to enter the data multiple times
COMPLEX SEMANTICS

• A DBMS supports representation

of complex relationships and integrity constraints

• the semantics (meaning) of an application often

includes many relationships and rules
about the relative values of subsets of the data

• these further restrict the possible instances of the database

• relationships and constraints can be defined as part of the schema

BACKUP AND RECOVERY

• A DBMS can provide backup and recovery

• backup = snapshots of the data particular times

• recovery = restoring the data to a consistent state
after a system crash

• the higher level semantics (relationships and constraints)

can make it difficult to restore a consistent state

• transaction analysis can allow a DBMS to reconstruct a consistent

state from a number of backups
VIEWS AND INTERFACES

• A DBMS can support

multiple user interfaces and user views

• since the DBMS provides a well-defined data model and a persistent data
dictionary, many different interfaces can be developed to access the same
data

• data independence ensures that these UIs will not be made invalid by most
changes to the data

• new user views can be supported as new schemas defined against the
conceptual schema
ADVANTAGES OF USING A DBMS

• persistent objects, types and data structures

• control of concurrent users
• controlling of redundancy
• restricting access (security)
• representation of complex relationships
and integrity constraints
• backup and recovery
• multiple user interfaces and user views
DATABASE USERS
AND ROLES
 DBMS ROLES
application
application
application
program(s)
application
program(s) users of
application developers program(s)
program(s) the data

query processor
DBMS security manager
system concurrency manager
developers index manager system
database administrator
(and DB
designer data
designer)
definition data
processor data
dictionary
DBMS ROLES

• Actors On the Scene

(people interested in the actual data):

• database administrators
• database designers
• systems analysts and application programmers
• end users
ACTORS ON THE SCENE

• Database Administrators

• acquiring a DBMS
• managing the system
• acquiring HW and SW to support the DBMS
• authorizing access (security policies)
• managing staff, including DB designers
ACTORS ON THE SCENE

• Database Designers

• identifying the information of interested

in the Universe of Discourse (UoD)
• designing the database conceptual schema
• designing views for particular users
• designing the physical data layout and logical schema
• adjusting data parameters for performance
ACTORS ON THE SCENE

• Systems Analysts and Application Programmers

(generic database developers)

• provide specialized knowledge to optimize database usage

• provide generic (canned) application programs
ACTORS ON THE SCENE

• End Users

• casual users: ad-hoc queries

• naïve or parametric users: canned queries such as menus for a phone

company customer service agent

• sophisticated users: people who understand the system and the data
and use it in many novel ways

• standalone users: people who use personal easy-to-use databases for

personal data
DBMS ROLES

• Actors Behind the Scene:

people who maintain the environment
but aren't interested in the actual data

• DBMS designers and implementers

• tools developers
• operators and maintenance personnel
• database researchers
ACTORS BEHIND THE SCENE

• DBMS designers and implementers

• work for the company that supplies the DBMS

(i.e. Microsoft , Oracle, Sybase, MySQL …)

• programmers and engineers

• design and implement the DBMS

ACTORS BEHIND THE SCENE

• Tools Developers

• design and implement DBMS add-ons or plug-ins

• may work for DBMS supplier or be independent

• kinds of tools: database design aids, performance monitoring tools,

user and designer interfaces
ACTORS BEHIND THE SCENE

• Operators and maintenance personnel

• run and maintain the computer environment in which a DBMS

operates

• probably work for the database administrator (DBA)

ACTORS BEHIND THE SCENE

• Database Researchers

• academic or industrial researchers

• develop new theory, new designs, new data models and new
algorithms to improve future database management systems
DATA
ORGANIZATION
SCHEMAS AND INSTANCES

• A database instance is the collective values of

all database objects at some point in time

• also called the (data) instance or (database) state

• A schema describes the database and

defines the possible instances

• also called the data definition, data dictionary, or meta-data

CONCEPTUAL DATA MODELS

• A data model describes the possible schemas

(essentially the meta-schema)

• A DBMS is designed around a particular data model

• this is what allows all system components (and humans)
to understand the schema and data

• possible data models

• relational,
object-oriented, object-relational,
entity-relationship,
semantic, network, hierarchical, etc.
PHYSICAL DATA MODELS

• A physical data model describes the way

in which data is stored in the computer

• typically only of interest to database designers, implementers and

maintainers …not end users

• must provide a well-defined structure that can be mapped to the

conceptual schema

• allows optimization strategies to be defined generically

 THREE-SCHEMA ARCHITECTURE

user-specific
views

External View External View External View

Conceptual Schema generic view

Internal Schema physical view

DATA INDEPENDENCE

• physical data independence

• conceptual and external schema are defined
in terms of the data model,
rather than the actual data layout
• ensures that conceptual and external schemas
are not affected by changes to the physical data layout

• logical data independence

• ensures that changes to the conceptual schema
don't affect the external views
• (this is not always achievable)
TRANSACTIONS
TRANSACTIONS

• transaction = an indivisible unit of data processing

• All transactions must have the ACID properties:

• Atomicity: all or nothing

• Consistency: no constraint violations
• Isolation: no interference from other concurrent transactions
• Durability: committed changes must not be lost
due to any kind of failure
 ATOMIC TRANSACTIONS
•Fred wants to move $200 from
his savings account to his checking account.

1) Money must be subtracted from savings account.

2) Money must be added to checking count.

If both happen, Fred and the bank are both happy.

If neither happens, Fred and the bank are both happy.

If only one happens, either Fred or the bank will be unhappy.

Fred’s transfer must be all or nothing.

TRANSACTIONS ARE ATOMIC

• Transactions must be atomic (indivisible)

• the DBMS must ensure atomicity

• everything happens, or nothing happens

• boundaries of transaction (in time)

are generally set by the application …

the DBMS has no means of determining

the intention of a transaction
 CORRECT TRANSACTIONS
• Wilma tries to withdraw $1000 from account 387.

Account
No s PIN Balance constraint:
896 account.Balance must be non-negative
101 10965.78
664
5
387 652.55
3 any transaction withdrawing
543 4287 8720.12
more than $652.55 from acct 387
will violate this constraint

Wilma’s transaction cannot be accepted.

TRANSACTIONS ARE CONSISTENT

• A transaction must leave the database

in an valid or consistent state

• valid state == no constraint violations

• A constraint is a declared rule defining specifying

database states

• Constraints may be violated temporarily …

but must be corrected
before the transaction completes
 CONCURRENT TRANSACTIONS
• Fred is withdrawing $500 from account 543.
• Wilma’s employer is depositing $1983.23 to account 543.
• These transactions are happening at the same time.

Account Account
No s PIN Balance No s PIN Balance
896 896
101 10965.78 101 10965.78
664
5 664
5
387 652.55 387 652.55
3 3
543 4287 8720.12 543 4287 10233.35
Combined result of both
transactions must be correct
TRANSACTIONS ARE ISOLATED

• If two transactions occur at the same time,

the cumulative effect must be the same as
if they had been done in isolation

• ($8720.12 - $500) + $1983.23 = $10233.35

• ($8720.12 + $1983.23) - $500 = $10233.35

happen
• Ensuring isolation is the task of concurrency control
concurrently
 DURABLE TRANSACTIONS
• Wilma deposits $50,000 to account 387.
• Later, the bank’s computer crashes due to a lightning storm.

Account Account
No s PIN Balance No s PIN Balance
896 896
101 10965.78 101 10965.78
664
5 664
5
387 652.55 387 50652.55
3 3
543 4287 8720.12 543 4287 8720.12

Wilma’s deposit cannot be lost.

TRANSACTIONS ARE DURABLE

• Once a transaction's effect

on the database state has been committed,
it must be permanent

• The DBMS must ensure persistence,

even in the event of system failures

• Sources of failure:
• computer or operating system crash
• disk failure
• fire, theft, power outage, earthquake, operator errors, …
TRANSACTIONS • transaction = an indivisible unit of
data processing

• All transactions must have the ACID

properties:

• Atomicity: all or nothing

• Consistency: no constraint violations
• Isolation: no interference from other
concurrent transactions
• Durability: committed changes must not
be lost
due to any kind of failure