DBMSDat

abaseModel
s
ADatabasemodel defi
nesthelogi
caldesign
andstructur
eofadat abaseanddefineshow
dat
awi llbestor
ed,accessedandupdat edin
adatabasemanagementsy stem.Whilethe
Rel
ationalModelisthemostwi del
yused
dat
abasemodel ,thereareothermodelstoo:
1. Hi
erar
chi
cal
Model
2. Net
wor
kModel
3. Ent
it
y-r
elat
ionshi
pModel
4. Rel
ati
onal
Model
Hi
erar
chi
cal
Model
Thisdatabasemodel or
ganizesdatai
ntoatree-
li
ke-
str
ucture,wit
hasi ngler
oot,towhichal
ltheotherdat
a
i
slinked.Thehierarchystar
tsfrom t
heRootdata,and
expandslikeatree,addingchil
dnodestotheparent
nodes.
I
nt hi
smodel
,achi
l
dnodewi
l
lonl
yhav
easi
ngl
epar
ent
node.
Thismodelef
fi
cientl
ydescr
ibesmanyreal
-wor
ld
rel
ati
onshi
psli
keindexofabook,r
eci
pesetc.
Inhier
archi
calmodel ,dataisorganizedint
otree-
li
ke
str
ucturewit
honeone- to-manyrel
at i
onshi
pbetween
twodiffer
entty
pesofdat a,f
orexampl e,onedepart
ment
canhav emanycour ses, manyprofessorsandoff-
coursemanyst udents.
Net
wor
kModel
Thisi
sanextensi
onoftheHier
archi
calmodel.In
thi
smodeldataisorgani
zedmor eli
keagr aph,
andareal
lowedt ohavemor ethanonepar ent
node.
I
nt hisdat abasemodeldat ai
smor er el
atedas
mor e relationships are est abl
ished in t his
databasemodel .Also,asthedataismor erelated,
henceaccessi ngthedatai sal
soeasi erandf ast.
Thisdatabasemodelwasusedt omapmany -to-
manydat ar elati
onships.
 Thi
swast hemostwidel
yuseddatabasemodel
,
bef
oreRel
ati
onal
Modelwasi
ntr
oduced.

Ent
it
y-r
elat
ionshi
pModel
Inthisdatabasemodel,relat
ionshi
psarecr
eat
ed
bydi vi
dingobjectofint
eresti nt
oenti
tyandit
s
characteri
sti
csi
ntoat
tri
butes.
Di
ff
erentent
it
iesar
erel
atedusi
ngr
elat
ionshi
ps.
E-R Model s are defined t o represent the
rel
ati
onshipsi
ntopictor
ialfor
mt omakei teasi
er
fordi
ffer
entst
akeholder
st ounder
stand.
Thi
smodeli
sgoodt
odesi
gnadat
abase,whi
ch
 can t
hen be t ur
ned i
ntot
abl
es i
nrel
ati
onal
model
(expl
ainedbel
ow).
Let
'st
akeanexampl
e,
If we hav e t o desi
gn a School Dat abase,
thenStudentwi l
lbeanenti
tywit
hat t
ri
butesname, age,
addresset c.AsAddressisgenerall
ycompl ex,itcan
beanot herentit
ywit
hattr
ibut
esstreetname,pi ncode,
cit
yetc,andt her
ewill
bear el
ati
onshipbetweent hem.
Rel
ati
onal
Model
I
n t his model, dat
a is organized i n t
wo
di
mensi onal
tabl
esand t he relationshi
p i s
maintai
nedbystori
ngacommonfiel
d.
Thi
smodelwasi ntroducedbyE.FCoddi n1970,
andsincet
henithasbeent hemostwidel
yused
dat
abase model
,i nfact,we can say t
he only
dat
abasemodelusedar oundthewor
ld.
Thebasicst r
uctureofdataintherel
ati
onalmodel
i
st abl
es.Alltheinfor
mati
onr el
atedt
oapar t
icul
ar
ty
pei sst
oredi nrowsofthattabl
e.
Hence,tabl
es ar
e al
so known asr
elat
ionsi
n
r
elat
ional
model
.