INF 311 - Database management system (1)

Chapter 2
Database System Concepts and Architecture
 Chapter 2 Outline

• Data Models, Schemas, and Instances

• Three-Schema Architecture and Data Independence
Data Models, Schemas, and Instances

• Data abstraction
• Suppression of details of data organization and storage
• Highlighting of the essential features for an improved
understanding of data
Data Models, Schemas, and Instances (cont'd.)

• Data model
• Collection of concepts that describe the structure of a database
• Provides means to achieve data abstraction
• Basic operations
• Specify retrievals and updates on the database
• the dynamic aspect or behavior of a database application.
• This allows the database designer to specify a set of valid user-defined operations
that are allowed on the database objects. An example of a user-defined operation
could be COMPUTE_GPA, which can be applied to a STUDENT object.
 Categories of Data Models

• High-level or conceptual data models

• Close to the way many users perceive data
• Low-level or physical data models
• Describe the details of how data is stored on computer storage
media
• Representational data models
• Easily understood by end users
• Also similar to how data organized in computer storage
High-level or conceptual data models

• Entity
• Represents a real-world object or concept
• Attribute
• Represents some property of interest
• Further describes an entity
• Relationship among two or more entities
• Represents an association among the entities
• Entity-Relationship model
 Categories of Data Models (cont'd.)

• Relational data model

• Used most frequently in traditional commercial DBMSs
• Represent data by using record structures and hence are
sometimes called record-based data models.
 Object data model
• New family of higher-level implementation data models Closer
to conceptual data models (UML)
 Categories of Data Models (cont'd.)

• Physical data models

• Describe how data is stored as files in the computer by
representing information such as record formats, record orderings,
and access paths
• Access path
• Structure that makes the search for particular database records
efficient
• Index
• Example of an access path
• Allows direct access to data using an index term or a keyword
Schemas, Instances, and Database State

• Database schema
• Description of a database which is specified during database design.
• is not expected to change frequently
• Schema diagram
• Displayed schema
• The diagram displays the structure of each record type but not the actual
instances of records.
• Schema construct
• Each object in the schema such as STUDENT or COURSE
• Database state or snapshot
• Data in database at a particular moment in time
Schemas, Instances, and Database State (cont'd.)
Database Schema vs. Database State
• Database State:
• Refers to the content of a database at a moment in time.
• The actual data stored in a database at a particular moment in time. This includes
the collection of all the data in the database.
• Also called database instance (or occurrence or snapshot).
• The term instance is also applied to individual database components, e.g.
record instance, table instance
• Initial Database State:
• Refers to the database state when it is initially loaded into the system.
• Every time an update operation is applied to the database, we get another database state
• Valid State:
• A state that satisfies the structure and constraints of the database. Slide 2- 14
Slide 6- 15
Schemas, Instances, and Database State (cont'd.)

• Schema evolution
• Changes applied to schema as application requirements change

 Distinction
 The database schema changes very infrequently.

 The database state changes every time the database is updated

• Schema is also called intension.

• State is also called extension
Example of a database state

Slide 2- 17
Three-Schema Architecture and Data Independence
• The goal of the three-schema architecture is to separate the user applications from the physical
database.
• Internal level
• Describes physical storage structure of the database.
• The internal schema uses a physical data model and describes the complete details of data
storage and access paths for the database.
• Conceptual level
• has a conceptual schema
• Describes structure of the whole database for a community of users
• The conceptual schema hides the details of physical storage structures and concentrates on
describing entities, data types, relationships, user operations, and constraints.
• External or view level
• Describes part of the database that a particular user group is interested in and hides the rest of
the database from that user group.
Three-Schema Architecture and Data Independence (cont'd.)
Three-Schema Architecture and Data Independence (cont'd.)
 Three-Schema Architecture

• Mappings among schema levels are needed to transform

requests and data.
• Programs refer to an external schema, and are mapped by
the DBMS to the internal schema for execution.
• Data extracted from the internal DBMS level is reformatted
to match the user’s external view (e.g. formatting the
results of an SQL query for display in a Web page)

Slide 2- 21
Data Independence

• Capacity to change the schema at one level of a database

system
• Without having to change the schema at the next higher level
• Types:
• Logical data independence is the capacity to change the
conceptual schema without having to change external schemas or
application programs
• Physical data independence is the capacity to change the
internal schema without having to change the conceptual schema.
Hence, the external schemas need not be changed as well.
 DBMS Languages

• Data definition language (DDL)

• Defines both schemas
• Storage definition language (SDL)
• Specifies the internal schema
• View definition language (VDL)
• Specifies user views/mappings to conceptual schema
• Data manipulation language (DML)
• Allows retrieval, insertion, deletion, modification
 Centralized and Client/Server
Architectures for DBMSs
• Centralized DBMSs Architecture
• All DBMS functionality, application program
execution, and user interface processing carried
out on one machine
 Basic Client/Server Architectures

• Servers with specific functionalities

• File server
• Maintains the files of the client machines.
• Printer server
• Connected to various printers; all print requests by the clients are
forwarded to this machine
• Web servers or e-mail servers
Basic Client/Server Architectures (cont'd.)

• Client machines
• Provide user with:
• Appropriate interfaces to utilize these servers
• Local processing power to run local applications
Basic Client/Server Architectures (cont'd.)

• Client
• User machine that provides user interface capabilities and local
processing
• Server
• System containing both hardware and software
• Provides services to the client machines
• Such as file access, printing, archiving, or database access
 Two-Tier Client/Server
Architectures for DBMSs
• Server handles
• Query and transaction functionality related to SQL processing
• Client handles
• User interface programs and application programs
Three-Tier and n-Tier Architectures for Web Applications

• Application server or Web server

• Adds intermediate layer between client and the database
server
• Runs application programs and stores business rules
• N-tier
• Divide the layers between the user and the stored data further
into finer components