Features of DBMS

Security : Not every user should have access to all the data. For example, if personnel
records are kept, only key personnel with the right and need to know salaries should be
able to access this data.

Integrity : Certain kinds of consistency constraints can be checked by the DBMS if it is

Synchronization : Often many users are running programs that access the database at
the same time. The DBMS should provide protection against inconsistencies that result
from two approximately simultaneous operations on a data item.

Other than these features, there are many features namely ‘data independence’, support to
‘query language’ etc. which will be discussed later.
 Users/Programmers

DATABASE
SYSTEM
Application Programs/Queries

DBMS
SOFTWARE
Software to Process
Queries/Programs

Software to Access
stored data

Stored Database Stored

A simplified database system environment

app.prg. 1 Database End User

app.prg. 2

.
. End User
.
app.prg. n

Simplified Picture of a database System

application user database

query DDL
processor compiler

compiled database
query description
database
manager

file
manager

physical
database

Schematic diagram of a database system

The three-schema architecture

The goal of the three-schema architecture, illustrated in the following figure, is to separate
the user application and the physical database. In this architecture, schema can be defined
at the following three levels :
1. The internal level has an internal schema which describes the 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.

2. The conceptual level has a conceptual schema which describes the 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.

3. The external or view level includes a number of external schema or user views. Each
external schema describes the part of the database that a particular user group is
 interested in and hides the rest of the database from the user group.

EXTERNAL EXTERNAL . . . EXTERNAL

external/conceptual
mapping

CONCEPTUAL CONCEPTUAL
LEVEL SCHEMA

conceptual/internal
mapping

INTERNAL INTERNAL
LEVEL SCHEMA

STORED DATABASE
The three-schema architecture

Most DBMSs do not separate the three levels completely, but several of them support the
three-schema architecture to some extent.

Data Independence

The three-schema architecture can be used to explain the concept of data independence
which can be defined as the capacity to change the schema at one level of a database
system without having to change the schema at the next higher level. There are two types
of data independence as follows :

Logical data independence is the capacity to change the conceptual schema without
having to change external schema or application programs. We may change the conceptual
schema to expand the database or to reduce the database. Only the view definition and the
mappings need to be changed in a DBMS that supports logical data independence.
Application programs that reference the external schema constructs must work as before
after the conceptual schema undergoes a logical reorganisation. Changes to constraints
can also be applied to the conceptual schema without affecting the external schema.

Physical data independence is the capacity to change the internal schema without having to
change the conceptual or external schema. Changes to the internal schema may be needed
because some physical files had to be reorganised. Because physical data independence
refers to the insulation of an application from the physical storage structures only, it is
easier to achieve than logical data independence.

Users
There are three types of users. They are as follows :
1. End User
2. Application Programmer
3. Database Administrator

End User : An end user may interact with external/view level. A reservation clerk may be
a typical example of an end user.

Application Programmer : Responsible for writing application programs that use the
database interacting with the conceptual level.

Database Administrator : Responsible for any system dependent policy decision.