‫جامعة اإلمام محمد بن سعود اإلسالمية‬

‫كلية علوم الحاسب و المعلومات‬

Course 1
Introduction to DBMS

Dr. Mohsen Rouached

Computer Science (CS 420)

Database Management Systems (DBMS)
 Table of contents
 Definition of DBMS
 Objective of DBMS
 Database System Applications
 Purpose of Databases
 Limitation of the file system based databases
 View of Data in Databases
 Data Models
 Database Languages
 Database Users and Administrator
 Definition of DBMS
 A database management system (DBMS) is
 a collection of interrelated data (database)
and
 a set of programs to access those data.
 Objective of DBMS
 Provide a way for efficient data management
 storage and retrieval of the information
 Manage large bodies of information
 Defining structures for the storage of information
 Providing the mechanisms for the manipulation of the
information
 Ensure the safety of the information stored
 Avoid abnormal results when sharing the DB
among several users
 Database System Applications
 Banking: all transactions
 Airlines: reservations, schedules
 Universities: registration, grades, student information
 Sales: customers, products, purchases
 Manufacturing: production, inventory, orders, supply
chain
 Human resources: employee records, salaries, tax
deductions
 Telecommunications: keeping record of calls made,
generating monthly bills
 Purpose of Database Systems
Limitations of File Systems (1/3)

 In the early days, database applications were built on top

of file systems
 Data is stored in separate files
 Data is manipulated by a set of application programs
 As time goes by, the number of files and application
programs increases
 increasing complexity of database application management
 Purpose of Database Systems
Limitations of File Systems (2/3)
 Drawbacks of using file systems to store data
 Data redundancy and inconsistency
 Redundancy: duplication of information in different files
 Inconsistency: the various copies of the same data may be different
 Difficulty in accessing data
 Need to write a new program to carry out each new task
 Data isolation — multiple files and formats
 Because data are scattered in various files, and files may be in different
formats, writing the appropriate information to retrieve the appropriate data is
difficult
 Integrity problems
 Data values stored in the database must satisfy certain types of consistency
constraints
 Integrity constraints (e.g. account balance > 0) become part of program code
 Those constraints are forced by the database system developer
 Hard to add new constraints or change existing ones
 Purpose of Database Systems
Limitations of File Systems (3/3)
 Drawbacks of using file systems to store data
 Atomicity of updates

 Failures may leave database in an inconsistent state with partial

updates carried out
 E.g. transfer of funds from one account to another should either
complete or not happen at all
 Concurrent access by multiple users
 Concurrent accessed needed for performance
 Uncontrolled concurrent accesses can lead to inconsistencies
 E.g. two people reading a balance and updating it at the same time
 Security problems
 Not every user of the database should be able to access all the data

Database systems offer solutions to all previous problems

 View of Data in a Database
 Recall that
a database management system (DBMS) is a collection
of interrelated data and a set of programs to access and
modify those data.
 A major purpose of a database system is to provide users
with an abstract view of data
 The system hides certain details of how the data are

stored and maintained

 View of Data in a Database
The Need for Data Abstraction

 The objective of data abstraction is to

simplify the interaction with the database
from the user perspective
 Most of database users are not computer
trained
 However, more complexity from the design
perspective
 Complex data structure to represent data
 View of Data in a Database
Data Abstraction Levels

 Physical Level: describes how the data is

actually stored
 Describes low level data structures
 Logical Level: describes what data are
stored in the database and what
relationships exist between data
 View Level: describes only part of the
entire database
 View of Data in a Database
Data Abstraction Levels

 Physical Level: describes how

the data is actually stored
 Describes low level data
structures
 Logical Level: describes what
data are stored in the
database and what What to store
relationships exist between
data
 View Level: describes only How to store
part of the entire database
 View of Data in a Database
Analogy with data types in programming

 Consider high level programming type customer = record

 Physical Level: block of consecutive name : string;
storage locations (e.g. bytes) street : string;
 The compiler hides this level of details city : integer;
from programmers end;
 Logical Level: each record is described
by a type definition
 Programmers work at this level of
abstraction
 Similar to database administrator
 View Level: computer users only see a
set of applications without details on
data types
 Similar to users of database
 e.g. some database users are not
allowed to see the salary of workers for
security reasons.
 Data Models
Definition

 The Data Model: a collection of conceptual

tools for describing
 Data
 Data relationship
 Data semantics
 Consistency constraints
 A data model provide a way to describe the
design of a database at the physical, logical
and view level
 Data Models
Definition

 Data models can be classified in four

categories
1. Relational model
2. The Entity-Relation model
3. Object-based Data model
4. Semi Structured Data model
 Other models: network model,
hierarchical model
 Data Models
The Relational Model

 The Relational Model: uses a collection of tables

to represent both data and the relationship among
those data.
 Each table has multiple column and each column has a
unique name (Attribute)
 The most widely used as a data model for databases
 Vast majority of current database systems are based on
the relational model
 Data Models
The Relational Model
Sample of a Relational database

Attributes
 Data Models
The Entity-Relationship Model

 The Entity-Relationship (E-R) Model: it is based on the

perception of a real world that consists of a collection
basic objects called entities and of relationships among
those objects.
 An entity is a “thing” or “object” from the real world that is
distinguishable from other objects
 e.g. customers, accounts, bank branch
 A relationship is an association among several entities
 e.g. the account Ac1234 is held by the customer Mr. Abdullah
 This model is also widely used in database design
 Data Models
The Entity-Relationship Model

 The Entity-Relationship (E-R) Model: it is based

on the perception of a real world that consists of a
collection basic objects called entities and of
relationships among those

Attributes • Rectangles: represent the set of entities

• Ellipses: represent the attributes of an
entity
• Diamonds: represent the set of
relationships among a member from each
of several entity sets
entity entity • Lines: link the attributes to entity sets
and entity sets to relationships
Relationship
 Data Language
Definition
 A database system provides
 a data definition language to specify the
database schema
 a data manipulation language to express
database queries and update
 In practice, both languages are not separate
 e.g. SQL (Structured Query Language)
 Data Definition Language
(DDL)
 Data Definition Language: specifies the notation for defining the
database schema
 e.g.
create table account (
account-number char (10),
balance integer
)
 DDL compiler generates a set of tables stored in a data dictionary
 Data dictionary contains metadata (i.e., data about data)
 The schema of a table is an example of metadata
 Data storage and definition language
 Usually an extension of the data definition language
 Language in which the storage structure and access methods used by the
database system are specified
 Hidden from the user of the database
 Data Manipulation Language (DML)
 Language for accessing and manipulating the
data organized by the appropriate data model
 DML also known as query language
 Data manipulation is:
 The retrieval of information stored in the database
 The insertion of new information into the database
 The deletion of the information from the database
 The modification (update) of the information from the
database
 Data Manipulation Language (DML)
 Two classes of languages
 Procedural – user specifies what data is required and how to get
those data
 Declarative (Nonprocedural) – user specifies what data is
required without specifying how to get those data (e.g. SQL)
 Easy to learn and to use
 The database system has to figure out an efficient means of
accessing the data
 SQL is the most widely used query language
 A Query is a statement requesting the retrieval of the
information
 SQL: Some Examples
 SQL: widely used non-procedural language
 e.g. find the name of the customer with customer-id 192-83-7465
select customer.customer-name
from customer
where customer.customer-id = ‘192-83-7465’
 e.g. find the balances of all accounts held by the customer with
customer-id 192-83-7465
select account.balance
from depositor, account
where depositor.customer-id = ‘192-83-7465’ and
depositor.account-number = account.account-number
 Application programs generally access databases through one of
 Language extensions to allow embedded SQL
 Application Program Interface (API) (e.g. ODBC/JDBC) which allow SQL
queries to be sent to a database
 Database Users
 People who work with a database can be
categorized as
 database users or
 database administrators
 Users are differentiated by the way they expect
to interact with the system
 Database Users
 Four types of database users
 Naïve users: invoke one of the permanent application programs that have been
written previously
 E.g. Bank cashier, people accessing a database over the web
 The typical user interface for naïve user is a form interface where the user just fill in the
appropriate fields of the form
 Application programmers: computer professional that write application
programs
 Choose a tool from many tools to build a user interface to the database
 Interact with the system through DML calls
 Sophisticated users: Interact with the system without writing programs
 Form their requests using a database query language (e.g. Analysts)
 Specialized users: write specialized database applications that do not fit into
the traditional data processing framework
 E.g. computer-aided design systems, expert systems, environement modeling systems
 Database Administrators
 The Database Administrator (DBA) Coordinates all the activities of the
database system
 The DBA has a good understanding of the enterprise’s information
resources and needs
 The DBA has central control over the system
 Database administrator's duties include:
 Schema definition, specifying integrity constraints
 Storage structure and access method definition
 Schema and physical organization modification
 Granting user authority to access the database
 Acting as liaison with users
 Monitoring performance and responding to changes in requirements
 Routine maintenance (DB backup, Ensuring free space for the DB, etc …)
 Transaction Management
 A transaction is a collection of operations that performs s single logical
function in a database application
 E.g. Money transfer from an account to another
 Each transaction must satisfy the following properties:
 Atomicity: all-or-none, which means that the transaction successfully
completes if and only if all the tasks of the transactions are successfully
completed
 E.g. in case of a money transfer, the transaction is valid if both debit and credit
operations occur.
 Consistency: the final state of the system must be correct and compatible
with the previous status before the transaction is made.
 E.g. after a credit transaction, the balance must be updated accordingly to the
operation
 Isolation.
solation It ensures that concurrently executing transactions are isolated
from one another, so that each transaction has the impression that no other
transaction is executing concurrently with it.
 That is, for every pair of transactions Ti and Tj, it appears to Ti that either Tj, finished execution before Ti started, or
Tj started execution after Ti finished.
 Durability: the value in the database must persist, even in case of a system failure.
 Database System Structure
 A database system has several sub-systems
 Transaction Manager
 Responsible for ensuring that the database remains in a
consistent (correct) state despite systems failure.
 Ensures that concurrent transaction execution proceed without
conflicting
 Query Processor
 Compile and executes DDL and DML statements
 Storage Manager
 Provides the interface between the low-level data stored in the
database and the application programs and queries submitted
to the system
 Application Architectures
 (Most of) Database systems are accessed
remotely through a network
 The Client/Server Model
 Client machines, on which remote database users work
 Server machines, on which the database system runs

Client machines
Network Database

Server machines
 Application Architectures
 Two-Tiered Architecture User User
 The application is partitioned into
a component that resides at the Application client
client machine application
 It remotely invokes the database Network Network
server machine through query
languages statements Application server
 E.g. using ODBC, JDBC for
interaction between the client and Database systems Database systems
the server
 Three-Tiered Architecture Two-Tiered Architecture Three-Tiered Architecture
 The client machine acts as a
front-end and does not contain
any direct database calls
 The client machine
communication with the server
application through an interface
of forms (not direct queries)
 The server application
communicate with a database
system to access data
 Instances and Schemas
 Instance of a database
 The collection of information stored in the database at a
particular moment is called an instance.
 Schema of database
 The overall design of the database is called schema.
 Physical Schema
 Describes the data design at the physical level
 Logical Schema
 Describes the data design at the logical level
 Review Terms
 Database management  Data models ((E-R), Relational)
system (DBMS)  Database languages (DDL, DML)
 File Systems  Data Dictionary
 Metadata
 Data inconsistency
 Application program interface
 Consistency constraints  Database administrator
 Data views/ data  Transactions
abstraction  Concurrency
 Database instance  Client and servers machines
 Exercises
 Q.1 List four significant differences
between files systems and a DBMS
 Exercises
 Q.2 What are the steps that you would take in setting up
a database for a particular enterprise?
 R2.
 Collecting the required information that must be stored in the
database
 Define the structure of the schema of a database, which defines
the logical and physical structure of the data
 Define the method for manipulating the database
 Establish the relation between data
 Granting authorization for data access for the case of multi-user
database systems
 Creating different views of the database for different users of the
database
 Exercises
 Q.3 What is the purpose of having a
DBMS?
 R3. the primary goal of a DBMS is to
provide an environment that is both
convenient and efficient for people to
use in retrieving and storing
information
 Exercises
 Q.4 Define a transaction. Explain the
meaning of atomicity and illustrate it
on example.
 R4. A transaction is a collection of
operations that performs s single logical
function in a database application