Database Systems

Chapter 2
Database Environment
 Range of Database Applications
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1. Personal Computer Databases

2. Workgroup Databases

3. Department Databases

4. Enterprise Databases
 Personal Computer Databases
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Personal computer databases are specially designed for single

user. The user may be using stand-alone desktop computer or
laptop. The representatives of a medical company may use
laptop computers when working in the market. This computer
may use a simple database application in which the records of
customers are stored.
 Personal Computer Databases
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• Personal computer databases are widely used.

• A problem with this database application is that it is difficult to
share quickly.
• For example, if the head of medical company wants to get
complete information of his customers, it cannot be done
quickly as it is stored on the laptop computers of different
representatives.
 Workgroup Databases
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• A workgroup is a team of people who work on the same project

collectively.
• A workgroup normally consists of less than 25 people.
• A type of database that is specially designed to support
workgroups is known as workgroup database.
• The people in workgroup are connected with one another
through local area network(LAN).
• The database is stored on a central computer called server.
• All members of the workgroup can share this database.
 Workgroup Databases
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• Workgroup databases provide many facilities but arise some
problems also.
• The main problems are of security and integrity of data when
the data is updated concurrently.
• Some important decisions about workgroups databases are as
follows:
1. Database optimization to satisfy requirements of different members of
workgroup
2. Concurrency control
3. Decision about the location of different operations i.e. on server or
workstation
 Department Databases
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• A fundamental unit of in an organization is known as

department.
• An organization may have marketing, production and
accounting departments.
• A department normally consists of 25 to 100 people.
• Department databases are specially designed to support the
functions of department.
 Enterprise Databases
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• A type of database that is specially designed to support the

functions of a whole organization or many departments of an
organization is known as enterprise database.
• The most important enterprise database is known as data
warehouse.
• The contents of a data warehouse are derived from many
operational database like personal computer, workgroup and
department databases.
 Enterprise Databases
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• Suppose a university has many departments like CS, Biology,
Agriculture etc. Each department uses a department database
to maintain the functions of department. The Vice Chancellor
needs to get the information of different departments
frequently. In order to satisfy this requirement, a data
warehouse can be developed for the whole university in VC
office. The data warehouse will extract the databases of
different departments periodically.
 Types of Users
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• Application Programmers

• End Users

• Database Administrator
 Application Programmers
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• Application programmer is a professional who writes

computer programs in a high level language. These
programs can be used to interact with databases.

• Application programmer designs application programs

according to the requirements of the users.

• He/ She works according to the specification provided by

the system analyst.
 End Users
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• End users are those persons who interact with the

application directly.

• They are responsible to insert, delete and update data in the

database.

• They get information from the system as and when required.

 Types of End Users
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Naive Users:
• Naive users are the users who have no technical knowledge about the
DBMS.
• They use database through application programs using simple user
interface.
• They perform all operations by using simple commands provided in
user interface.
• The data entry operator in an office is responsible for entering
records in database.
• He performs this task by using menus and buttons etc.
• He does not know anything about database or DBMS.
• He interacts with database through application program.
 Types of End Users
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Sophisticated Users:
• Sophisticated users are the users who are familiar with the
structure of database and facilities of DBMS.

• Such users can use a query language such as SQL to

perform the required operations on databases.

• Some sophisticated users can also write application

programs.
 Database Administrator
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• Database administrator is the most technical user.

• He is responsible for managing the whole database system.
• He designs, creates and maintains the database.
• He manages the users who can access this database and
controls integrity issues.
 Database Administrator
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Functions of DBA
• Installation of software
• Monitoring of database system
• Solution of any problem that occurs in the database system
• Assigning permission to different users to use database system
• Taking regular backups of database
• Restoring the system in case of any problem or system crash
File-Server Architecture
File-Server Architecture
A computer is attached to a network which provides shared storage for computer files
i.e. documents, spreadsheets, images, and databases.

• The processing is distributed

• File-server has no knowledge of SQL, the DBMS requests the whole file
• DBMS and applications run on each workstation
• Disadvantages include:
• Significant network traffic
• Copy of DBMS on each workstation
• Concurrency, recovery and integrity control more complex because multiple
DBMSs accessing same files
Client-Server Architecture
Client-Server Architecture
The client requests some resource, and a server provides the resource.
The traditional two-tier client–server architecture provides a very basic separation of
these components.

• Client (tier 1) manages user interface and runs applications

• Server (tier 2) holds database and DBMS
• Advantages:
• Wider access to existing databases
• Increased performance
• Possible reduction in hardware costs
• Reduction in communication costs
• Increased consistency
Two-Tier Client-Server
Two-Tier Client-Server
Three-Tier Client-Server
Issues in Client-side in two-tier client/server model preventing true
scalability:
• ‘Fat’ client, requiring considerable resources on client’s computer to run
effectively, i.e. disk space, RAM, and CPU power
• Significant client side administration overhead

• By 1995, three layers (level) client server architecture was proposed,

• Each layer potentially running on a different platform
Three-Tier Client-Server
Three-Tier Client-Server
• Advantages:
• ‘Thin’ client, requiring less expensive hardware

• Application maintenance centralized

• Easier to modify or replace one tier without affecting others

• Separating business logic from database functions makes it easier to

implement load balancing
Three-Level Architecture
Schema Mappings
• The DBMS is responsible for mapping between these three types of schema:
• Connections or correspondences between these schemas to
facilitate data integration, query operations, or reporting
across multiple schema structures within the same database.
• The DBMS must check that each external schema is derivable
from the conceptual schema, and it must use the information
in the conceptual schema to map between each external
schema and the internal schema
ANSI-SPARC Three-level Architecture

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ANSI-SPARC Three-level Architecture
• External Level
• Users' view of the database.
• Describes that part of database that is relevant to a
particular user.

• Conceptual Level
• Community view of the database.
• Describes what data is stored in database and
relationships among the data.

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ANSI-SPARC Three-level Architecture
• Internal Level
• Physical representation of the database on the
computer.
• Describes how the data is stored in the database.

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