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Boris M. Trukhnov I Allen G. Taylor I Gavin Powell I with Frank Miller
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This page intentionally left blank
 Introduction to
Database
Management

Mark L. Gillenson, Paulraj Ponniah, Alex Kriegel,

Boris M. Trukhnov, Allen G. Taylor, and Gavin Powell

with Frank Miller

I 1807 «

\l ©WILEY \
2007 ;
BICENTENNIAL
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 PREFACE
College classrooms bring together learners from many backgrounds,
with a variety of aspirations. Although the students are in the same
course, they are not necessarily on the same path. This diversity, cou-
pled with the reality that these learners often have jobs, families, and
other commitments, requires a flexibility that our nation’s higher edu-
cation system is addressing. Distance learning, shorter course terms,
new disciplines, evening courses, and certification programs are some
of the approaches that colleges employ to reach as many students as
possible and help them clarify and achieve their goals.
Wiley Pathways books, a new line of texts from John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., are designed to help you address this diversity and the need for flex-
ibility. These books focus on the fundamentals, identify core competencies
and skills, and promote independent learning. Their focus on the funda-
mentals helps students grasp the subject, bringing them all to the same
basic understanding. These books use clear, everyday language and are
presented in an uncluttered format, making the reading experience more
pleasurable. The core competencies and skills help students succeed in
the classroom and beyond, whether in another course or in a profession-
al setting. A variety of built-in learning resources promote independent
learning and help instructors and students gauge students’ understanding
of the content. These resources enable students to think critically about
their new knowledge and apply their skills in any situation.
Our goal with Wiley Pathways books—with their brief, inviting
format, clear language, and core competencies and skills focus—is to
celebrate the many students in your courses, respect their needs, and
help you guide them on their way.

CASE Learning System

To meet the needs of working college students, Introduction to Database
Management uses a four-part process called the CASE Learning System:

▲ C: Content
▲ A: Analysis
▲ S: Synthesis
▲ E: Evaluation

Based on Bloom’s taxonomy of learning, CASE presents key topics in

databases in easy-to-follow chapters. The text then prompts analysis,
vi PREFACE

synthesis, and evaluation with a variety of learning aids and assessment

tools. Students move efficiently from reviewing what they have learned,
to acquiring new information and skills, to applying their new knowl-
edge and skills to real-life scenarios.
Using the CASE Learning System, students not only achieve academic
mastery of database topics, but they master real-world skills related to that
content. The CASE Learning System also helps students become inde-
pendent learners, giving them a distinct advantage in the field, whether
they are just starting out or seeking to advance in their careers.

Organization, Depth, and Breadth of the Text

▲ Modular Format. Research on college students shows that they
access information from textbooks in a non-linear way. Instructors
also often wish to reorder textbook content to suit the needs of
a particular class. Therefore, although Introduction to Database
Management proceeds logically from the basics to increasingly more
challenging material, chapters are further organized into sections that
are self-contained for maximum teaching and learning flexibility.
▲ Numeric System of Headings. Introduction to Database Management
uses a numeric system for headings (e.g., 2.3.4 identifies the
fourth subsection of Section 3 of Chapter 2). With this system,
students and teachers can quickly and easily pinpoint topics in
the table of contents and the text, keeping class time and study
sessions focused.
▲ Core Content. The topics in Introduction to Database Management
are organized into 12 chapters.

Chapter 1, Introducing Data and Data Management, introduces

students to fundamental concepts relating to data and data manage-
ment. Among the topics covered are the role data plays as a business
resource, how business practices can be used to understand data col-
lection requirements, and potential data management concerns such as
data accuracy, data security and data accessibility.
Chapter 2, Introducing Databases and Database Management,
examines the nuts and bolts of what makes up a database and a
database management system (DBMS). The chapter introduces stu-
dents to key database concepts such as data repository, data dictionary,
database software, data abstraction, data access and transaction sup-
port, and basic database types, such as production databases, decision
support databases and mass deployment databases. The chapter also
 PREFACE vii

covers the evolution of the hierarchical, network, relational, and object-

oriented database models, and describes the primary database system
architectural components, as well as the people and procedures
involved in creating a DBMS.
Chapter 3, Data Modeling, explores the process of creating a data
model. The chapter begins by introducing the design process, the use
of data diagrams, the main types of databases (transactional databases,
decisions support systems and hybrids), and the goals of data model-
ing. It also examines the incorporation of business rules into the design
process. It then looks at the key components of a relational database
model: entities, attributes and relationships, including an introduction
to some fundamental database objects such as tables, views and index-
es, and the various types of relationships (binary, unary, and ternary)
that might be included in a database model. The chapter concludes by
examining modeling tools and comparing some data models based on
different businesses.
Chapter 4, Designing a Database, focuses on the process of creat-
ing a relational database design. It covers the entity-relationship to rela-
tional table conversion process, and describes how to convert simple
entities, and various types of binary and unary relationships to rela-
tional tables, including choosing the foreign keys needed to establish
and maintain relationships. Two case studies in which E-R diagrams are
converted relational tables are included. The chapter then delves into
the process known as normalization, which helps identify duplicate
data and optimize data storage, and provides an in-depth look at the
three normal forms.
Chapter 5, Implementing a Database, examines the final physical
design issues and the basic implementation process. It introduces the
types of utilities available for object creation and examines data integri-
ty and performance optimization needs. It concludes with a section on
database object implementation, and how to create basic tables, indexes,
and views.
Chapter 6, Understanding the SQL Language, introduces the SQL
language standard and the types of variations that have been added
by different DBMSs. It covers basic language components through
simple command examples, such as the use of the SELECT statement
to retrieve values from a single table and to evaluate expressions. The
chapter also introduces the concept of operators and SQL language
functions. The chapter concludes with a discussion of DDL and DML
statements, including the standard SQL syntax for selected com-
mands such as INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, ALTER and
DROP.
viii PREFACE

Chapter 7, Data Access and Manipulation, examines the use of the

SELECT statement for data access and data manipulation. It covers
using the SELECT statement to run data retrieval queries and how to
build queries with SELECT statement keywords, as well as various
methods for filtering the result set and organizing the data returned by
a query. The chapter also describes how to use joins and subqueries to
combine the results from multiple tables into a single result. The chap-
ter concludes with a look at the basics of using batches and scripts to
execute sets of statements as a group and to save these so that they can
be retrieved and executed later.
Chapter 8, Improving Data Access, covers a variety of topics related
to improving data access, including improving access performance,
simplifying access, and protecting table data from unauthorized
access. The chapter introduces the concept of bottlenecks and exam-
ines the types of symptoms they are likely to cause, and the most likely
solutions to correct performance problems. The chapter also looks at
how to design indexes and views to support and control data access
and help improve query response. The chapter concludes with a dis-
cussion about using procedures and functions both to automate
database operations (including data access queries) and to control
access to database data.
Chapter 9, Database Administration, focuses on administration
roles and responsibilities. The chapter begins with a look at how
administration roles can be justified, and then examines the different
roles of data administrators and database administrators, and the
responsibilities related to each. The chapter concludes with an exami-
nation of about issues relating to administration tasks, such as choos-
ing the proper utilities and using automation appropriately.
Chapter 10, Transactions and Locking, focuses on the basics of
transactions, which are a key part of almost all database applications. It
covers ACID properties and transaction commands, and the differences
between implicit and explicit transactions. It next examines possible
concurrency problems and methods used by various DBMSs to avoid
those problems. It concludes with a look at SQL Server transaction
support, including isolation level support and methods for detecting
and clearing deadlocks.
Chapter 11, Data Access and Security, covers a topic that is critical
to any database design. The chapter begins by introducing data server
and database connectivity concepts and requirements. From there, it
moves on to including server and database access requirements in the
database design and implementation, focusing on a two-tier security
system with separate server-level and database-level principals, including
 PREFACE ix

their role in the connection process. Finally, it introduces access per-

missions and data protection methods as a way to protect against and
recover from data loss.
Chapter 12, Supporting Database Applications, looks at the three
most common database configurations for application support. It starts
with a look at centralized database configurations and variations on the
traditional client/server model. Then, it looks at distributed database
configurations that might be used to support enterprise applications,
including options for implementing a distributed data environment
and the role of replication in maintaining distributed data. It concludes
with an examination of issues related to supporting Internet-based
applications.

Pre-reading Learning Aids

Each chapter of Introduction to Database Management features the follow-
ing learning and study aids to activate students’ prior knowledge of the
topics and orient them to the material.

▲ Pre-test. This pre-reading assessment tool in multiple-choice for-

mat not only introduces chapter material, but it also helps stu-
dents anticipate the chapter’s learning outcomes. By focusing
students’ attention on what they do not know, the self-test pro-
vides students with a benchmark against which they can measure
their own progress. The pre-test is available online at
www.wiley.com/college/gillenson.
▲ What You’ll Learn in This Chapter. This bulleted list focuses on
subject matter that will be taught. It tells students what they will
be learning in this chapter and why it is significant for their
careers. It will also help students understand why the chapter is
important and how it relates to other chapters in the text.
▲ After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To. This list
emphasizes capabilities and skills students will learn as a result of
reading the chapter. It sets students up to synthesize and evaluate
the chapter material, and relate it to the real world.

Within-text Learning Aids

The following learning aids are designed to encourage analysis and syn-
thesis of the material, support the learning process, and ensure success
during the evaluation phase:
x PREFACE

▲ Introduction. This section orients the student by introducing the

chapter and explaining its practical value and relevance to the book
as a whole. Short summaries of chapter sections preview the topics
to follow.
▲ “For Example” Boxes. Found within each section, these boxes tie
section content to real-world examples, scenarios, and applications.
▲ Figures and tables. Line art and photos have been carefully cho-
sen to be truly instructional rather than filler. Tables distill and
present information in a way that is easy to identify, access, and
understand, enhancing the focus of the text on essential ideas.
▲ Self-Check. Related to the “What You’ll Learn” bullets and found
at the end of each section, this battery of short answer questions
emphasizes student understanding of concepts and mastery of
section content. Though the questions may either be discussed in
class or studied by students outside of class, students should not
go on before they can answer all questions correctly.
▲ Key Terms and Glossary. To help students develop a professional
vocabulary, key terms are bolded in the introduction, summary,
and when they first appear in the chapter. A complete list of key
terms appears at the end of each chapter and again in a glossary at
the end of the book with brief definitions. Knowledge of key terms
is assessed by all assessment tools (see below).
▲ Summary. Each chapter concludes with a summary paragraph that
reviews the major concepts in the chapter and links back to the
“What You’ll Learn” list.

Evaluation and Assessment Tools

The evaluation phase of the CASE Learning System consists of a vari-
ety of within-chapter and end-of-chapter assessment tools that test how
well students have learned the material. These tools also encourage stu-
dents to extend their learning into different scenarios and higher levels
of understanding and thinking. The following assessment tools appear
in every chapter of Introduction to Database Management:

▲ Summary Questions help students summarize the chapter’s

main points by asking a series of multiple choice and true/false
questions that emphasize student understanding of concepts and
mastery of chapter content. Students should be able to answer all
of the Summary Questions correctly before moving on.
 PREFACE xi

▲ Applying This Chapter questions drive home key ideas by asking

students to synthesize and apply chapter concepts to new, real-life
situations and scenarios.
▲ You Try It questions are designed to extend students’ thinking,
and so are ideal for discussion or writing assignments. Using an
open-ended format and sometimes based on Web sources, they
encourage students to draw conclusions using chapter material
applied to real-world situations, which fosters both mastery and
independent learning.
▲ Post-test should be taken after students have completed the
chapter. It includes all of the questions in the pre-test, so that stu-
dents can see how their learning has progressed and improved. The
post-test is available online at www.wiley.com/college/gillenson.

Instructor Package
Introduction to Database Management is available with the following teach-
ing and learning supplements. All supplements are available online at
the text’s Book Companion Web site, located at www.wiley.com/college/
gillenson.

▲ Instructor’s Resource Guide. Provides the following aids and

supplements for teaching an introduction to databases course:
▲ Sample syllabus. A convenient template that instructors may
use for creating their own course syllabi.
▲ Teaching suggestions. For each chapter, these include a chapter
summary, learning objectives, definitions of key terms, lecture
notes, answers to select text question sets, and at least 3 sug-
gestions for classroom activities, such as ideas for speakers to
invite, videos to show, and other projects.
▲ PowerPoint Slides. Key information is summarized in 10 to 15
PowerPoint slides per chapter. Instructors may use these in class
or choose to share them with students for class presentations or
to provide additional study support.
▲ Test Bank. One test per chapter, as well as a mid-term, and two
finals: one cumulative, one non-cumulative. Each includes true/
false, multiple choice, and open-ended questions. Answers and page
references are provided for the true/false and multiple choice ques-
tions, and page references for the open-ended questions. Questions
are available in Microsoft Word and computerized test bank formats.
xii PREFACE

Student Project Manual

The inexpensive Introduction to Database Management Project Manual
contains activities (an average of five projects per textbook chapter)
designed to help students apply textbook concepts in a practical way.
Easier exercises at the beginning graduate to more challenging projects
that build critical-thinking skills.
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Taken together, the content, pedagogy, and assessment elements of
Introduction to Database Management offer the career-oriented student the most
important aspects of databases as well as ways to develop the skills and capa-
bilities that current and future employers seek in the individuals they hire
and promote. Instructors will appreciate its practical focus, conciseness, and
real-world emphasis.
We would like to thank the following reviewers for their feedback and
suggestions during the text’s development. Their advice on how to shape
Introduction to Database Management into a solid learning tool that meets both
their needs and those of their busy students is deeply appreciated.
Tahir Aziz, Long Beach City College
Debbie Green, Virginia College
Keith Hoell, Katharine Gibbs School
We would also like to thank Carol Traver for all her hard work in formatting
and preparing the manuscript for production.
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 BRIEF CONTENTS
1 Introducing to Data and Data Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Introducing Databases and Database Management Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3 Data Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4 Designing a Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5 Implementing a Database. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
6 Understanding the SQL Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
7 Data Access and Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
8 Improving Data Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
9 Database Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
10 Transactions and Locking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
11 Data Access and Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
12 Supporting Database Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
This page intentionally left blank
 CONTENTS
1 Introducing to Data and Data Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1 Understanding the Role of Data and Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.1 A Practical Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.2 Understanding Data Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.3 The Need for Data Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2 Understanding Data Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.1 Picking a Starting Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.2 Identifying Primary Processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.3 Specific Data Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3 Potential Data Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.1 Managing Data Accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3.2 Managing Data Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3.3 Managing Data Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.3.4 Managing Data Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Assess Your Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Summary Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Applying This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
You Try It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2 Introducing Databases and Database Management Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.1. Introduction to Key Database Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.1.1. Database Approach to Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.1.2. Understanding Basic Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.1.3. Database Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.2 Understanding Basic Database Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.2.1 The Hierarchical Database Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.2.2 The Network Database Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.2.3 The Relational Database Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
xviii CONTENTS

2.2.4 The Object-Oriented Database Model . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

2.2.5 The Object-Relational Database Model . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.3 Database Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.3.1 Hardware Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.3.2 Software Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.3.3 DBMS Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.3.4 Understanding People and Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Assess Your Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Summary Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Applying This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
You Try It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3 Data Modeling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.1 Understanding Database Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.1.1 Understanding the Design Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.1.2 Determining the Database Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.1.3 Understanding Modeling Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.1.4 Understanding Business Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
3.2 Understanding Relational Database Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
3.2.1 Entity-Relationship (E-R) Modeling Concepts . . . . . . 71
3.2.2 Introducing Basic Database Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.3 Understanding Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.3.1 Binary Relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
3.3.2 Unary Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
3.3.3 Ternary Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
3.3.4 Breaking Down Many-to-Many Relationships. . . . . . . 87
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
3.4 Comparing Data Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
3.4.1 Choosing a Modeling Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
3.4.2 The General Hardware Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
3.4.3 Good Reading Bookstores. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
 CONTENTS xix

Assess Your Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Summary Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Applying This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
You Try It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

4 Designing a Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
4.1. Designing Relational Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
4.1.1. Converting a Single Entity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
4.1.2. Converting Binary Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
4.1.3. Converting Unary Relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
4.2 Comparing Relational Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
4.2.1 Designing General Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
4.2.2 Designing Good Reading Bookstores . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.3 Normalizing Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.3.1 Using Normalization Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.3.2 Normalizing Data by the Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
4.3.3 Shortening the Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
4.3.4 Denormalizing Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Assess Your Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Summary Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Applying This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
You Try It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

5 Implementing a Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5.1 Physical Design and Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5.1.1 Understanding Design Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5.1.2 Business Environment Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
5.1.3 Data Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
5.1.4 Application Characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
5.1.5 Operational Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
5.1.6 The Hardware and Software Environment . . . . . . . . 152
5.1.7 Evaluating Implementation Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
xx CONTENTS

5.2 Adjusting Your Design to the Real World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

5.2.1 Ensuring Data Integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
5.2.2 Adjusting Factors Related to Performance . . . . . . . . 162
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
5.3 Implementing Database Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
5.3.1 Implementing Your Final Table Design. . . . . . . . . . . 171
5.3.2 Implementing Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
5.3.3 Implementing Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Assess Your Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Summary Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Applying This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
You Try It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
6 Understanding the SQL Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
6.1 Introducing the SQL Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
6.1.1 Understanding SQL Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
6.1.2 Using SQL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
6.1.3 Understanding Command Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
6.2 Understanding SELECT Fundamentals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
6.2.1 Working with SELECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
6.2.2 Using Simple Data Retrieval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
6.2.3 Retrieving Other Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
6.3 Understanding Operators and Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
6.3.1 Arithmetic Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
6.3.2 Comparison and Logical Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
6.3.3 Standard SQL Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
6.3.4 Function Variations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
6.4 Understanding DML Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
6.4.1 Using INSERT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
6.4.2 Using UPDATE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
6.4.3 Using DELETE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
 CONTENTS xxi

6.5 Understanding DDL Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

6.5.1 Using CREATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
6.5.2 Using ALTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
6.5.3 Using DROP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Assess Your Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Summary Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Applying This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
You Try It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
7 Data Access and Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
7.1 Using SELECT Statement Advanced Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
7.1.1 Understanding SELECT Statement Syntax . . . . . . . . 224
7.1.2 Filtering Your Result. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
7.1.3 Managing Your Result Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
7.1.4 Sorting, Organizing, and Grouping Data . . . . . . . . . 231
7.1.5 Understanding Operator Precedence . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
7.1.6 Combining Statement Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
7.1.7 Using SELECT with Other Commands. . . . . . . . . . . 240
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
7.2 Using Joins and Subqueries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
7.2.1 Understanding Joins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
7.2.2 Using Different Join Syntaxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
7.2.3 Using Basic Subqueries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
7.3 Using Batches and Scripts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
7.3.1 Writing Batches and Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
7.3.2 Understanding Basic Programming Concepts . . . . . . 252
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Assess Your Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Summary Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Applying This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
You Try It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
xxii CONTENTS

8 Improving Data Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
8.1 Understanding Performance Roadblocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
8.1.1 Recognizing Potential Bottlenecks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
8.1.2 Understanding Hardware Performance. . . . . . . . . . . 265
8.1.3 Understanding Database Performance . . . . . . . . . . . 270
8.1.4 Performance Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
8.1.5 Knowing What to Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
8.2 Using Indexes and Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
8.2.1 Working with Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
8.2.2 Working with Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
8.3. Using Programmable Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
8.3.1. Understanding Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
8.3.2. Understanding Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Assess Your Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Summary Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Applying This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
You Try It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
9 Database Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
9.1 Understanding the Need for Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
9.1.1 Identifying Administration Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
9.1.2 Justifying the Need for Administration . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
9.2 Identifying Administration Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
9.2.1 Understanding Data Administration
Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
9.2.2 Understanding Database Administration
Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
9.3 Understanding Management Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
9.3.1 Considering “What” and “When” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
9.3.2 Considering “When” and “How” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
 CONTENTS xxiii

9.3.3 Ongoing Management Tasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

9.3.4 Considering Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Assess Your Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Summary Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Applying This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
You Try It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
10 Transactions and Locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
10.1 Understanding Transaction Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
10.1.1 Understanding Transaction Processing . . . . . . . . . . . 333
10.1.2 Using Transaction Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
10.1.3 Understanding Transaction Properties . . . . . . . . . . . 341
10.1.4 Understanding Transaction Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
10.1.5 Recognizing and Resolving Potential Problems . . . . . 345
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
10.2 Managing Concurrency Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
10.2.1 The Need for Concurrency Management . . . . . . . . . 348
10.2.2 Recognizing Concurrency Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
10.2.3 Designing for Concurrency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
10.2.4 Concurrency Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
10.3 SQL Server Transaction Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
10.3.1 Understanding Transaction Processing . . . . . . . . . . . 355
10.3.2 Managing Locks, Locking, and Transaction Isolation 356
10.3.3 Recognizing, Clearing, and Preventing Deadlocks . . 358
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Assess Your Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Summary Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Applying This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
You Try It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
11 Data Access and Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
xxiv CONTENTS

11.1 Understanding Database Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

11.1.1 Understanding Connectivity Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . 369
11.1.2 Understanding Client/Server Connectivity . . . . . . . . 376
11.1.3 Understanding Multitier Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
11.2 Managing Access Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
11.2.1 Controlling Server Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
11.2.2 Controlling Database Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
11.2.3 Understanding the Connection Process . . . . . . . . . . 387
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
11.3 Protecting Your Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
11.3.1 Implementing Data Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
11.3.2 Minimizing Table Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
11.3.3 Keeping Data Safe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
11.3.4 Understanding RAID Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
11.3.5 Using Data Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
11.3.6 Protecting Your Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Assess Your Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
Summary Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
Applying This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
You Try It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
12 Supporting Database Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
12.1 Supporting a Centralized Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
12.1.1 Understanding Local Area Networks (LANs) . . . . . . 413
12.1.2 Understanding Data Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
12.1.3 Understanding Server Configurations. . . . . . . . . . . . 416
12.1.4 Consolidating Data Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
12.2 Supporting a Distributed Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
12.2.1 Understanding Distributed Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
12.2.2 Understanding Replicated Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
12.2.3 Understanding Partitioned Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
12.2.4 Distributed Data Support Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
12.3 Understanding Internet Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
12.3.1 Managing Performance Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
 CONTENTS xxv

12.3.2 Managing Availability Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

12.3.3 Managing Security and Privacy Issues . . . . . . . . . . . 438
Self-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Assess Your Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
Summary Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
Applying This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
You Try It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
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 1
INTRODUCING DATA
AND DATA MANAGEMENT

Starting Point
Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of data and
data management.
Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

▲ The role of data and data management as a business resource
▲ Identifying business processes and related data
▲ Potential concerns about data management

After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To

▲ Understand the role of data and databases as a business resource and be
able to use data to gain a competitive advantage
▲ Evaluate your organization’s core business and primary processes to iden-
tify data collection requirements and sources in order to develop a data
management system for your organization
▲ Identify potential human data sources and the data you can expect to
retrieve based on organizational roles
▲ Identify key data management concerns in your organization and under-
stand how to protect your organization’s data from loss or corruption
2 INTRODUCING DATA AND DATA MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
We live in a true information age where data is a critical resource. Today, per-
haps more than ever before, knowledge is power. This chapter provides an intro-
duction to data and some fundamental points about data management. We start
with the role that data has played and continues to play as a business resource.
We then look at how business practices help you understand data collection
requirements. Finally, we take a brief look at some potential data management
concerns.

1.1 Understanding the Role of Data and Databases

It may sometimes seem to you as if every aspect of your life is categorized and
tracked from birth to death. In addition, you have direct access to more infor-
mation than you could ever possibly use through the Internet.
We are being drowned in a veritable sea of data. Much of it is potentially
valuable, but the situation has reached the point where data is being gathered
so fast that much of it may never be put to use. Although the terms data and
information are often used interchangeably, it is important to understand the dis-
tinction between them. Data (sometimes called “raw data”) is a stream of facts
that is not organized or arranged into a form that people can understand or use.
Raw data has very little value. For instance, a retail store register captures a vari-
ety of raw data, such as the barcode associated with a purchased item, its price,
the date and time, and so on. Each of these pieces of data has little meaning in
isolation. However, when that raw data is organized by combining it with other
similar data and is analyzed, meaningful information, such as the total number
of sweaters sold at a particular store on a particular day, can be generated. Infor-
mation is data that has been organized in such a way as to be meaningful and
useful to people. One way to convert raw data into information is to use a data-
base. A database is an ordered collection of related data elements intended to
meet the information needs of an organization and designed to be shared by
multiple users. Databases are our most powerful tool for organizing data into
potentially valuable information.
Data is indispensable to every kind of modern business and government
organization. Data, the applications that process the data, and the computers on
which the applications run are fundamental to every aspect of every kind of
endeavor. When speaking of corporate resources, people used to list such items
as capital, plant and equipment, inventory, personnel, and patents. Today, any
such list of corporate resources must include the corporation’s data. It has even
been suggested that data is the most important corporate resource because it
describes all of the others.
 1.1.1 A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE 3

Data can give a company a crucial competitive advantage. We routinely speak

of data and the information derived from it as competitive weapons in hotly con-
tested industries. For example, FedEx had a significant competitive advantage when
it first provided access to its package-tracking data on its Web site. Then, once one
company in an industry develops a new application that takes advantage of its data,
the other companies in the industry are forced to match it to remain competitive.
This cycle continually moves the use of data to ever higher levels, making
it an even more important corporate resource. Examples of this abound. Banks
provide their customers with online access to their accounts. Package shipping
companies provide up-to-the-minute information on the whereabouts of a pack-
age. Retailers send manufacturers product sales data that the manufacturers use
to adjust inventories and production cycles. Manufacturers automatically send
their parts suppliers inventory data and expect the suppliers to use the data to
keep a steady stream of parts flowing.

1.1.1 A Practical Example

Let’s take a look at a practical example. Airline companies need an overwhelming
amount of data to survive. This includes internal data about their own resources and
personnel, but also data about their customers’ travel habits and factors that influ-
ence their business such as changes in fuel costs or actions taken by competitors.
To understand this, take a look at one small part of the airline business, the
process of ticketing and seat reservation. Examine the individual tasks involved
in the ticketing and seat reservation process. Let’s say that a customer wants to
make a trip from New York to Miami on a Monday. Are there any promotional
discount plans? The ticketing agent must find and offer a suitable discount plan,
if available. Although the agent has the desk, equipment, and other resources,
he or she needs information about the available discount plans.
The next task involves checking possible routing options and connecting
flights. To perform this task, the agent needs information about the different rout-
ing options and connecting flights on Mondays. After going through the routing
options and flight times, let’s say that the customer has picked a specific rout-
ing option. The next task in the process is verifying seat availability. What infor-
mation does the agent need to complete this task? The agent must have infor-
mation about seat availability in each leg of the journey. The agent needs different
types of information for every task of the process. Figure 1-1 shows information
needed for the ticketing and seat reservation process. Notice the various types
of information necessary for the process.
We have considered just one process in the airline company. Even for this
one process, various types of critical information are essential. Now, consider the
number of additional processes involved in day-to-day business activities, each
process with its own critical data set (see Figure 1-2). From this, you can start
4 INTRODUCING DATA AND DATA MANAGEMENT

Figure 1-1

Customer Ascertain customer’s requirements

data
Find discounted plans
Flight
locations Check routing/connecting flights

Discount Verify seat availability

plans CORE BUSINESS
Reserve seats on selected routes Provide
Fare air
schedule Record preferences transportation

Available Issue ticket

seats
Collect airfare
Payment
options Print itinerary

Required
PROCESS: ticketing and reservation
information
Information needed for ticketing and seat reservation.

Figure 1-2

Business Business
Process Process
CORE BUSINESS
Provide
air
Business transportation Business
Process Process

DATABASE SYSTEM
airports INFORMATION ABOUT airfares
airplane airplanes flights discount
seats plans
types flight
legs customers
reservations

Database system needed to support airline

company core business activities.
 1.1.3 THE NEED FOR DATA MANAGEMENT 5

to get an idea of the volume of information needed by any business or other

organization.

1.1.2 Understanding Data Management

Data is a difficult corporate resource to manage. In data, you have a resource of
tremendous volume, with billions, trillions, and more individual pieces, each
piece of which is different from the next. And much of it is in a state of change
at any one time.
As far back as the early to mid-1960s, companies began to realize that stor-
ing each application’s data separately, in simple files, was problematic for the fol-
lowing reasons:

▲ The increasing volume of data.

▲ The increasing demand for data access.
▲ The need for data security, privacy, backup, and recovery.
▲ The desire to share data and cut down on data redundancy (unwanted
duplicate data in a database).

It soon became clear that a new kind of software was needed to help man-
age the data, as well as faster hardware to keep up with the increasing volume
of data and data access demands. In terms of personnel, data management spe-
cialists would have to be developed, educated, and given the responsibility for
managing the data as a corporate resource.
Out of this need was born a new kind of software, the database manage-
ment system (DBMS), and a new category of personnel, with titles like database
administrator and data management specialist. And, yes, hardware has progres-
sively gotten faster and cheaper for the degree of performance that it provides.
The integration of these advances adds up to much more than the simple sum
of their parts; they add up to the database environment.

1.1.3 The Need for Data Management

It is practically impossible to buy anything, sell anything, or travel anywhere by air,
rail, or sea without the fact being recorded in a database somewhere. With the recent
rash of mergers of all kinds of organizations into larger entities, this data is becom-
ing centralized. Residing in databases like the one shown in Figure 1-3, the data
can be “mined” for useful information, allowing companies to find out not only
who you are and where you live, but also what you like to eat, what you like to
read, and who your favorite musicians and entertainers are. They know what your
favorite sports teams are, and what sports you like to participate in yourself. They
know where you shop and how often. They know when you are about to run out
of something you buy regularly. They know when your kids are born, when they
6 INTRODUCING DATA AND DATA MANAGEMENT

Figure 1-3

Address Music
Designers Favorite Food

DATABASE

Sales Restaurant
Announcements Suggestions

Recommended
CDs

Database and mining results.

are about to enter kindergarten, when they will graduate from high school, and
when they are engaged to be married. They then use the information generated
from the data stored in the database, along with sophisticated mining software, to
target sales efforts with a higher probability of success.
All this data is stored in databases. The databases are growing larger, not
only because more data is added to them on a daily basis, but because new kinds
of data are being captured and stored, based on the activities and transactions
in which you participate in the course of your daily living. The amount of data
being stored in databases every day, based on people’s actions and transactions,
is already huge, but will get even larger in the coming years.

FOR EXAMPLE
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, the largest retailer on the Web, has perfected the technique of
using databases to characterize its customers. By analyzing the kinds of
products you have bought or expressed interest in, Amazon.com can pre-
sent you with displays of similar products that you are likely to find inter-
esting. This sales strategy requires not only massive, well-structured data-
bases, but also sophisticated data-mining software that finds associations and
relationships in customers’ past behavior in order to prediction what cus-
tomers are likely to do and want in the future.
 1.2.1 PICKING A STARTING POINT 7

SELF-CHECK
• Explain why businesses see data management as a critical
requirement.
• List companies that collect data about their customers as part of
their normal business activities.

1.2 Understanding Data Sources

A single piece of data is a single fact about something that interests us. Think
about the world around you, about your environment. In any environment there
are things that are important to you, and there are facts about those things that are
worth remembering. A thing can be an obvious object like an automobile or a
piece of furniture. But the concept of an object is broad enough to include a
person, an organization like a company, or an event that took place, like a par-
ticular meeting. A fact can be any characteristic of an object. In a university envi-
ronment it may be the fact that student Gloria Thomas has completed ninety-
six credits, or it may be the fact that Professor Howard Gold graduated from
Ohio State University, or it may be the fact that English 349 is being held in
Room 830 of Alumni Hall. In a commercial environment, it may be the fact that
employee John Baker’s employee number is 137; or it may be the fact that one
of a company’s suppliers, the Superior Products Company, is located in Chicago;
or it may be the fact that the refrigerator with serial number 958304 was man-
ufactured on November 5, 2004. Usually, we have many facts to describe some-
thing of interest to us in our environment.

1.2.1 Picking a Starting Point

Before you can begin organizing data into some useful form, available data must
be collected. Data gathering can be tedious, but is critical. Initially, you aren’t
concerned about sorting the data or trying to identify what is or isn’t important.
Instead, you need to just get the data together in one central location. Once you
have that, you can start figuring out what you can (and should) do with it.
A good place to start is with identifying the company’s core business—its
primary activity and reason for existence. Notice the numerous activities in a
company. For example, look at the activities in a car rental business. Different
departments are engaged in various activities, like the examples in Figure 1-4.
What are the activities in the department that manages the fleet? This depart-
ment studies the demand for different types of cars. It examines the usage and
status at individual branches. It places orders to replace cars that need to be
8 INTRODUCING DATA AND DATA MANAGEMENT

Figure 1-4

Fleet
Car demand
Track location and use
Replacement orders
Fleet management

Service
Regular maintenance
Check after rental
Clean and repair

Departmental activities.

retired soon. All these and many more activities within the fleet management
department are aimed at supporting the core business of the car rental company,
which is renting cars to customers. The servicing department’s activities are focused
on keeping each car in top condition. Each car must be thoroughly checked after
each rental and maintained. Again, the activities of the servicing department,
although different from those of fleet management, are also aimed at supporting
the core business of the car rental company, namely, renting cars to customers.
Here is a sample of the core businesses of a few types of organizations:

▲ Retail grocery store: buy groceries from vendors and sell to retail customers.
▲ Stock brokerage: buy and sell stocks and bonds for individuals and institu-
tions.
▲ Auction company: enable customers to sell and buy goods through auctions.
▲ Computer consulting: provide consulting services.
▲ Airlines: provide air transportation to customers.
▲ Car dealership: buy and sell cars.
▲ Department store: buy and sell consumer goods.
▲ University: provide higher learning to students.

After you identify what a business is and what it does, you can start to under-
stand the data involved.

1.2.2 Identifying Primary Processes

The core business of an organization typically is to provide goods or services to its
customers. The functions of each person and every department in the organization
 1.2.3 SPECIFIC DATA SOURCES 9

are directed toward accomplishing the purpose of the core business. Many distinc-
tive processes carried out by the departments support the core business. These pri-
mary processes fulfill the purpose of the core business.
At this point, data collection can still look like an overwhelming process.
Even a simple business can easily have dozens, if not hundreds, of primary
processes needed to accomplish its core business goals. Trying to address all of
these processes at once is not only daunting, it’s nearly impossible and, in the
long run, a waste of time. It’s better to start by focusing on one process, like air-
line ticketing and seat assignment.
What tasks must be completed to complete the process? To carry out the
various processes, the company needs resources and assets such as buildings,
equipment, materials, people, and money. But that is not all. The company also
needs information to accomplish its processes. Information is a major asset, like
other tangible and intangible assets of the company, used for performing the mul-
titude of processes. Look for the information needed to complete the task, and
you have a start on collecting the company’s core information resources.

1.2.3 Specific Data Sources

Information comes in a wide variety of forms. In most cases, there is no short-
age of available information from which to choose. However, these data sources
are not always immediately obvious. You have to work with an organization to
locate the information and dig it out from its many possible hiding places.
Finding Current Information
A good place to start is business documents. These include both hard copy and
electronic documents. Some are common to most organizations, such as
employee records, while others are more specific to the type of organization.
Examples of business documents include items such as:

▲ Employee records: includes hiring and firing records, time sheets and other
payroll information, vacation records, and related records.
▲ Customer records: includes customer lists, contact information, purchase
history.
▲ “Hard” assets: long-term organizational assets such as land, buildings, and
equipment.
▲ Inventory records: includes inventory of items for sale as well as items for
internal consumption.
▲ Accounting records: information about the organization’s resources with a
focus on financial resources.

Some of these documents, such as accounting records, are likely already orga-
nized to some extent and in an electronic format. Though they often cannot be
10 INTRODUCING DATA AND DATA MANAGEMENT

used as is, they are typically easier to integrate with your database. Other docu-
ments may exist only as a hard-copy paper trail, leaving much of the organiza-
tion (and data entry) up to you.

Finding Historic Information

The task in finding historic information is often not so much identifying the
information you need as it is physically locating the information. The older the
information, the greater the chance that it exists as paper documents only. These
documents may be hidden away in old filing cabinets or in boxes somewhere in
the back of a warehouse.
Sometimes you will find that there are gaps in the information, with docu-
ments lost, damaged, or destroyed. Some information might no longer apply to
the core business activities. The organization may need to make a decision about
how far back you need to dig through the historical record, as well as what part
of that record is really important.
Be careful not to dismiss data as no longer useful just because it is old. Mod-
ern data mining software can find unsuspected relationships between old and
new data, identify unexpected trends, and extract a treasure trove of business
intelligence.

Using Human Sources

Employees at all levels of the organization are a vital information source during
data collection. However, it’s important to understand that the information pro-
vided by an employee is colored by the employee’s environment. Employees are
most concerned about the data they need to do their jobs, as in Figure 1-5.
Supervisors and executive staff usually focus on the big picture. They can
give you an overall understanding of the organization and how things fit together.
They can also provide insight into organization goals, which can directly impact

Figure 1-5

Big picture data

Executive
Company overview

Managers Day-to-day activities

Job requirements
Employees Task-specific
information

Human data sources.

 1.2.3 SPECIFIC DATA SOURCES 11

data requirements. Front-line managers are more concerned about day-to-day

activities, so this is the data with which they are most familiar. A warehouse
manager, for example, can provide information about inventory and about pur-
chasing procedures.
Often, the richest source for data requirements and practical data are rank-
and-file employees. You need to spend time talking with employees as part of any
data collection process. Individual employees might not be able to describe exactly
what information they need to do their jobs, but they can describe the jobs they
do in detail. From this, you can get an understanding of the data they need. You
also get insight into how they need to have the data made available, which can
be just as important when designing and developing databases and data applica-
tions. You can usually get the most complete picture of the tasks an employee
performs through direct observation. Watch what they do and how they do it. If
you don’t understand something or why it is being done a particular way, ask.
Understanding Data Flows
Part of the data collection process includes understanding how data flows
through an organization. What are the data sources? Where or how is the data
generated? The answers to these questions often help you locate the data in its
purest form.
Data is similar to water, flowing from source to destination. However, with
water you have streams running together into rivers, then into larger rivers,
and finally into the ocean as its final destination. Data, as it travels, is likely
to continue branching out to more and more locations. This is important to
you, though, because the better you understand the data destinations (often
referred to as data consumers), the better you understand both data organi-
zation and access requirements. It also helps you design and manage data
access security.

FOR EXAMPLE
Hands-on Collection
You are gathering data for a retail organization. How do you find out the
data requirements for supporting telephone sales? You do so by watching
the sales personnel in action. Watch for both standard requirements and
exceptions. How do sales personnel verify product information? How do
they check stocking levels? What do they record about the products sold?
What do they record about the customer? What is required to complete the
transaction? These questions all help to provide direction to your data col-
lection efforts.
12 INTRODUCING DATA AND DATA MANAGEMENT

SELF-CHECK
• Explain how primary processes can be used to identify data collec-
tion requirements.
• Explain why a company’s organization chart can be important in
determining the employees to interview and what questions to ask
during data collection.
• Take a business model with which you are familiar, such as retail
grocer, department store, or a school. List the primary processes
needed to accomplish core business goals and the types of data
needed by each.

1.3 Potential Data Concerns

Every corporate resource has to be carefully managed in order for a company to
keep track of it, protect it, and distribute it to those people and purposes in the
company that need it. Furthermore, public companies have a responsibility to
their shareholders to competently manage the company’s assets. The chief finan-
cial officer, and a staff of accountants and financial professionals, is responsible
for the company’s financial resources, with outside accounting firms providing
independent audits. Typically, vice presidents of personnel and their staffs are
responsible for the administrative functions that are necessary to manage
employee affairs; production managers at various levels are responsible for parts
inventories; and so on. Data is no exception: it is a resource that must be care-
fully managed.
A database is no better than the data it contains. The data, in turn, is no
better than its source. Business documents are not always accurate or up-to-date.
Employees, from rank-and-file through executive staff, can be misinformed or
might not understand your question. Sometimes, they might even lie. It isn’t
always possible to verify all of the data you collect. Still, you need to be aware
of the potential for inaccuracies and be ready to correct your data as necessary.
One advantage of data management systems is that some types of data incon-
sistencies become immediately obvious.
Data accuracy is just one of your potential concerns when working with data.
You also need to consider data security. Data, as already discussed, is a critical
resource. What happens if a competitor gets access to that resource, or if some-
one accidentally (or maliciously) deletes or modifies the data? Even if your data
is accurate and secure, you also have to make it available to those that need it,
while maintaining adequate security. This means having the data properly orga-
nized and accessible to those who legitimately require access.
 1.3.2 MANAGING DATA SECURITY 13

1.3.1 Managing Data Accuracy

Data accuracy (ensuring that data is accurate and correct) begins with verifying
your source and continues with careful data entry and data manipulation. Most
data management systems provide tools to help ensure data accuracy through
various means, such as establishing relationships between data values and setting
appropriate limits on data values.
During data collection, keep in mind that even though human data sources
are an important resource, they are not always accurate. The information pro-
vided by employees is filtered by the context of the job they perform and the
temptation to put oneself in the best possible light. People often completely
ignore some functions they perform simply because they are too familiar with
their jobs. They might overlook critical steps or leave out details because they
don’t seem important. Occasionally, employees at different levels might feel a
need to purposely hide information for various reasons, such as the belief that
doing so will increase the employee’s job security (if the employee is the only
one that knows key information, then it’s more difficult for the company to fire
him or her).
You need to validate your data sources, as far as is possible. You must some-
times also apply a lifetime to the data, a description of how long the data should
be considered as accurate. This can be a formal designation or more informal,
based a sliding value judgment. Inaccuracies can also arise through poorly
designed algorithms (formulas) used to manipulate data.

1.3.2 Managing Data Security

The term data security is somewhat flexible, depending on the context in which
it is used. Say “data security” to one person, and the first things that come to
mind are protecting the data against unauthorized access and modification. To
someone else, it means making sure that the data is protected against corrup-
tion or loss. Both are critical concerns. In general, data security refers to
processes and procedures implemented with the goal of keeping data safe. Basic
data security categories include access security and physical security.
The tools available for ensuring data security are somewhat application- and
platform-specific. This is important because data is a tempting target. Many of
the most destructive viruses, Trojan horses, and other malicious software float-
ing around the Internet right now directly target database applications.

Considering Access Security

Most database systems control access security (controlling user and application
access to data) through support of one or more authentication methods, which
are ways of verifying a user’s identity before allowing access to the data. Differ-
ent levels of access permissions are also provided. For example, you can give a
14 INTRODUCING DATA AND DATA MANAGEMENT

user permission to view data, but not change it. Accessibility is also an issue
when discussing security. You want to protect the data, but you also need to
make it available to the appropriate users.
A vital part of this effort is reducing the surface area (a term used to refer
to how exposed a database is to access and manipulation) that is vulnerable to
attack. The wider your consumer audience (or data consumers—the people or
applications who need access to data and who use data in some manner), the
more difficult this task becomes. Consider a local database that contains all of
your company’s data. If your employees are the only people that need access to
the data, protecting the data is a relatively easy task. The issue of who needs
access, as well as the level of access required, is typically well defined. In many
cases, you can implement many of the security requirements as an extension to
existing network security.
As your potential consumer audience increases, so do your potential secu-
rity concerns. What if people outside of your company need access to the data,
possibly accessing your network resources remotely through the Internet, as
shown in Figure 1-6?

Figure 1-6

Internet
Database server

Local user Local user

Remote consumer audience (user population).

 1.3.2 MANAGING DATA SECURITY 15

Now you have less control over the user population. Though not shown in
Figure 1-6, additional tools such as network firewalls often come into play.
Rather than providing direct access to the data like you have in this example,
you might instead provide indirect access, such as through a Web-based appli-
cation. You will find that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. Instead, it’s likely
that you will need to design a custom-access solution matched to the specific
access requirements, and be ready to modify the solution and access as needs
evolve.

Considering Physical Security

Protecting the data against physical corruption or loss is the role of physical
security. This usually comes down to three basic tasks:

▲ Protecting the server

▲ Ensuring the storage media
▲ Duplicating the data

Protecting the server is usually a matter of providing physical security, lock-

ing the server away from prying eyes and busy fingers. A dedicated, secure server
room is the rule in most organizations, with access to server hardware strictly
limited.
Ensuring the storage media means making sure that it is reliable and pro-
vides a safe location for your data. One of the most common ways of doing this
is through fault-tolerant disk systems. A fault-tolerant disk system, usually
based on Redundant Array of Independent Disk (RAID) technologies, is designed
to protect the data in the event of a hard disk failure. Usually, when a hard disk
fails, all data on the disk is lost. RAID systems use different configurations based
on multiple hard disks that keep the data available and protected should any
one hard disk fail. When this happens, it’s usually an easy matter to replace the
failing disk and reestablish the data protection.
Duplicating data can be accomplished through making a literal duplicate
copy, or mirror image, of the data. You could keep a copy of the database on
one or more additional servers. However, these data image solutions can be
expensive to implement and difficult to maintain. It’s more likely that you
implement the duplication of data through data backups, data copied to a dif-
ferent storage destination and available should data loss occur. You can back
up the data to another computer, such as a network file server, or to remov-
able media such as magnetic tape or DVD disk. If something does happen and
the database is lost or corrupted, you restore the data from the backup, recre-
ating the database and its data. Of course, any data changes made since the
last time you ran a data backup will be lost and must be reposted to the data-
base manually.
16 INTRODUCING DATA AND DATA MANAGEMENT

1.3.3 Managing Data Organization

For the huge amount of data being captured to be useful, it must be organized.
Organization forces a structure on the data, helps to reduce the amount of phys-
ical space the data requires, and can help to minimize the time required to locate
and retrieve the data that you want. In fact, your only hope for making sense
out of the flood of data is to organize it in a way that allows fast, efficient retrieval
of the information you want, regardless of how large the dataset is. The longer
you wait to organize your data, the harder it will be to do. Whether you are just
starting out and as yet have not collected any data, or whether you are in an
established organization that has been collecting data for years, there will never
be a better time than right now to decide the best way to organize your data so
that you can quickly receive answers to the questions you will want to ask both
now and in the years to come. After you decide what kinds of information you
are likely to want to extract from the data, you can design a database that will
make it easy to do so.
Data standards also play a critical role. For the data to be useful, it needs to
be organized and entered in the same way for each data object. You need to col-
lect the same data about each instance of an object, and store it the same way
each time. For example, when collecting employee data, you would use the same
format for storing each employee’s name, employee ID, hiring data, and other
information about that employee. You need to refer to the data using the same
terminology to avoid confusing data consumers and application programmers.
Because of its importance, organization will be your next major task after
data collection. This means identifying what is important and deciding how to
represent it in a database. You must identify the key items that you want to track,
typically referred to as entities, and the information that you want to keep about
them, typically referred to as attributes. However, this is just the start of the
process. You will need to consider how different entities influence and relate to
one another, account for data that depends directly on other data, and so on.
Only then can you start seriously designing a database application.

1.3.4 Managing Data Access

We’ve already mentioned data access, the process of allowing users or applica-
tions to retrieve data from a database. After all, a database isn’t of any use to
anyone if they can’t retrieve the information that they need from it. Your data
security design directly impacts user access. When you organize your data, one
of the goals is to optimize performance when accessing and retrieving data.
As you prepare to build your database application, you’ll spend much of your
time deciding on the database objects you need to include in the database, both
for data storage and to support data retrieval. Most solutions also mean program-
ming custom executable objects to support data entry, manipulation, and retrieval.
 1.3.4 MANAGING DATA ACCESS 17

The term commonly used to refer to data access is a data query. A query,
though it often implies simple data retrieval, can also be used to insert new
data or manipulate existing data. Most database systems use a standard set of
commands known as the Structured Query Language, or SQL, to query data-
base data. That is why you often hear modern databases referred to as SQL
databases.
When you set up your database, you must determine who needs access to
the data and what level of access they need. Not all users need access to the
same data. Access requirements are related to users’ responsibilities and the busi-
ness functions (primary practices) they perform (Figure 1-7). Think back to the
processes relating to airline ticketing and seat assignment. Ticket agents need
access to a great deal of information such as flights, available seats, and ticket
prices. There is even more information about the airline, though, to which the
ticket agent should not have access, such as confidential financial records.
In addition to determining who needs access, another design decision
you’ll need to make fairly early is exactly how to give users access to the data-
base. Typically, a very limited number of users have direct access to the data-
base. This is usually restricted to database administrators and, possibly, database
programmers. Nearly everyone else accesses the database indirectly through
another application. The specific application type depends on the access
requirements.
Users responsible for day-to-day activities typically access a database through
one or more applications designed to perform specific tasks. For example, ticket

Figure 1-7

USERS AT DIFFERENT USERS PERFORMING

RESPONSIBILITY LEVELS DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS

Business Business
Process Process

Business Business
DATABASE
Process Process
SYSTEM

Business Business
Process Process

USERS AT
DIFFERENT LOCATIONS

Information access requirements by responsibility and role.

18 INTRODUCING DATA AND DATA MANAGEMENT

FOR EXAMPLE
The Galileo Spacecraft and Its Data
The Galileo spacecraft has been studying the Jupiter system for several years.
It has sent back huge amounts of data. By studying a small fraction of that
data, scientists have inferred the existence of a global ocean under the ice
covering the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa and the probable existence of
a similar ocean under the surface of another of Jupiter’s moons, Callisto.
However, the large majority of Galileo’s data remains unstudied, because in
its unorganized state, it is very difficult to extract useful information from
it, unless you already know what you are looking for. Organizing the data
into a database would be of tremendous benefit, but NASA has no funding
for such a massive effort.

agents for an airline would have an application designed to sell tickets and assign
seats. A user in a department store working a point-of-sale terminal would have
an application designed to post to sales and inventory records. People working
in the accounting department would have an application designed to work with
financial accounting records. Application requirements relate back to the core
business and primary processes.
Other access requirements could add another layer of isolation between the
data consumer and the database. Rather than communicating directly with the
database, an application might send and receive data through a Web service,
which, in turn, is the application that communicates with the database.

SELF-CHECK
• Lists key concerns relating to data management.
• Explain how your network environment can influence your access
and security design.
• Explain the need for different levels of data-access security based
on responsibilities and roles.
• Identify tools you might need to implement physical data security.
• Compare and contrast direct database access, indirect access by
local clients, and indirect access by remote clients.
 KEY TERMS 19

SUMMARY
In this chapter, you learned fundamental concepts relating to data, its role as a
business resource, and requirements for data management. You compared data
requirements from both historic and modern perspectives, including a look at a
specific business process and related data requirements. You investigated the
need for data collection and how to identify data sources based on core busi-
ness activities and primary processes. You were also introduced to some of the
fundamentals of data management and potential concerns related to data man-
agement.

KEY TERMS
Access security Data query
Authentication method Data security
Consumer audience Database
Core business Fault-tolerant disk system
Data Information
Data access Mirror image
Data accuracy Physical security
Data consumer Surface area
20 INTRODUCING DATA AND DATA MANAGEMENT

ASSESS YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to evaluate your knowledge of data and
data management.
Measure your learning by comparing pre-test and post-test results.

Summary Questions
1. The terms data and information mean the same thing. True or false?
2. What is a database management system?
(a) an organization responsible for database maintenance and administra-
tion
(b) specialized software designed to implement, support, and maintain
databases
(c) a manual method of record-keeping phased out with the introduction
of computers
(d) an end-user application designed to give users access to data
3. Which statement best describes the role of data in business?
(a) Data collection and organization is a low-priority effort with few
benefits for a business.
(b) Data is important to business in the information technology sector only.
(c) All businesses freely share data about their customers in a
cooperative environment.
(d) Data can provide a competitive advantage in hotly contested
industries.
4. Which of the following statements best describe the use of business doc-
uments during initial data collection?
(a) You should collect all business documents except those relating to
personnel records.
(b) Limit collection efforts to documents in electronic format only as
hard-copy documents seldom contain useful information.
(c) You should collect all available business documents, including both
electronic and hard-copy documents.
(d) It is safe to assume that all business documents you locate are com-
plete, accurate, and applicable to the current business environment.
5. When interviewing employees to collect data, you should limit yourself
to executive staff, supervisors, and managers only. True or False?
6. A good place for identifying the starting point for data collection is an
organization’s core business. True or False?
 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 21

7. How do primary processes relate to data collection activities?

(a) Primary processes give you a way of validating data accuracy.
(b) The tasks required to complete primary processes identify critical
business data sources.
(c) Primary processes DO NOT relate to data collection activities.
8. Executive staff personnel are a good source for what kind of information?
(a) an overall understanding of the organization and its goals
(b) critical details of day-to-day activities at all levels
(c) details of the tasks required to perform primary processes
(d) identification of data paths within the organization
9. How do primary processes relate to an organization’s core business?
(a) The primary processes and core business are one in the same.
(b) The primary processes fulfill the core business.
(c) The primary processes are those business activities occurring outside
of the core business.
(d) The primary processes provide a clear and concise definition of the
core business.
10. Which of the following is an advantage of records in an electronic format
versus those in hard copy only?
(a) The records relate to current business activities.
(b) The records can typically be used as is, without additional modification.
(c) The records are typically already organized for you.
11. Which of the following is typically NOT a goal in data management?
(a) keeping data physically secure
(b) making all data available to all employees
(c) ensuring that the data is timely and accurate
(d) ensuring that the data is organized for easy retrieval
12. Raw data is just as useful and valuable as organized data. True or False?
13. For what purpose are authentication methods implemented?
(a) to verify users before allowing access to data
(b) to set access limits through defined permissions
(c) to provide physical security for critical data
(d) to maintain data organization
14. For what reason would you implement RAID technologies as part of your
design?
(a) to provide user authentication
(b) to limit user access permissions
22 INTRODUCING DATA AND DATA MANAGEMENT

(c) to provide fault-tolerant data storage

(d) to organize data for easy retrieval
15. Which of the following is NOT a reason for organizing data in a
database?
(a) to provide fault tolerant storage
(b) to reduce the space required for storage
(c) to optimize data retrieval times
(d) to force a structure on the data
16. Database backups are an example of which of the following?
(a) data organization
(b) access security
(c) physical security
(d) user access methods

Applying This Chapter

1. You are trying to justify a computerized data management system to
your supervisor. You work in a service industry that deals directly with
customers. How could collecting information about your customers pro-
vide a competitive edge? What kind of software would you need to
detect trends and make projections about customer activities?
2. You have been asked to design a database application for a company in
the retail industry. The company sells through physical stores, through
telephone sales, and through e-commerce over the Internet. How can you
determine the best sources of information for each of the sales efforts?
How can you determine what information you need to collect from each
of the sales efforts?
3. Your company has implemented a database management system to track
all business-related data from the company. Access to the data should be
limited to employees only. How can you ensure this? What other access
protections should you place on the data? What guidelines should you
use in determining levels of user access? What methods can you use to
protect the data against loss or corruption?
YOU TRY IT

Data Collection and Organization Data Management

You are heading up the data collection efforts for your You are responsible for identifying data management con-
company’s new database project. You are responsible cerns within your organization. Your company includes
for determining what information you need to collect employees that telecommute and must access the local
and how it should be collected. network via the Internet. Both local employees and
telecommuters will need access to data in the database.
1. Discuss how you can identify the primary
processes within a company. 1. Explain why it is important to both implement
2. What might the company have available that access security and assign access permissions
would let you associate employees with the jobs to data. What guidelines should you use for as-
they perform? signing permissions?
3. Why is it important to collect all available infor- 2. Discuss possible options for providing employ-
mation during the initial collection process? ees with access to data. Compare available op-
tions for local employees and telecommuters.

23
 2
INTRODUCING DATABASES
AND DATABASE
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Starting Point
Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of
databases and database management systems.
Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

▲ Key database concepts and components and their importance
▲ The evolution of database implementation models and their significance
▲ Database system architecture and components
▲ How hardware and software work together to create a database manage-
ment system

After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To

▲ Understand basic database components and deployment models in order to
build an appropriate data environment to support the core business
processes of your organization
▲ Critically evaluate database models to determine an appropriate model to
support your organization’s information requirements
▲ Determine appropriate hardware and software to support the overall archi-
tecture of your organization’s database environment
 2.1.1 DATABASE APPROACH TO DATA 25

INTRODUCTION
No one can deny the importance of information in today’s data-driven world.
Vital to putting all of this information to use is the ability to organize, manipu-
late, and retrieve data on demand. Therein lays the importance of databases and
database management systems. In order to understand databases and how to get
the most out of them, you need to understand key terms and have a basic con-
cept of the components involved and how they fit together in a coherent archi-
tectural model. That is the goal of this chapter.
In this chapter, we lift away some of the protective covers to look into the
nuts and bolts of what makes up a database and a database management system
(DBMS). Keep in mind throughout this chapter that databases and DBMSs have
different roles and different components. The database, while a complicated entity
in itself, at its core is simply where we store the data. The DBMS contains all of
the other components that make the database a viable storage and retrieval tool.

2.1 Introduction to Key Database Concepts

Today, almost all organizations depend on their database systems for the crucial
information they need to run their business. In every industry, from the small
mom and pop business to multinational enterprises and government agencies,
database systems are the norm for information storage and retrieval. Commerce,
whether traditional brick and mortar or Internet-based e-commerce, thrive or die
based on how they use the data they collect. Database and Web technologies
have merged into something significantly more powerful than either one alone.
The Information Technology (IT) department of today’s organization has the
primary responsibility for designing, supporting, and maintaining database sys-
tems. However, IT personnel aren’t the only ones who need at least some under-
standing of database technologies and what they can do for a business. Data, in
today’s rapidly changing environment, is everybody’s business.

2.1.1 Database Approach to Data

As you learned in Chapter 1, a database can be defined as an ordered collection
of related data elements intended to meet the information needs of an organi-
zation and designed to be shared by multiple users, as described in Figure 2-1.
Let’s break the characteristics of a database down:

▲ A database is an ordered collection. It is a collection of data elements—

not a random group, but a collection put together deliberately, with
proper order. The data elements are linked together in the most logical
manner.
26 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Figure 2-1

Ordered collection
Related data
Meet information needs
Shared data access Da
tab
as
e

Database overview.

▲ A database contains related data elements. The data elements in a data-

base are not disjointed structures, but are instead interrelated and perti-
nent to the particular organization.
▲ A database is designed to meet information needs. The collection of data
elements in a database is there for a specific purpose, to satisfy organiza-
tional information needs. In a bank’s database, you find data elements
pertinent to the bank’s business, such as customers’ bank balances and
ATM transactions. You won’t find unrelated data that doesn’t apply, or at
the very least, you shouldn’t. Information like a customer’s favorite color
or whether or not the customer likes dogs doesn’t fit in the mix.
▲ Database data is shared. All authorized users share information stored in
an organization’s database so that all user groups can collaborate to
accomplish the organization’s objectives.

2.1.2 Understanding Basic Concepts

In order to understand databases, you need to understand several basic concepts
and must be familiar with the terminology used. These include:
 2.1.2 UNDERSTANDING BASIC CONCEPTS 27

▲ Data repository
▲ Data dictionary
▲ Database software
▲ Data abstraction
▲ Data access
▲ Transaction support

We take a little time to review each of these in the following sections.

Data Repository
All data in the database resides in a data repository. This is the data storage unit
where the physical data files are kept and the central storage location for the data
content. The physical structure of the data repository is database specific.

Data Dictionary
The data repository contains the actual data. Let’s say that you want to keep data
about your customers. There are two aspects of this data. One aspect is the struc-
ture of the data consisting of the field names, field sizes, data types, and so on.
The other part is the actual data values stored in the fields.
This first part, relating to the structure, typically is stored separately from
the database values as the data dictionary or data catalog. A data dictionary
(data catalog) contains the data element structures and the relationships among
data elements. The data dictionary and the data repository work together to pro-
vide information to users.
Database Software
Though sometimes referred to as databases, products like Microsoft Access, SQL
Server, MySQL, Oracle, Informix, and similar products are technically the software
that manages data and databases. These are database software or database man-
agement systems (DBMS), which support storing, retrieving, and updating data in
a database. The database software, or database management system (DBMS), is not
the database itself, but lets you store, manage, and protect the data in a database.
Data Abstraction
Consider a situation where you want to store information about customers. Data
about each customer consists of several fields such as customer name, street
address, city, state, zip code, credit status, and so on. Depending on users’ require-
ments and roles in an organization, different users consider the data from differ-
ent levels of data abstraction. Data abstraction, in this context, is a way of look-
ing at data that breaks it down into its basic components and groups the
components to give you different ways of looking at the data. It gives you the abil-
ity to hide the complexities of data design at the levels where they are not required.
28 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Consider the requirements of a retail business. Sales personnel need general

information about customers and inventory, but only limited information. The
warehouse manager needs different information about inventory, such as sup-
pliers and inventory costs. A database programmer needs a more complete
understanding of the data to know what is available for use in the application
design. A database administrator needs access to all information about any data-
base entities, not just database data, but schema and design information as well.

Data Access
The database approach includes the fundamental operations that can be applied
to data. Every database management system provides for the following data
access basic operations:

▲ READ data contained in the database.

▲ ADD data to the database.
▲ UPDATE individual parts of the data in the database.
▲ DELETE portions of the data in the database.

Database practitioners, who are personnel such as database designers and

programmers, refer to these operations by the abbreviation CRUD:

▲ C: create or add data.

▲ R: read data.
▲ U: update data.
▲ D: delete data.

Transaction Support
Consider the process for entering an order from a customer into the computer
system. The order entry clerk types in the customer number, the product code,
and the quantity ordered. The order entry program retrieves the customer data
so the clerk can verify the customer data, retrieves and displays product infor-
mation and inventory data, and finally completes the order and updates inven-
tory or creates a back order. All these tasks perform a single primary task, enter-
ing a single order comprised of a single order entry transaction. A transaction is
a series of statements or commands that execute as a group, like the statements
represented in Figure 2-2. All of the statements must either run successfully or
all must be rolled back, backing out the results as if the statements were never
run. This compensates for errors that might occur during transaction execution.
When a transaction is initiated it should complete all the tasks and leave the
data in the database in a consistent state. For example, if the initial stock is 1000
units and the order is for 25 units, the stock value stored in the database after
 2.1.3 DATABASE USE 29

Figure 2-2

First appropriate rows

Changes values in Table1
Change values in Table2
Document change in Tracking
Finished!

Database Server
Transaction Steps

Transaction.

the transaction is completed must be 975 units and there must be an order in
file documenting the sale of the 25 units.

2.1.3 Database Use

Figure 2-3 illustrates the primary types of databases and their uses. Production
databases support the core business and operational systems of an enterprise. Most
databases fall in this category. More recently, with increasing demand for information,

Figure 2-3

Decision- Mass
Production
Support Deployment
Databases
Databases Databases

• Support business functions • Used for analysis, querying, • Intended for single user
• Online transaction and reporting environments
processing • Generally read-only • Workstation versions of
database products
• Usage includes CRUD • Features include query tools
activities and custom applications • Ease of use important
• Features include • Data warehouse and OLAP • Features include report and
concurrency, security, systems application generation
transaction processing, capabilities
security
Database types and their uses.
30 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

FOR EXAMPLE
Choosing an Appropriate Deployment Model
You are a database designer and administrator for a business with offices
throughout the United States. All of the database and other IT support per-
sonnel are located in the home office in Chicago, Illinois. You support a sin-
gle database server named “Ol_Faithful” with access provided to the remote
offices through remote networking.
The company recently acquired another company in the same industry,
primarily to get its customer list and other business intelligence. Your job
is to make the data available as quickly as possible with minimal interrup-
tion to current procedures and user access to current data. The new data-
base server, named “OurData,” is physically located in St. Louis, Missouri,
and runs a different DBMS than your existing database server. Also, you
determine that you can’t import data from the new server into the existing
server without first upgrading Ol_Faithful to a more powerful computer
with larger hard disks.
How does this situation fit into the implementation models? What you
need is to change your current centralized model into a distributed model,
but with all of the servers physically located in the same place. Bring the
OurData server to Chicago. That’s where all of your support staff is located,
and your infrastructure is designed to support centralized data access from
Chicago. Once you have the server physically in place, you can provide
access through a distributed model based on a heterogeneous data environ-
ment. This buys you time until you can upgrade Ol_Faithful and combine
the data onto one server.

databases are serving another important function. These decision support data-
bases are designed to support advanced data mining and provide support for strate-
gic decision making in an organization. Production databases and decision support
databases are typically large-scale databases designed to support several users’ needs
within an organization. When a company uses both, the production database has
the added role of acting as the data source for the decision support database.
Individuals and single departments might also use private databases (referred
to in the figure as mass deployment databases), but this is typically discouraged
unless required for security or other reasons. However, having multiple databases
does not necessarily mean implementing multiple database servers. Instead, you
can implement multiple databases through a single server.
Businesses implement databases using either a centralized model or a dis-
tributed model. In the centralized model, you have a single, centrally located
 2.2 UNDERSTANDING BASIC DATABASE MODELS 31

database server. This server and the database it hosts contain all of the business
data. This model is relatively easy to implement, but can become difficult to sup-
port if you have to provide data access for remote users.
The distributed model uses multiple database servers with the data spread
across the servers. Each server typically contains its own unique set of data.
Servers are usually deployed in different physical locations. The database servers
can all use the same DBMS, or use different database products, giving you a
heterogeneous data environment made of mixed database types, operating sys-
tems, and hardware platforms. Potential drawbacks include the need for reliable
communication between the database servers and the fact that different database
products don’t always interface well with each other.

SELF-CHECK
• Explain basic database concepts relating to data and transactions.
• Discuss how the basic building blocks of a database work together
to provide a data environment.
• List business factors that would determine whether it would be
better to deploy a centralized or distributed database model. Be
sure to include cost as part of the determining factors.
• Compare the role of the data repository with that of the data dictio-
nary and describe how the two interact.

2.2 Understanding Basic Database Models

The basic database models are:

▲ Hierarchical database model

▲ Network database model
▲ Relational database model
▲ Object-oriented database model

The original implementations of the hierarchical and network approaches to

database are both called navigational approaches because of the way that pro-
grams have to “navigate” through hierarchies and networks of data to find the
data they need. Both of these technologies were developed in the 1960s and,
relative to the other approaches, are somewhat similar in structure.
Our focus is on relational databases, which are databases based on the rela-
tional model, and hybrid databases, which are based on an integration of different
32 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

models in one database. The relational database approach became commercially

viable in about 1980. It is currently the preferred database model and is imple-
mented in applications from simple desktop storage to massive enterprise-level
applications. The object-oriented approach has proven useful for a variety of
niche applications. In this approach, data items are treated as objects, which are
individual items that can be defined and described. The importance of the object-
oriented approach is that some of the key object-oriented database concepts have
found their way into some of the mainstream relational systems and provide a
hybrid object/relational database system.

2.2.1 The Hierarchical Database Model

The hierarchical database model is based on a hierarchical data organization.
In the business world, many data structures are hierarchical in nature. You can
trace a hierarchy by division, subdivision, department, and employee. Figure 2-4
illustrates one such model showing the hierarchy of customer, order, and order
line item. A customer can have one or more orders, and an order can have one
or more line items.
Each data structure representing a business object is at one hierarchical level.
The data segment at the top level of the hierarchy is known as the root data seg-
ment (as in an inverted tree). The relationship between each pair of data struc-
tures at levels next to each other is a parent-child relationship. CUSTOMER is
a parent data segment whose child is ORDER. Each child can have one parent,
Figure 2-4

Root
Segment Parent
CUSTOMER Segment

Child
Segment
ORDER
Parent
Segment

ORDER Child
LINE ITEM Segment

Relationship links
through physical
pointers

Hierarchical database model.

 2.2.2 THE NETWORK DATABASE MODEL 33

FOR EXAMPLE
Hierarchical Storage in the Real World
Though it isn’t based on the hierarchical database model, hierarchical stor-
age has seen rapidly growing interest recently with the use of extensible
markup language (XML) files. XML files are commonly used for local data
storage and for data transfer over the Internet. XML is not a database type,
but is instead a data storage and presentation format. XML is used as an inter-
nal format, or at least a formatting option, in several database systems. How-
ever, some new database systems, designed primarily for small, low-volume
databases, are based on XML data files and storage structures. Even though
they use hierarchical storage, they are not hierarchical model databases.

but a parent can have multiple children. You might want to separate orders into
phone orders and mail orders. In that case, CUSTOMER may have PHONE
ORDER and MAIL ORDER as two child segments. The parent/child links are
maintained through physical data pointers that are embedded in the data
records. The parent has a pointer to the child record and the child has a pointer
back to its parent.

2.2.2 The Network Database Model

The network database model overcomes some of the limitations of the hierar-
chical database model and is more representative of real-world information
requirements. The network database model can represent most business infor-
mation. As you can see in Figure 2-5, the model doesn’t attempt to force the
data into hierarchical levels. Notice the six data elements of sales territory, sales-
person, customer, order, order line item, and payment as nodes in a network
arrangement.
The network database model expresses relationships between two record
types by designating one as the owner record type and the other as the mem-
ber record type. For each owner, there are one or more member types. The owner
record type works somewhat like a hierarchical model parent and the member
record type like a hierarchical child. Each member type and its corresponding
owner record type form a set, which represents the relationship. A key differ-
ence between this and the hierarchical model is that each child (member) can
have multiple parents (owners). The relationships between the owner and mem-
ber are maintained by physical pointers in the data records. The owner points
to its members and each member points to its owner or owners.
34 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Figure 2-5

Owner Member
record type Owner
record type
record type
I
SALES I
CUSTOMER I
TERRITORY
Member Owner
Member record type record type
record type
SALES
ORDER PAYMENT
PERSON
Member Owner
record type record type
Owner
record type ORDER
LINE ITEM
Member
record type
Relationship links
through physical
pointers

Network database model.

2.2.3 The Relational Database Model

The relational database model is superior to the earlier models. In business, many
data structures and their relationships cannot be readily placed in a hierarchical
arrangement. Also, in both the hierarchical and network models, you use phys-
ical pointers to connect related data. The relational database model establishes
the connections between related data occurrences by means of logical links
implemented through foreign keys, which define and maintain relationships
through logical pointers. Figure 2-6 illustrates the relational database model.
Just like the network database model, no hierarchical levels are present in
the relational model. As in the network model, the lines connect the various data
structures with no restrictions. Instead, the model is based on two-dimensional
tables. A table is the fundamental object in a relational database, and is made
up of rows and columns. In general, each table represents a single entity, which
is a single definable type of item that you want to track in your database. Each
entity is described by its attributes, the information you can track and record
about the entity. The table columns store attribute data describing the entity.
Each row represents a single, unique instance of that entity. This is typically
enforced through a primary key that enforces uniqueness on a key column or
set of key columns. By doing this, it enforces uniqueness on the table.
The primary key is also used in defining relationships. When you create a
foreign key in the referencing table, it must point to a column with the same
value set in the referenced table. Typically, the foreign key points to the primary
 2.2.4 THE OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASE MODEL 35

Figure 2-6

SALES
CUSTOMER
TERRITORY

SALES
ORDER PAYMENT
PERSON

ORDER
LINE ITEM

Relationship links NOT through

physical pointers, but by foreign keys

Relational database model.

key in the referenced table, or it can also point to a column that has been specif-
ically configured as unique.
For example, the CUSTOMER table represents the data for all customers.
Columns in the CUSTOMER table describe the customer with information such
as the customer ID value, name, address, and so forth. The ORDER table rep-
resents the data content for all orders and the information describing each order.
In the relational model you define relationships between different data elements.
A relationship is an association defined and established between two data entities.
Consider the relationship between CUSTOMER and ORDER. Each customer might
have one or more orders. Each customer occurrence must be connected to all related
order occurrences. In the relational model, a foreign key field (column) is included
in the ORDER data structure to define that relationship. For each customer order
in ORDER, the foreign key identifies the related customer. To look for all the orders
for a particular customer, you search through the foreign key field of ORDER and
find those orders with that customer’s ID value in the foreign key field.
The foreign key enforces and maintains the relationship between CUS-
TOMER and ORDER. This replaces the physical pointers used in the hierarchi-
cal and network models. Even though this model does not use physical data
pointers to define relationships, it does still use them. Physical data pointers are
used in many implementations of the relational model to identify where data
rows are physically stored to help optimize data retrieval.

2.2.4 The Object-Oriented Database Model

Object-oriented databases integrate object orientation with database technol-
ogy. Object orientation enables a more precise, truer depiction of real-world
36 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

objects, so an object-oriented database can provide a better representation of real-

world information requirements than earlier data systems. Object orientation
allows a developer to hide the details of implementation and concentrate on true
representation, combining features of object orientation such as abstract data typ-
ing and distinctive object identities with database capabilities such as trans-
action processing, concurrency control, recovery, and security. Concurrency
control deals with ensuring data accuracy and reliability in a multi-user envi-
ronment. For example, concurrency control can prevent two users from modi-
fying the same data at the same time.
Object-oriented databases evolved to address some of the limiting features
of relational databases. For example, even though recent versions of relational
database systems support binary large objects (BLOB) data types, some can
handle only limited data types. A data type is a way of describing the kind of
data that can be stored in a column or table. BLOB data types are used to
store large quantities of binary data, such as a digital photograph or an exe-
cutable file. Object-oriented database systems include additional data types,
including multimedia-specific data types optimized for storing audio and video
data and user-defined data types. Object-oriented systems also support user-
defined functions.
In the relational data model, each table does not necessarily represent a real-
world entity accurately. You might have to combine two or three tables to fully
represent the entity. The added flexibility and enhanced data types in the object-
oriented data model avoids this and improves the representation of real-world
entities.
A detailed discussion of the object database model is beyond the scope of
this book, except in how it relates to a hybrid model, sometimes referred to as
the object-relational database model. This is the model you are most likely to
see implemented in the database applications of most businesses.

2.2.5 The Object-Relational Database Model

The most popular and most powerful of the modern database system applica-
tions, including Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server, are built on an object-
relational database model. These applications are built on a historically rela-
tional database platform, but integrate many features from the object database
model such as more flexible data types and the ability to create user-defined data
types and user-defined functions. Based on current industry trends, it’s likely that
this merging will continue, blurring the lines between the relational and object
database models. Object-relational database management systems (ORDBMS)
present viable solutions for handling complex data types. The object-relational
model combines the ability of object technology to handle advanced types of
relationships with features of data integrity, reliability, and recovery found in the
relational realm. A sample table, such as you might see in an object-relationship
 2.2.5 THE OBJECT-RELATIONAL DATABASE MODEL 37

Figure 2-7

Product Product Unit

Number Name Price Image

16386 Wrench 12.95

19440 Hammer 17.50

21765

24013
Drill

Saw
92.99

26.25
>
26722 Pliers 11.50

Object-relational database table.

database, is shown in Figure 2-7. Notice in this example that the data includes
large-object image data.
It is now common to see the Unified Modeling Language (UML) used
when creating data models for relational database management system (RDBMS)
based applications. UML was developed in 1997 specifically as the modeling lan-
guage to describe data models for object-oriented database systems.

SELF-CHECK
• Describe the basic database models.
• Explain why the relational and object-relational models are the most
commonly used database models in current database applications.
• Compare how relationships between data entities are represented in
the hierarchical, network, and relational models.
38 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

2.3 Database Components

How do you determine the architecture of a building? You look at the building
blocks and the arrangement of the components in the structure. These building
blocks and their arrangement make up the building’s architecture. You can look
at the overall architecture of a database environment in much the same way.
What are the pieces that make up the architecture? How do they fit together to
make a cohesive whole?
Essentially, a database environment is responsible for data storage, retrieval,
manipulation, and a wide range of support activities. The data repository con-
stitutes one piece of the overall architecture. You need specialized software to
manage and make use of the data. You need hardware to store and process the
data. You need people, including users (the data consumers) and practitioners
(personnel such as database programmers and administrators). You need proce-
dures that relate to users and processing, providing guidelines for the storage,
management, and use of data. Figure 2-8 illustrates the possible architecture of
a database environment in an organization. Pay close attention to the individual
components and how they are connected.

Figure 2-8

Practioners Users

Application Interfaces

Procedures

Application Query/Reporting
Software Front-End Tools

Data DBMS Data

Repository Dictionary

Systems
Hardware
Software

Database environment overall architecture.

 2.3 DATABASE COMPONENTS 39

You’ve already been introduced to some of these, specifically the data repos-
itory, data dictionary, and database software, here shown as the DBMS. Let’s take
a brief look at each of these functional building blocks, which include the
following:

▲ Data repository: stores the organization’s data in databases. This is

essential in every database environment.
▲ Data dictionary: contains the definition of structures of the data stored
in the data repository.
▲ DBMS: the Database Management System software needed to manage
storage, use, and protection of the data stored in the database.
▲ Systems software: includes the operating system, network operating
system, and utility programs that are needed to support and work with
the DBMS.
▲ Hardware: hardware is part of the underlying infrastructure and includes
processors, storage devices, and network connections.
▲ Network: part of the hardware, but outside of the computer providing
local and remote communication paths. Can include the Internet as a
remote communication backbone.
▲ Application software: suite of application programs to perform business
processes that use the database.
▲ Front-end tools: these include query tools, report writers, and other
front-end tools that supplement the application programs for data access
and usage.
▲ Procedures: procedures relate to instructions and guidelines for use by
database practitioners and end users to streamline the operations in the
database environment.
▲ Application interfaces: these include hardware and software components
at the client workstation to connect to the database through application
programs, query tools, or report writers.
▲ Practitioners: these include data administrators, database administrators,
analysts, and programmers responsible for database design, deployment,
and maintenance.
▲ Users: the fundamental goal of a database environment is to satisfy the
information needs of the end users. The user population extends to the
entire organization in need of information for performing their day-to-
day tasks.

The components in the overall architecture fall into three major groups:
(1) hardware, (2) software, and (3) people and procedures.
40 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

2.3.1 Hardware Components

Hardware components form the basic infrastructure over which the functions of
the database environment take place. Hardware includes the individual comput-
ers and the network infrastructure that provides a communication path. Though
not discussed separately here, the network also includes a software component
responsible for managing communications, resource sharing, and security.
Individual computers require hardware storage to store data along with struc-
ture definitions. Processors and the computer memory components physically
retrieve, process, and update the data. You need communication links between
users, application servers, and databases. Figure 2-9 shows parts of the hardware
infrastructure.
Databases are traditionally deployed on a mainframe or mini-computer, or
in a client/server configuration. Our focus is on the client/server configuration,
which uses PCs as both database servers and clients. Key hardware components
include the processor, main memory, input/output (I/O) control, communica-
tions’ links, and storage devices.
Ensuring that computers meet hardware requirements is critical to success-
ful DBMS installation and reliable server performance. Manufacturers usually
provide minimum hardware requirements as well as a recommended configura-
tion. The minimum requirements are the minimum computer components
needed to install and run the product. However, these are only the requirements
for the smallest databases and simplest applications. Actual requirements vary

Figure 2-9

Mini
k
Lin
ion
nicat
mu
RAID Com Client
Machine/Terminal
OR
Mainframe

Commu
nication
Hard Disk Link
Array OR Client
Machine/Terminal

Server Machine
Database system hardware infrastructure.
 2.3.1 HARDWARE COMPONENTS 41

depending on variable factors such as the size and type of database, the expected
number of users, details of the database application and its processing require-
ments, and whether or not the server must support other applications in addi-
tion to the DBMS. Most manufacturers provide guidelines for calculating your
actual server requirements.
In a database environment, servers and client workstations require power-
ful, fast processors. The processors in the client computers perform instructions
to present data to the users in many new and sophisticated ways. There may be
additional processing requirements, such as locally performed calculations,
depending on the specific client application software. The processors in the
application servers (database servers) must process complex requests for data
from the database and perform data manipulation. As with the client, requirements
vary depending on the application. A common option is to have a multiple-
tier configuration for server-side processing where the database server is separate
from an application server running additional application components.
Main memory provides temporary storage of data and programs. This is also
where data manipulation physically occurs. On a database server, much of the
memory is dedicated to memory buffers, memory set aside within the main
memory specifically for storing database data, as shown in Figure 2-10. When
data is initially requested, it is read from the hard disk and maintained in the

Figure 2-10

System memory

Buffer memory
Data request
Data request

Database Client

Database
Buffer memory use.
42 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

memory buffers. Data can be read from the memory buffers for data extraction
or processing as needed. In a database environment, you must move large vol-
umes of data through the memory buffers. The data remains in memory until
the space is needed and it is overwritten by new data coming into the buffers.
Because of this, when a request is made for data, the memory buffers are searched
first to see whether the requested data is already there. If so, then the data can
be accessed from memory and used much faster than when being read from the
hard disk.
Computer systems use I/O (input/output) mechanisms to move data into and
out of the computer’s main memory from secondary storage, a term used to
refer to nonvolatile storage media that does not lose the data it contains if the
computer is turned off, such as hard disks. Modern PCs improve transfer per-
formance through direct memory access (DMA) channels that let devices such
hard disk drives, floppy drives, video adapters, and network adapters transfer
data directly to and from memory without going through the processor cache.
Another I/O concern is communication between computers. In earlier data-
base environments, most of the processing was done locally around a central-
ized database. Today’s database environments are different. Distributed databases
have become common. Data communications components move high volumes
of data between distributed databases at different locations. Communication links
with sufficient capacity and speed to handle the data movement are critical.
These communications links include both local communications through a local
network, and remote communications through a wide-area or enterprise net-
work. The Internet is used extensively as the communication path of choice for
remote communications.
Data storage devices such as disk, tape, and CD or DVD drives are critical.
Without nonvolatile data storage on secondary storage devices, there is no data-
base. How you use secondary storage and how you are able to retrieve data from
it affects the performance of the database environment. Often, storage device per-
formance is the most limiting factor when optimizing database server performance.
Two primary concerns are capacity and speed. You were introduced earlier to
the data repository as containing all of the database data. Your secondary storage
must have sufficient capacity to hold all of this data along with program files,
operating system files, and any other data stored locally on the computer. It must
also provide for high-speed data access so that data requests are processed quickly
and efficiently. Secondly, data storage should be fault tolerant. Data storage mech-
anisms should ensure that the database operations continue even when some mal-
function affects parts of the storage. RAID technology devices are a common solu-
tion and allow you to store data so that even if one disk fails, the database
operations continue. RAID, which stands for redundant array of inexpensive (or
independent, depending on who you ask) disks, provides high-performance disk
storage. Most RAID configurations also provide fault-tolerant storage.
 2.3.1 HARDWARE COMPONENTS 43

FOR EXAMPLE
Comparing Data Storage Formats
A DBMS stores data in an operating system file. The total number of files
involved and how they are structured depends on the particular DBMS. You
can get an idea of common variations by comparing popular examples.
Our first example is Microsoft Access. Access uses a relatively simple
storage structure, creating a single file when you create the database. The
database objects are contained in this one file. This has its advantages, such
as making the database extremely portable, but it is also limited, with few
options for managing storage. For example, there is little you can do with
the database file to improve performance.
MySQL is an open source application with versions available that you
can download and use free of charge. There are also for-purchase versions
that include additional tools and utilities. It is a complete RDBMS product
and a popular choice for Web-based applications. When you create a MySQL
database, it creates a data folder containing an.opt file, which contains
option settings for the database. Separate data files are created in the data-
base folder for each table and view that you create in the database (a view
is a database object that supports custom data retrieval). One drawback of
this storage system is that you must deal with a large number of separate
files when managing a large, complicated database.
MySQL also shares log files between databases. Log files are used in most
database systems to store errors, informational messages, database activity,
and other database information. These shared log files include a log that
tracks statements executed against the database as a way of logging trans-
action activity.
Microsoft SQL Server is one of the most full-featured database products
on the market. It includes a wide range of features and supports something
of an object-relational database model. Different versions, called editions, are
available to support a wide range of database needs.
A SQL Server database is physically made up of at least two and pos-
sibly more files. One required file is the database file and contains the
database objects and data. The other is the transaction log that tracks any
activity that modifies the database. The data storage model is designed so
you can create additional data files as needed and specify the physical file
locations. You can then define the file in which a database object is cre-
ated. This gives you a way of spreading a database across multiple hard
disks. You have control over how the space is used and, by sharing the
work between multiple drives, a way of improving database performance
and I/O throughput.
44 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

The data storage component also relates to the storage of the structure defin-
itions in the data dictionary, the database’s metadata. Metadata is a term referring
to data about data. It’s the data that describes the database and database objects.
The storage format is specific to the database management system software used.
Structure definitions specify database and object schemas. In this context, schema
refers to the design and structure of database objects. For example, a table’s schema
describes, among other items, the columns that make up the table.
Speed is of the essence for the storage devices holding the data dictionary.
This is especially true because, with many database systems, the data dictionary
must be accessed first before the data is accessed.
You may also have removable storage media components, such as a tape
drive or writeable CD or DVD drive, to support database backups and data
archiving. In a well-managed design, databases are backed up regularly. The
backups are used for recovery if and when problems occur and data is lost. You
can run backups to a shared storage location on the network or to local remov-
able media. Also, periodically, you might archive old data to remove it from the
active database for storage in a separate location.

2.3.2 Software Requirements

Collectively, the software component includes the specialized database manage-
ment system (DBMS) (discussed further in Section 2.3.3), operating system soft-
ware, and application programs. The operating system software, among the
other tasks that it must perform, acts as the layer between the database man-
agement system and hardware. For example, when a user requests some data
from the database, the database management system processes the request. It
determines what data is requested and where the data is physically located. Then
the DBMS has the operating system software retrieve the data from physical stor-
age. The operating system software, in turn, interacts with physical hardware to
retrieve the data.
The operating system is a required component on any computer. For desktops
PCs, different versions of Microsoft Windows are the most common operating sys-
tem choice. However, acceptance of the Linux operating system is growing steadily,
with many hardware manufacturers offering computers with Linux already installed.
No matter which operating system you run, it serves the same function. It
manages and provides access to hardware resources through software control. To
do this, it includes specialized software components known as device drivers that
let the operating system control the hardware devices installed in and connected
to the computer. It is directly responsible for the following activities:

▲ Hardware management
▲ Process management
 2.3.3 DBMS COMPONENTS 45

▲ Memory management
▲ File management
▲ I/O management
▲ Network control and communications
▲ Fault detection and recovery

Database application software can run as server applications, client applica-

tions, or, in many instances, both, running as a distributed application. Com-
ponents dealing with the user interface and data presentation run at the client.
Specialized data processing components run at the server, either on the database
server or on a separate application server. It’s common to see database applica-
tion designs that include Web server-based components taking advantage of
Internet technologies. Often, the Internet is used as the communication path
tying the application components together.
Small applications usually consist of just a handful of forms and reports. The
components available in modern DBMSs let you put together a small application
easily and quickly. In addition, support components are provided to help develop
even the most complex of applications within a reasonably short time. The final
mix of what you can do and what you have available depends on both the DBMS
and your application development environment.

2.3.3 DBMS Components

The DBMS deserves special attention. A DBMS is a collection of specialized soft-
ware modules. Database administrators cannot implement, control, and manage
databases without the DBMS. Every request for data must go through the DBMS.
Over the years, the features and functions of DBMSs have broadened, so that
today’s DBMSs do not just provide data access. Instead; they contain a powerful
and versatile set of tools. Figure 2-11 shows how the various software modules
making up a DBMS could be grouped as major components.

Database Engine
The kernel or heart of the DBMS is the database engine, which coordinates the
tasks performed by all other DBMS components. This helps ensure that every
database operation gets completed correctly and completely. The other compo-
nents depend on the database engine to perform actions for them such as stor-
ing data and other system information, retrieving data, and updating data in the
database.
As an example, consider the database engine’s role in processing a query. A
query refers to an executable statement, such as a statement used to retrieve or
modify data. Suppose you create a query to retrieve production data from the
database. When your users run this query, the DBMS must coordinate the tasks
46 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Figure 2-11

Commn. Utility
Interface Data Tools
Dictionary

Application Forms
Developer Generator

Database
Engine

Query Report
Processor Writer

DBMS components.

needed to determine where the data is located and how it is structured. Once
the structures and data location are determined, the DBMS interacts with the
operating system to retrieve the requested data.
The database engine is also responsible for security, sometimes working
together with the operating system. Does the user executing the query have
authorization to access the data specified in the query? The database engine
component coordinates the services of the security module to verify the
authorization.
Some systems include an automated agent service or agent and alert system
that works in close cooperation with the database engine. This service is known
by various names, depending on the DBMS, but performs the same function in
each case. Some descriptions of DBMS components might not identify this as a
separate component, instead including it with database tools and utilities. How-
ever, its role in the DBMS and the fact that it is often implemented as a sepa-
rate service or application justifies listing it as a unique component in its own
right.
An agent and alert system performs background tasks that support the data-
base service. Key among these is managing periodic activities that are scheduled
for automatic execution. It ensures that these activities run when scheduled and
if not, reports the error and takes appropriate corrective actions. Other tasks for
which the service might take responsibility include background monitoring and
managing activity logs. Background monitoring takes different forms, but is most
often related to performance monitoring and detecting and reporting errors. It
usually falls on the database administrator to define and configure performance
thresholds and identify the error conditions the service should report. Log man-
agement includes writing error and status messages to database log files. Most
 2.3.3 DBMS COMPONENTS 47

systems will have one or more log files, some dedicating different logs to different
components.
Nearly all systems provide some kind of support for error and activity log
maintenance. If the DBMS does not include an automated agent as a separate
component, you might find these functions integrated into the database engine.
Performance monitoring and scheduled activities are a different story, however.
If not supported by the database engine or a separate service, you will need to
either find a way to use operating system utilities or buy (or build) a separate
support application that handles them for you.

Data Dictionary
Another component is the data dictionary, which refers to the storage of struc-
ture definitions—the storage repository of structure definitions. In many rela-
tional databases, the data dictionary comprises a set of system tables like a direc-
tory system. The data dictionary interface software is sometimes considered a
distinct component within a DBMS. However, in other manufacturers’ products
the data dictionary is considered an integrated part of the database engine rather
than a separate component. Either way, the data dictionary is part of the data-
base’s metadata, and no matter how it is defined, its role is the same. Specifi-
cally, the data dictionary performs the following tasks:

▲ Keeps the definitions of all data structures and relationships.

▲ Describes data types of all stored data items.
▲ Specifies field sizes and formats of data items.
▲ Holds information on space allocations and storage locations for all
data.
▲ Enables the database engine to keep track of the data and store it in the
assigned places.
▲ Maintains indexes.
▲ Stores report and screen definitions.

Query Processor
Another key component is the query processor, which may be called the
query optimizer, the DBMS component responsible for parsing, optimizing,
and compiling queries for execution. Each commercial vendor adopts a
standard query language or develops its own proprietary language for creating
queries. Structured Query Language or SQL (pronounced see-kwil) is the
standard language for relational DBMSs. Each relational database vendor
enhances the standard SQL command set and adds a few features here and
there, but the essential features of SQL are present in every commercial DBMS.
48 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Now, for example, you can write a query in SQL to retrieve data from the
CUSTOMER table: This might require a query such as the following:
SELECT *
FROM CUSTOMER
WHERE CUSTOMER_ZONE = ’North’ and
CUST_BALANCE > 10000

What happens in the DBMS when your query is presented for execution?
The database engine coordinates the services of the query processor to com-
plete the query and return the results. The query processor parses the query
and checks for obvious syntax errors. It determines the resources available to
run the query and makes selections to help ensure that the query is opti-
mized for processing. It then compiles the query for execution. It also watches
for potential errors specific to query processing and, in some cases, is even
able to abort queries that run too long. As shown in Figure 2-12, some
DBMSs give you a sneak peak into the specific steps necessary to process the
query.

Figure 2-12

Query execution plan.

 2.3.3 DBMS COMPONENTS 49

These processing steps are used as an execution plan. After the query proces-
sor parses and optimizes the query, it compiles the execution plan and writes it to
memory. This execution plan is used to perform the query and return the requested
data. Figure 2-12 shows one possible execution plan for our sample query. The
actual execution plan can change as the database design and available optimization
components change, so the execution plan you see now might not be exactly the
same as the execution plan you would see on a later run of the same query.

Forms Generator
The forms generator component, when included with the DBMS, lets you create
screen layouts or forms for data input and data display. For example, suppose you
want to display the details of a customer order to your user. You need a layout to
display the various data elements such as the order number, date, method of ship-
ment, products ordered, price, and so on. You would use the forms generator to
create a form to display this information in an easily readable format. You can usu-
ally include graphics and images to enhance the appearance of your forms, such as
displaying the picture of the employee on a form showing employee information.
A forms generator is not included as an integrated component with all DBMS
products. In fact, it is not a common component with higher-level database
products. Instead it is usually found in products like Microsoft Access. Higher-
level products, like Microsoft SQL Server, leave forms generation as a need to
be filled by a separate application or a separate development environment.

Report Writer
The report writer is another component that you might or might not see
included with your DMBS. Although most information access is online, a good
deal of information delivery still uses printed reports. Reports may be viewed on
screen before selecting and printing only the ones needed in hard copy. In some
cases, reports are generated and distributed in an electronic format only, though
the recipient usually has the option of printing a hard copy if desired.
Several DBMS products include a report writer component. The functional-
ity and features are product specific or even product version specific and vary
widely. Because of the additional overhead required to support this component,
many manufacturers include this as an optional component.

Other DBMS Components

While application development is sometimes a function of the DBMS, through
a component called an applications generator, it is usually done through a sep-
arate application development environment such as PHP, Java, or Microsoft’s .NET
Framework. Components provided with the development environment and the
DBMS enable them to interact and communicate.
Most modern database management systems have separate modules for
establishing and managing communications between databases, or more accurately,
50 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

between the computers on which they are hosted. This can include DBMSs run-
ning on different computer systems and under multiple operating systems. The
computers could be in different physical locations. Communications interface
modules in the DBMS interact with the operating system and network software
to initiate and manage the connections. They manage the data flow between data-
bases and help to promote true global data sharing.
Another aspect of the communications interface is the link with traditional
programming languages and application development environments. This is sup-
ported both through interfaces integrated in the DBMS and those included in
the development environment.
Most commercial vendors have enhanced their DBMSs and equipped them
with rich sets of utility tools. Others have left this up to third-party devel-
opers who create the utilities as separate applications. In some cases, the only
support tools available are those defined as part of the SQL language
command set.
Either way, these tools and interface modules are commonly known as the
toolkit portion of database software. The toolkit is primarily intended for data-
base administrators to perform necessary functions. Common utilities include
tools to support loading data into the database and backup and restore utilities.
Tools and utilities are often provided in both GUI interface and command-line
interface versions. The command-line interface tools and utilities are often the
preferred choice when having to manage a database remotely, especially when
working over a low-speed connection.

2.3.4 Understanding People and Procedures

The term people refers to two broad groups: users and practitioners. Users are
the data consumers, the people who need access to and who use the data to per-
form business-related tasks. Practitioners refer to the broad group of people
involved in designing, implementing, maintaining, and administering a database
solution.
Who are the users in a database environment? As shown in Figure 2-13, we
can classify the users into a few groups on the basis of their data requirements,
levels of their computer skills, and the frequency of data access.

▲ Casual Users: This group uses the database occasionally. Usually, midle-
and upper-level executives fall into this group and need special consider-
ations for providing data access. You typically have to provide these users
with simple menu-driven applications.
▲ Regular Users: The database in a production environment serves as the
information repository for the regular users to perform their day-to-day
functions. This group of users retrieves data and updates the database,
typically more than any other group. They work with programs that
 2.3.4 UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE AND PROCEDURES 51

Figure 2-13

Database Server

Users IT
Casual users Business analyst
Regular users Data modeler
Power users Database designer
Specialized users Systems analyst
Individual users Programmer
Database administrator

Database users and IT personnel (practitioners).

retrieve data, manipulate data in many ways, change data to current val-
ues, and also typically run periodic reports.
▲ Power Users: These users do not require well-structured applications to
access the database. They can write their own queries and format their
own reports. For the power users, you have to provide general guidance
about the query and reporting tools and give them a road map of the
database contents.
▲ Specialized Users: Business analysts, scientists, researchers, and engi-
neers who are normally part of research and development departments
need the database for specialized purposes. These users know the power
and features of database systems. They may write their own applications.
▲ Individual Users: Some users in your organization may justify maintain-
ing standalone, private databases for individual departments. Departments
working with highly sensitive and confidential data may qualify for per-
sonal databases.
52 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

You can think of the entire group of IT personnel who create and maintain
databases as database practitioners. These people keep the database environment
functioning and enable the users to reap the benefits. Broadly, we can classify
database practitioners into three categories: those who design, those who main-
tain, and those who create the applications.

▲ Business analysts: work with senior management, conduct special stud-

ies, and interpret management’s direction for information.
▲ Data modelers: create semantic data models with popular modeling
techniques. Often use computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools
to create data models.
▲ Database designers: develop and integrate user views of data and create
the logical design for the database to be implemented with the selected
commercial DBMS. Often use CASE tools to generate the outputs of the
logical design process.
▲ Systems analysts: determine the process requirements of the various
user groups and write application specifications. Work with the program-
mers in testing and implementing applications.
▲ Programmer/analysts: translate applications into program code. Test and
implement applications. Also, write programs to convert and populate
databases from previous database systems, if necessary.
▲ Database administrators: exercise overall control and manage the data-
base. They perform key functions in the database environment.

Without proper methods and procedures, a database environment will even-

tually slip into confusion and chaos. Some procedures are essential just for keep-
ing the database up and running. Because of this, and to ensure consistency,
users and practitioners need good methods and procedures. Procedures can be
manual or automated, and can include the following:

▲ Usage: clear and concise procedures on how to make use of the data-
base. For example, procedures might include plain and nderstandable
instructions on how to sign on and use the various functions provided
by the applications. These often consist of written procedures as well
as user aides, which are sometimes built into an applications help
system.
▲ Queries and Reports: a list of available predefined queries and reports,
along with instructions on how to supply the parameters and run them,
provided to users. These can include written documentation or be inte-
grated into a database application or support application such as a Web
service. Sometimes, programmers document these through the applica-
tion’s help system.
 2.3.4 UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE AND PROCEDURES 53

▲ Routine Maintenance: consists of tasks such as monitoring usage of

storage, allocation of additional space whenever necessary, keeping track
of access patterns, and looking out for problem areas. The database
administrators must have proper procedures to perform the routine main-
tenance functions. With some systems, many of the functions can be
configured to occur automatically as needed or on a periodic basis.
▲ Structure Change Management: Business conditions keep changing contin-
uously, and the data structures must change accordingly. Every organization
must have detailed procedures on how to initiate structure changes, review
and approve the changes, and implement the changes. This usually involves
written policies, automated procedures, and manual follow-up requirements.
▲ Backup and Recovery: In the event of a disaster, database administrators
must be able to recover from the malfunctions and restore the database.
Clearly defined and thoroughly tested procedures are required. Backup
and recovery procedures stipulate the type and frequency of backups and
methods for using the backups to recover after failures. Most systems
have requirements for automatic periodic backups supplemented with
manual backups as needed.
▲ Database Tuning: As the volume of data increases and the number of
users multiplies, the load increases and database performance tends to
degrade. Database administrators must monitor performance and find
ways to tune the database and optimize performance. Tuning procedures
help them understand how to locate problem areas and to apply tech-
niques for improving performance. With many systems, some tuning can
take place automatically through periodic procedures. However, most tun-
ing activities require manual intervention and should include follow-up
testing to verify that you have actually improved database performance.

Many of these activities are considered part of ongoing periodic management

and support activities. These account for many of the job requirements for the
typical database administrator.

SELF-CHECK
• List and describe database architectural components.
• Explain the difference between required and recommended hardware.
• Compare common data storage methods, including benefits and
shortcomings of each.
• Describe common DBMS components and how they are related.
54 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

SUMMARY
You learned about databases and database management systems in this chapter.
You were introduced to basic database concepts and database types. You com-
pared the hierarchical, network, relational, and object-oriented data models. You
also learned about database system architectural components.

KEY TERMS

Attribute Metadata
Binary large object (BLOB) data type Network database model
Centralized model Nonvolatile storage
Concurrency control Object-oriented database model
CRUD Object-relational database model
Data abstraction Operating system software
Database engine Physical data pointer
Database management system Primary key
(DBMS) Production database
Database practitioner Query
Database software Query optimizer
Data catalog Query processor
Data dictionary RAID
Data repository Relational database model
Data type Relational database
Decision support database Relationship
Direct memory access (DMA) Report writer
Distributed model Schema
Entity Secondary storage
Foreign key Structured Query Language (SQL)
Forms generator Table
Heterogeneous data environment Transaction
Hierarchical database model Unified Modeling Language (UML)
Main memory View
Memory buffer
 KEY TERMS 55

ASSESS YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to evaluate your knowledge of databases
and database management systems.
Measure your learning by comparing pre-test and post-test results.

Summary Questions
1. Companies adopting the database approach to data typically use a combina-
tion of data-driven and process-driven development methods. True or False?
2. Which of the following relate to storing and managing data structure
information?
(a) data repository
(b) data abstraction
(c) data dictionary
(d) data access
3. In the distributed model of database implementation, all of the database
servers must use the same DBMS. True or False?
4. Which of the following statements correctly describes a transaction?
(a) All statements in a transaction must be completed or rolled back as a
group.
(b) A transaction must consist of a single executable statement.
(c) If an error occurs during processing, a transaction leaves data in an
inconsistent state.
5. Which of the following correctly lists the words making up the abbrevia-
tion CRUD?
(a) consistency, redundancy, utility, data store
(b) create, read, update, delete
(c) columns, rows, users, data
(d) create, reply, understand, distribute
6. Which of the following is a common hybrid database model?
(a) object-relational
(b) hierarchical-object
(c) network-relational
(d) hierarchical-network
7. In the relational model, a relation refers to which of the following?
(a) the association between two data tables
(b) a foreign key definition
56 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

(c) a unique occurrence of a data entity

(d) a two-dimensional table
8. In the hierarchical model, a parent can have multiple children and a
child can have multiple parents. True or False?
9. Which database model organizes data into sets containing owners and
members?
(a) hierarchical model
(b) network model
(c) object-oriented model
(d) relational model
10. Which database model is most commonly used in modern database
design?
(a) hierarchical model
(b) network model
(c) object-oriented model
(d) relational model
11. The hierarchical database model uses physical data pointers to associate
parents and children. True or False?
12. Which data model is able to most completely describe complex data
types and real-world entities?
(a) hierarchical model
(b) network model
(c) object-oriented model
(d) relational model
13. Database architecture components are described as falling into how many
major groups?
(a) one
(b) two
(c) three
(d) four
14. Hardware and file management are the responsibility of which of the
following?
(a) application software
(b) operating system
(c) database
(d) DBMS
15. Database and DBMS are synonymous terms for the same concept. True
or False?
 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 57

16. Which term specifically describes personnel responsible for modeling,

designing, and implementing a database?
(a) practitioners
(b) power users
(c) specialized users
(d) administrators
17. Which of the following would typically be supported by automatic peri-
odic procedures?
(a) data backup
(b) database tuning
(c) routine maintenance
(d) all of the above
18. What is SQL?
(a) a specialized DBMS product
(b) the standard language for relational DBMSs
(c) an acronym referring to the DBMS query processor
(d) a popular third-party forms generator
19. Which component would you find included by default in Microsoft
Access, but not Microsoft SQL Server?
(a) query processor
(b) utilities
(c) forms generator
(d) report writer
20. Secondary storage refers to which of the following?
(a) local hard disk
(b) main computer memory
(c) memory buffers
(d) processor cache

Applying This Chapter

1. You are part of a team designing a database and database application that
will support point-of-sale retail sales, inventory control, and financial
accounting. The company has three locations, but all IT personnel will
work out of the home office only. What deployment model should you
use? What aspect of a database system will ensure that inventory is
updated correctly when posting sales to customers? What is the role of
the data repository in this design?
58 INTRODUCING DATABASES AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

2. You are comparing DBMS products as the platform for supporting a retail
sales application. You plan to use a standard product from an established
manufacturer. Everything should run on standard PC hardware. The
database must support inventory tracking, customer records, and cus-
tomer orders, including a complete sales history. The company plans to
eventually expand into e-commerce over the Internet. To support this,
you must be able to have both a description and a picture of each prod-
uct. Should you use a traditional model or hybrid model DBMS? Which
model best supports your data requirements?
3. You are comparing DBMS products as the platform for a new e-commerce
application. You have identified the tables that you need and the attributes
that each table needs to support, such as relationships between tables,
uniqueness, and so forth. Compare and contrast features supported by
different commercial DBMS products.
TIP: Use the manufacturer Web sites to research features and functionality.
4. You are deploying a database application based on Microsoft’s SQL Server
DBMS. You need to identify implementation requirements and product
features. You need to justify where additional software packages will be
needed. Why is a separate development platform needed for application
development? How can you determine the initial database server hardware
configuration? What hardware components are critical to optimum perfor-
mance? What two general categories of users must you support?
YOU TRY IT

Database Fundamentals Database Components

All Good Things is a startup company entering the You work for a company that operates a chain of dry
highly competitive Internet sales market. You are re- cleaning and alteration shops. Customer drop-offs and
sponsible for identifying database requirements for the alteration requests are recorded manually on multi-part
company. carbonless forms. The current cash registers cannot re-
tain more than one day’s worth of information. The
1. What are potential justfications for including a company has traditionally outsourced its data process-
decision support system in the design? ing needs. You were hired to bring those activities in-
2. Discuss the importance of transaction support ternal, basing them at the company’s home office.
in the proposed database environment.
1. Discuss the various database users that the
3. What are issues that might justify the need for
database solution must support and their prob-
multiple database servers in a distrubuted
able data requirements.
model?
2. Why will form design be important when devel-
Database Models oping end-user applications for counter person-
You work for an established company. The company nel? What might you use as a guide for initial en-
has used a mainframe-based database system for sev- try form design?
eral years. Several departments have deployed their 3. What should you use as a guide for determining
own individual database servers. You are responsible the reports that the application should be able to
for consolidating the data on these servers and the provide?
mainframe database files on one or more PC-based 4. If all development is to be managed in-house,
database servers. All servers will be left online during what IT roles must be filled to facilitate design,
initial deployment and testing. development, and ongoing support?
5. Discuss procedures needed to support the data-
1. Discuss potential concerns when supporting a
base solution. Identify whether manual proce-
heterogenous database environment with DBMSs
dures, automated processes, or both are required.
using different database models.
2. Compare benefits and potential concerns in the
relational and object-relational database models?
3. Identify the models most likely used for the
mainframe database and discuss possible data
design and migration concerns.

59
* 3
DATA MODELING

Starting Point
Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of data
modeling.
Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

▲ The database design process and the initial design decisions in database design
▲ The three general categories of databases and their impact on database design
▲ Database modeling goals
▲ The role of business rules
▲ The importance of entities, attributes, and relationships
▲ Basic database objects: tables, views, and indexes
▲ Basic relationship types: binary, unary, and ternary
▲ Creating and reading an E-R diagram

After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To

▲ Identify the tasks included in each database design step
▲ Accurately represent the business structure of your organization by identi-
fying the business rules associated with it
▲ Determine the appropriate functional type of database you need in your
organization by analyzing the business and user applications it will support
▲ Identify entities, attributes, and relationships
▲ Create a model including one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many
relationships
▲ Properly use cardinality and modality in describing relationships
▲ Recognize requirements for intersection data
▲ Develop an entity-relationship (E-R) model that uniquely identifies and
describes each instance of an entity within your organization and its attrib-
utes, as well as show the associations and relationships between entities
▲ Read an E-R relational data diagram
 3.1.1 UNDERSTANDING THE DESIGN PROCESS 61

INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on the process of creating a data model. A data model rep-
resents real world business data in the form of a database design. The chapter
begins by introducing the design process, the main types of databases, and the
goals of data modeling. It then looks at the key components of a relational data-
base model: entities and relationships. The chapter concludes by comparing
some data models based on different businesses.

3.1 Understanding Database Design

Before you start designing your database, you need to know something about
the design process and what is involved. You need to understand how the data
will be used, so you must identify the database type, which will help define both
data and application requirements. You must also consider how business rules
can impact your final design.

3.1.1 Understanding the Design Process

Typically, database and application design is considered a three part process,
made up of

▲ Conceptual design
▲ Logical design
▲ Physical design

During the conceptual design (Figure 3-1), you lay the groundwork. This is
when you interview all of the stakeholders, which includes everyone with any
interest in the project, about their data requirements. This is when you identify

Figure 3-1

 ✍ ✓
Conceptual Design Logical Design Physical Design

Data requirements Logical framework Physical modeling

Information Applicable data Database objects
requirements Data services Object placement
Collection needs Data modeling Optimization
Data locations

Conceptual design.
62 DATA MODELING

Figure 3-2

 ✍ ✓
Conceptual Design Logical Design Physical Design

Data requirements Logical framework Physical modeling

Information Applicable data Database objects
requirements Data services Object placement
Collection needs Data modeling Optimization
Data locations

Logical design.

what the application needs to do. This is also where you identify the data require-
ments and collect the information you need. You aren’t concerned about how
things will get done or which of the data you collect you actually need, you’re
just pulling together everything you can find.
You start organizing the data during the logical design process (Figure 3-2).
This is where you sort through the data to identify what information applies to
the project and start putting together a basic logical framework. You identify the
basic type of database application that you need based on processing require-
ments. You start thinking about data services you’ll need to support the appli-
cation. You also go back to the stakeholders for verification, to ensure that your
vision meets their expectations.
Data modeling occurs during logical design. During the process of data
modeling, you identify entities and attributes, distinguish relationships between
the entities, and make initial decisions about database tables. The framework is
still somewhat tentative at this point. You may find roadblocks to implementing
your design that force you to rethink and rework your logical framework.
Implementation details come in during physical design (Figure 3-3). The
focus moves from logical modeling to physical modeling. This is where you make
final decisions about how the data will be represented in the database. You’ve
already identified your attributes and now you decide how to store them. You
decide on the physical database objects that your solution will require. You
make decisions that will help you settle on a hardware platform, such as phys-
ical object placement, to optimize both space use and database performance. At
the end of this process you should have a complete physical design that you
will in turn use to install and configure your database server and create the
physical database.
Throughout the design process, it’s important to realize that the conceptual,
logical, and physical design are all interrelated, and that you’ll move back and
forth between them during the design process.
 3.1.2 DETERMINING THE DATABASE TYPE 63

Figure 3-3

 ✍ ✓
Conceptual Design Logical Design Physical Design

Data requirements Logical framework Physical modeling

Information Applicable data Database objects
requirements Data services Object placement
Collection needs Data modeling Optimization
Data locations

Physical design.

3.1.2 Determining the Database Type

Early in the modeling process, you need to identify the functional type of data-
base you need. This directly impacts your design requirements. You identify the
functional type by looking at the business and the user application or applica-
tions the database will support.
Databases functionally fall into three general categories:

▲ Transactional
▲ Decision support system (DSS)
▲ Hybrid

This chapter focuses on the transactional database model as its primary exam-
ple, but we must also consider the other models and their core concerns. The
core data modeling concerns are much the same in each of these models.

Designing a Transactional Database

A transactional database is designed to support the processing of business
transactions, such as the sales of a product. The primary function of the data-
base is to support the addition of new data and the modification or deletion of
existing data. This is performed at a granular level, typically working in very
small chunks, such as individual records. The database design must be optimized
to support these activities.
The transactional database model is the one used in the vast majority of
database applications. Almost every business you can imagine uses a transac-
tional database as its production database. For example, a retail business needs
to be able to quickly process individual sales and inventory changes. Think about
the checkout lines at the local discount store and it’s easy to see why optimiz-
ing these operations is critical. A bank needs to quickly and accurately process
each change to each account, hundreds or thousands of incremental changes
64 DATA MODELING

every hour. A library has to track each book coming in and going out as an indi-
vidual change. The database for each of these organizations needs to be opti-
mized to process these changes.
The traditional model for a transactional database is a client-server database
environment where the database services users within a single company. A more
expansive version of this is the online transaction processing (OLTP) database.
The difference is one of scale. With this model, you must consider a much larger
network environment, possibly a global enterprise network, and larger user base.
A typical feature of this model is Internet-based access with Web services and
Web applications. Because of the larger user base, concurrency requirements for
OLTP database models can be critical. Concurrency relates to supporting mul-
tiple users who need concurrent access, access to the same data at the same time.
You are also concerned about throughput, how much data can you process, and
how fast can you process it.

Designing a Decision Support Database

A decision support system (DSS) is designed to support business decisions
made primarily at the management and executive level. Common types of deci-
sion support databases include data warehouses, reporting database, and data
marts. With each of these, the primary goal is retrieving and evaluating, rather
than modifying, data. Speed in accessing data and data throughput are criti-
cal concerns. When you do add data to the database, it’s usually done by
adding large amounts of data all at once, a process known as bulk loading
(Figure 3-4).
A data warehouse database stores historical data. It can typically use the
same data modeling approach as a transactional database model. The key dif-
ference between data warehouse databases and transactional databases is that the

Figure 3-4
Bu

Production Server
lk
lo
ad

Data Warehouse

Bulk load.
 3.1.2 DETERMINING THE DATABASE TYPE 65

data warehouse often contains many years of historical data to provide effective
forecasting capabilities. An OLTP database is typically used as the source data-
base for the data warehouse. A data mart is essentially a small subset of a larger
data warehouse. The data mart is typically based on the modeling technique as
its parent data warehouse. A reporting database is often a specialized data-ware-
house-type database containing only active (and not historical or archived) data.
They are typically small in comparison to the data warehouse, similar in size to
the source OLTP database. In fact, they can be smaller than the OLTP database
because they often have more limited data requirements and contain a selected
subset of the data.
Consider the retail example again. In many cases, the company will also have
a DSS that relies on a data warehouse. Information collected by the transactional
database is periodically written to the data warehouse.
How would a retail business use the information? One way is by determin-
ing ordering and stocking levels. It’s important to most businesses to keep inven-
tory levels to a minimum. Ever wonder how a business decides the best time to
discount summer items and put Halloween costumes out for sale, or when to
bring out Christmas trees? A DSS lets the retailer adjust inventory stocking lev-
els based on variations needs, such as seasonal requirements. It tells the retailer
when to rotate the stock and can even provide suggestions as to the best phys-
ical product placement inside the store.
Another example is using a DSS to help identify new products that the busi-
ness might want to stock. Data mining applications can make associations
between products or customer purchases you might otherwise overlook. A DSS
can help the business target advertising so that it better matches specific cus-
tomers’ purchase patterns. That’s one of the ways marketing efforts specifically
target different groups. In a chain store, this is important because purchase
habits vary by geographic location, and can even vary by neighborhood in the
same city.

Designing a Hybrid Database

A hybrid database is simply a mixture containing both OLTP-type concurrency
requirements and data warehouse-type throughput requirements. In less-
demanding environments (or in companies running smaller operations), a
smaller hybrid database is often a more cost-effective option, simply because
there is one rather than two databases. This costs less because there are fewer
computers, fewer software licenses, fewer people, and fewer support require-
ments. This is not, however, your only cost-effective option. You could also
deploy the solution as two databases running on the same database, with no
increase in software costs and likely little, if any, change to the hardware con-
figuration. Because the database meets the same data support requirements as
the other models, the data modeling requirements are also the same.
66 DATA MODELING

Figure 3-5

Inventory Ordering

Seasonal? Stocking levels?

Store location? Order points?
Warehouse location?
Who keeps up with Sales
this?

Customer information?
By age/sex/other?
Customers By neighborhood (ZIP code?)
How is it tracked?
Preliminary model.

3.1.3 Understanding Modeling Goals

Database design is critical because all applications written against that database
model design are completely dependent on the structure of that underlying data-
base. If the database model must be altered at a later stage, applications based on
the database model probably must be changed and perhaps even completely
rewritten. That can get very expensive and time consuming. You should design the
database model using tools such as flowcharts, Entity Relationship Diagrams, and
anything else that might help to ensure that what you intend to build is not only
what you need, but will actually work. Entity-Relationship Diagrams (ERDs) are
graphical depictions of entities and how they relate to each other. From an oper-
ational perspective, the most important objective is fulfilling application needs.
Your modeling could, and often does, start with just a few notes and a sim-
ple design. Consider the preliminary modeling shown in Figure 3-5. Think about
what’s involved with a large retailer or discount store. This could easily repre-
sent the start of the modeling process. You’ve identified a few of the key enti-
ties such as inventory, customers, and orders. Sales might be hard to think of as
some kind of physical object, but it is a critical part of your entities, and the
point where inventory and customers cross paths. The additional notes are ques-
tions that could have come to mind while sketching this out, data that you want
to include, or ideas that deserve additional follow-up. Obviously, Figure 3-5 is
just the start of the design process, with more entities to be identified and more
data to be tracked down.
The design must support the business objectives. For a retailer, that means
stocking the appropriate inventory and selling it to customers at a profit. The
structure should represent business structures as accurately as possible. Figure
3-5 represents a start, identifying key elements and where they intersect. As you
continue to build this out, the process can mean compromising in some of the
 3.1.4 UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS RULES 67

design or deviating from “correct” design processes to create a structure that

looks more like your business and is optimized to meet your access needs.
Your design should aim for a well-structured database model that is simple,
easy to read, and easy to comprehend. Each table in a database model should
preferably represent a single subject or topic, a single entity, but don’t over design
by creating too many tables. OLTP databases can thrive on more detail and more
tables, but not always. Data warehouses can collapse under their own weight
when data is divided up into too many tables. At the same time, ensure that the
design is scalable, that it can grow to meet your needs. As you get toward the
end of the design process, issues like scalability can force you to go back to ear-
lier design steps and rethink decisions that you made at that time in the light
of real-world requirements.
For example, in a chain store with multiple locations, you might initially
build a design based around keeping all of the data in one central location and
using remote communications to support each of the individual stores. There
could be several reasons why this solution won’t scale to meet your needs. The
combined inventory tables could turn out to be larger than expected, or you
might have more tables than you wanted to support in your final design. Com-
munication support could be an issue, as it might be more cost effective to farm
database servers out to different locations than to upgrade the communications
support to meet the access requirements.

3.1.4 Understanding Business Rules

The importance of understanding the nature of the business is paramount to
understanding how best to model that business in a database. Because of this,
part of your design process is incorporating business rules. Business rules are
essentially the processes and flows of whatever is involved in the daily workings
of that organization. A good place to start is asking the following questions:

▲ What does the organization do to operate?

▲ What limits are placed on how the business performs daily tasks?
▲ How does the business make its money?

Business rules cover a wide area of subjects, not all directly relating to your
database design. However, you must identify those that do impact the design
and ensure that they are included. Essentially, business rules cover:

▲ Any types of organizational policies of any form and at all levels of the
organization.
▲ Any types of calculations or formulas (such as loan amortization calcula-
tions for a mortgage lending company).
▲ Any types of rules and regulations (such as rules applied because of legal
requirements, self-imposed restrictions, or industry-standard requirements).
68 DATA MODELING

A relational database model cannot avoid defining some business rules. They
will impact what data is kept in the database, limits placed on that data, data
relationships, and how they are defined.

Supporting Business Rules—Database System

Let’s go back to the “generic” retailer that we’ve been using as an example.
What are some of the specific business rules that you might need to consider?
We’ve already established inventory levels as an issue. Your business rules
could start out as executive statements made about inventory goals such as the
following:

▲ High-value items are defined as items that cost us $1000 or more each.
▲ There should be no more than three of any high-value items in stock
and on order at any time.

In most cases, you could enforce this through the database system. Assume
that you have an inventory table that includes quantity on hand and quantity
on order. The logic used would be some variation of the following (expressed
below as pseudocode):
IF cost >= $1000 AND
((quantity on hand) + (quantity on order)
+ (new order amount)) <= 3
THEN
Allow the order
ELSE
Cancel the order

First, check to see if the cost is greater than or equal to $1000. If not, you
don’t do any additional checking. If so, then add up the quantity on hand,
already on order, and the new order amount. If this total is less than or equal
to 3, then you can place the order. If not, the order is canceled.
To take this one step further, you could have set stocking levels or order
points defined in the database. In that case, you would use similar logic in the
order point calculations to ensure that the order point is never set higher than
3 for items costing $1000 or more.

Supporting Business Rules—Application

Other applications of business rules are better handled through the application
or through logic implemented specifically for that purpose. Take the following
requirement for all credit card purchases at our retailer:

▲ All credit card purchases must be approved by the card company.

 3.1.4 UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS RULES 69

This is something that you would probably handle through the applica-
tion. When the customer tries to pay by credit card, the application must first
get an approval. This is usually done passing the credit card number and
amount to a credit card authorization service and then waiting for approval.
The approval is often accompanied by some kind of verification code for track-
ing and audit history, just in case there is any kind of question in the future.
What if there’s a problem, such as the phone lines being down, or the com-
pany providing authorization being unavailable for some reason. You might have
an additional business rule, such as:
▲ If credit card purchases cannot be automatically approved, then manager
override is required.

FOR EXAMPLE
Using Business Rules
Business rules will relate directly to the business for which you are design-
ing the database. The types of business rules you encounter for a retail sales
company will probably be quite different than the rules for a credit card
company. In either case, the rules will be a design factor.
Consider a situation where you’re designing a database for a company
that sells home improvement products. You might have a small number of
customers, such as contractors, who are allowed to charge their purchases
and pay later. When someone tries to charge an order, the person making
the sale must determine the following:
• Does the customer have an established account?
• Does the customer have credit available?
• Can the customer charge these types of items?
• Does the customer get the same discount on the order when charging?
Each of these would result in business rules. You would have a rule that
you can make charge sales only if the customer has an account and is not
over the credit balance. Any other attempts to charge an order would be
blocked. Also, you must have a way to keep track of the customer’s current
balance and credit limit. If the customer can charge only certain items, there
would have to be some way of identifying these items in the database and
associating them with customers as appropriate. If the customer normally gets
a discount, but the amount changes when the order is charged, the change
would need to apply automatically. Discount amounts would have to be
stored somewhere in the database and associated with the customer.
70 DATA MODELING

Once again, you would build this into the application. It would need to rec-
ognize that automatic approval didn’t occur because of a problem. Maybe you
would want to write the application so that the salesperson must manually report
the problem. The application would then need a way of accepting and verifying
the manager override and allowing the transaction.

SELF-CHECK
• List the steps in the design process and decisions that must be
made in each.
• Explain the importance of business rules and how they can be
identified.
• Compare the roles of transactional and decision support databases.
• Explain why a small business might use a hybrid database to sup-
port its database applications.

3.2 Understanding Relational Database Models

Our focus is on relational database design, or more specifically, object-relational
database design. For our purposes, this means creating a relational database
design that also supports data integrated from the object database model. This
includes large object (LOB) data, which is usually binary data such as pictures
or sound clips.
When do you need to support LOB data? One of the first examples that
come to mind is online retailers. Customers want to see what they’re buying,
and one way of supporting this is by storing pictures along with other inven-
tory information in the database. When the user requests an item, the applica-
tion can return both a written description and a digitized photo of the item.
Some sites even provide multiple views or three-dimensional views that let you
rotate the item and see it from all angles. Music or video downloads are another
example. You could store a song, as well as a short preview, in the database as
a way to optimize retrieval. Of course, this is just one part of the data needed
to describe your database entities.
Accurately describing the entities making up your data model is critical. In
order to model data for a relational database you must be able to recognize enti-
ties. You must be able to uniquely identify each instance of an entity. You identify
 3.2.1 ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP (E-R) MODELING CONCEPTS 71

the information that you need to track about each of the entities. Together, these
give you your basic working set of data.
In the real world, entities never really stand alone; they are typically associ-
ated with each other, or intersect in some fashion. Parents are associated with
their children, automobile parts are associated with the finished automobile, fire-
fighters are associated with the fire engines to which they are assigned, and so
forth. Customers and the items they buy intersect at the point of sale. Recog-
nizing and recording the associations and intersections among entities provides
a far richer description of an environment than recording the entities alone. In
order to intelligently and usefully deal with the associations or relationships
between entities, you must be able to identify and describe both the entities and
the relationships.

3.2.1 Entity-Relationship (E-R) Modeling Concepts

Let’s start by making sure that we all have the same idea in mind when dis-
cussing database concepts. We’re focusing on entity-relationship (E-R) modeling.
This is a model commonly used for designing relational databases and is based
on business entities and the relationships between them.
As you’ve already learned, each “thing” that you want to track in the data-
base is an entity. Many entities are physical objects such as people or product
inventory. Some are less tangible, such as loan balances or interest rates. Your
data modeling process begins with digging through the data you’ve accumulated
and identifying the entities.
While you are doing this, you will also identify attributes, the information that
describes the entity. Each entity type will have its own attributes. The data collected
for employees, for example, will be somewhat different than the data collected for
customers, and very different than the data collected for inventory items.
Entities
Your best starting points are physical entities, the things you can see and touch,
and related business processes. That’s because these are the entities that are usu-
ally the easiest to recognize and understand. For some of your most obvious
physical entities, all you have to do is look around.
Let’s take another look at the retailer example we’ve been using during this
chapter. Assume you need to develop a data model for a department store. What
are some of the entities that immediately come to mind? Physical entities for a
department store database might include product inventory, vendors, customers,
and employees. Now, let’s focus more closely on one of these entities—employees.
Each hourly employee must have a time card or other way of tracking time
worked. That’s another entity. Pay rates, as a group, might also be considered as
an entity and kept in a separate table. You might want to track vacation time
accrued and used as another separate entity.
72 DATA MODELING

Now, let’s stop for a moment, to look at pay rates closer. What’s the advan-
tage to tracking pay rate as a separate entity? Each employee will probably just
have one base pay rate? Consider the situation though, where you have set pay
rates and the employee’s pay rate must match up with one of these. You would
track pay rate as a separate entity then so that you could use those values to
validate the pay rate assigned to an employee.
Sometimes, something might initially look like a single entity, but as you
look closer, you need to break it down into two or more entities. Take purchase
orders placed with your vendors, for example. You issue a purchase order to a
specific vendor to order inventory items. There are two basic parts to the pur-
chase order. First, is the general information—things like who the order is for,
the date it is being placed, the purchase order number, and so forth. The sec-
ond part is the list of individual items that you are ordering. Each of these should
be treated as a separate entity. That’s because each is a separate, physical “thing,”
that you can see, touch, and describe. Each item is further described by its place
in the item list, the quantity you are ordering, the item cost, and so forth. These
are all pieces of data that can vary by item, the item attributes.

Attributes
As you define your entities, you also need to define attributes, which as you
already learned, is the information you track about an entity. Attributes, for the
most part, will be entity-specific, because you don’t keep the same information
about every entity. For employees, you might track information such as:

▲ Hire date
▲ Pay code or rate
▲ Social security number (for United States employees)
▲ Employee number
▲ Home address and phone number

This isn’t meant as a complete list. The attributes that you need to track
about an entity vary not only by entity, but also by business. Some businesses
might, for security reasons, want to keep a recent employee picture or bio-
metric data (uniquely identifying information about a person, such as a fin-
gerprint, voice print, or retinal pattern) for employee verification. However, if
you don’t use biometric verification, there’s no reason to track it. Attributes
should include all information that is needed for business purposes, and only
information that is needed for business purposes. Any other information is, at
best, a waste of space and, when dealing with people, a possible invasion of
their privacy.
One attribute will be used as the entity’s identifying value, referred to as the
entity’s identifier or primary key. It must be something that distinguishes each
 3.2.1 ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP (E-R) MODELING CONCEPTS 73

instance of that entity from every other instance of that entity. Examples you
might encounter include:

▲ Each employee is identified by his or her employee ID number.

▲ Each customer is assigned a unique customer number.
▲ Each inventory item has a unique inventory number, used to identify and
track that item.

In the United States, a common choice for the employee primary key is the
employee’s social security number (SSN). Every employee is required to have one
by law, so you know that it will be present as an attribute. Also, each employee’s
SSN is unique, so it uniquely identifies each instance of the entity employee.
Why doesn’t everyone use the SSN as the primary key? You might want to
treat that information as sensitive, to help prevent identity theft, for example. In
that case, you need to “make up” a primary key. It’s common to have the data-
base system or application generate these values for you automatically. Many
database systems let you add an attribute that is commonly known as an iden-
tifier, based on integer values and often using a one-up numbering system to
identify each entity instance.
This is another case where it’s important that you understand the context in
which a term is used. The term identifier can refer to any value you choose as
the entity’s primary key. It can also refer, as we have just seen, to an automati-
cally generated value that is used as an identifier or primary key.
Note that in the case of employees, you must uniquely identify each indi-
vidual employee. For inventory items, you would probably just want to identify
each unique type of item. For example, you would want to uniquely identify 12-
foot fiberglass ladders as a unique type of item, but if you have 100 ladders, you
wouldn’t want to keep track of each one of them separately. Instead, you would
manage them as a group, identifying the group and the number of items in that
group that you have on hand.
Be careful to select a value that doesn’t change as the primary key attribute
(identifier). Each item probably has a unique shelf location, for example, but
there’s also a possibility that the location could change in the future. Typically,
once an identifying attribute is assigned to an item, it rarely (if ever) changes.

Relationships
That brings us to relationships. We discuss relationships in detail later in this chap-
ter, but let’s look at a couple of simple examples now to introduce the concept.
Looking at employees and Figure 3-6, each employee must turn in a weekly time
card in order to get paid. This gives us a relationship between employees and time
cards, employees and pay checks, and possibly, depending on how you want to
track things in the database, between time cards and paychecks. You also have
74 DATA MODELING

Figure 3-6

Time Card

Employee Pay Rate

Accrued
Vacation

Employee and associated entities.

a relationship between employees and managers. Each employee has a manager,

and each manager is responsible for one or more employees.
Breaking down one of these relationships, each time card is associated with a
unique employee, as shown in Figure 3-7. The time card is the referencing entity
and the employee is the referenced entity. The employee identifier is included
with each time card as a foreign key and ensures referential integrity, establish-
ing and maintaining that relationship and making sure that the referencing entity
is associated with a unique instance of the referenced entity. A foreign key is always
based on a unique value in the referenced entity, usually the entity’s primary key.
Now, think about purchase orders. As you should remember, we created two
entities for each purchase order, one to contain the general header information and
the other to contain the individual line items. The obvious identifier for the header
information is the purchase order number. That same number could be embedded
in each line item row to associate the line item with the purchase order. It might

Figure 3-7

Time Card

Referencing
Entity

Employee

Referenced
Entity

Employee/time card relationship.

 3.2.2 INTRODUCING BASIC DATABASE OBJECTS 75

also have a second use. Let’s say that you plan to keep all line items for all purchase
orders in a single table. You need a way to uniquely identify each item. An obvious
choice is to use two columns together as the primary key, the purchase order num-
ber and the item’s line item number, with each combination creating a unique value.
As the name implies, relationships are essential to a relational database. Iden-
tifying and defining relationships is a major part of the data modeling process.
You will find, as you go through the process, that more and more relationships
become apparent. A key part of the design is identifying which relationships are
important and including only those relationships in your design. Otherwise, you
risk the design becoming too complicated and confusing to be of any use. Keep
in mind that your database doesn’t sit alone in the universe as an isolated entity.

3.2.2 Introducing Basic Database Objects

Our eventual goal is creating a physical database which is made up of database
objects. To help keep our focus on that goal, we need to take time to introduce
a few basic database objects. These are objects that are created as part of the
database and are stored with the database. Database objects can be somewhat
DBMS-specific. Some database systems do not support a full range of potential
database objects. The objects discussed here are three of the most commonly
used objects in the relational database model: tables, views, and indexes.
Tables
For each entity that you identify in your business, you will have at least one
table for storing the unique occurrences of that entity. Sometimes, in order to
improve performance and minimize wasted space in data storage, it might take
two or more tables to describe a single entity.
In a database table, the columns represent the attributes, the information
that you want to track about an entity, as shown in Figure 3-8. The rows are
the individual occurrences of that entity. Each row will be uniquely identifiable.
This uniqueness can be enforced in various ways, but is most often enforced
through a primary key. You base the primary key on one or more table columns.
If the table doesn’t have a column that uniquely identifies each row, you’ll need
to add one. One way is to add a column known as an identifier column, as men-
tioned earlier, that generates a unique value for each row you add to the table.
Two additional terms you need to know are record and field. Some database
management systems use the term field to refer to table columns and individ-
ual attributes. They use the term record to refer to table rows, each instance of
a particular entity.
In the retail example we’ve been using, you can already see some of the
tables that you would likely include in the database, such as employees, time
cards, pay rates, accrued vacation, inventory, purchase orders, customers, and
sales (which you might refer to as customer orders).
76 DATA MODELING

Figure 3-8

Customer Table

Customer Number Customer Name Postal Code

01102 Tom's Store 63122

23441 Livermore Things and Stuff 94550

12001 Polly's Place 23450

Customer View

Customer Number Customer Name

01102 Tom's Store

23441 Livermore Things and Stuff

12001 Polly's Place

Sample table and view example.

Views
Once you deploy your database and as you define user access requirements and
create your application, you’ll usually find that the tables and columns that you
define don’t necessary match up directly with users’ data requirements. What do
you do then? You can use another database object, known as a view, to further
organize the data for viewing and manipulation. You will typically create a view
because you want to limit user access to table data, want to provide custom data,
or want to combine the contents of two or more tables.
When you create a view, you define the base objects, the objects used to
create the view, which will be tables or (in some cases) other views. As part of
the process, you identify the columns displayed through the view. Users who
access the data through the view see only those columns included in the view
definition, thereby limiting the user’s access. You might do this as a security mea-
sure to protect sensitive data or simply to avoid confusing the user with too
much unnecessary data.
A simple example of this is shown in Figure 3-8. The Customer table has
three columns: Customer Number, Customer Name, and Postal Code. If you
want to limit users to just the Customer Number and Customer Name, you could
create the view shown. You would then give users access to the view, but not
the underlying table.
Views can provide a customized look at table information. You can reorder the
columns and have them appear in any order you want. You can also define columns
 3.2.2 INTRODUCING BASIC DATABASE OBJECTS 77

that are computed based on the contents of other columns. For example, you could
have a view based on employee records and time cards. The database stores the
employee’s rate of pay and hours worked, but you create a view that multiplies
these values and returns instead the amount the employee should be paid.
During database design and data modeling, you often end up breaking data
up into smaller, more specific entities and creating smaller tables. This is done
for various reasons, but it may be that many of these tables provide little useful
information when standing alone. Instead, to get any really useful information it
may be necessary to combine the contents of two or more tables. You can cre-
ate a view based on these tables, extracting the columns that you need and pre-
senting them in the order that best suites the users’ requirements.

Indexes
Indexes are a key part of database organization and optimization. A database
index has a similar function to an index in a book: it organizes and sorts the
data and provides a pointer to the specific physical location of the data on the
storage media.
An index can be based on one or more table columns. The database engine
organizes the data based on both the columns selected and the order in which
they are selected. You can define multiple indexes on a table, each with a dif-
ferent set of key columns, thereby organizing the data in different ways. The
query processor selects the optimum index or indexes to use for data retrieval.
Why different indexes? Here’s an example. Your database includes a Cus-
tomer table. Most reports run against the table sort data by last name and then
first name. It makes sense to have an index that uses the columns containing
the last name and first name values to make it easier to retrieve the data in that
order. However, you also run reports by geographic region, sorted by postal code
and address. To support this, you might create a separate index based on the
columns containing address information.
Most database management systems automatically create an index for a table’s
primary key, sometimes called the primary index. In that case, additional
indexes are called secondary indexes. Indexes can also be referred to as clus-
tered and nonclustered. The primary index is usually a clustered index. With a
clustered index, the data is physically sorted in the index order. This is used
to organize the data in the order in which it is most often needed. Secondary
indexes are usually all nonclustered indexes. Nonclustered indexes organize the
data for retrieval, but through the index only, and have no effect on the table.
The most common type of index used in modern databases is the balanced
tree or B-Tree (also called a binary tree) index, based on nodes with pointer
values directing you, in the end, to the desired data. An example of a primary
index created as a B-Tree index, along with index node contents, is shown in
Figure 3-9, illustrating how pointers are used to search for a specific record.
78 DATA MODELING

Figure 3-9

left data key right

pointer pointer value pointer
B-Tree 51247
Index

left data key right left data key right

pointer pointer value pointer pointer pointer value pointer
31123 null 82928

left data key right left data key right left data key right
pointer pointer value pointer pointer pointer value pointer pointer pointer value pointer
null 21043 null null 47374 null null 92654 null

Data File

B-tree index.

FOR EXAMPLE
Entities, Attributes, and Objects
Suppose that you are creating a database for a private golf course. It includes
full members who have access to all facilities and limited members who are
allowed on the course and in the Pro Shop only. The Pro Shop keeps a small
inventory of items available for purchase and also keeps track of tee time
reservations and golf carts.
There are several entities that should come to mind immediately, such
as members, employees, inventory, and golf carts. These are all tangible enti-
ties. What about intangible entities? One already mentioned is tee times, and
others will probably come to mind as you think about activities around a
golf course and private clubhouse.
However, some decisions might not be as obvious as they would seem at
first glance. For example, how many tables will you need to track the member
entity? Should full and limited members be tracked in the same table or do you
need separate tables? This points out the need for gathering as much informa-
tion as possible before you make modeling decisions. Right now, you probably
don’t know enough about the data requirements to make that decision, so you
need to go back to your human data sources and ask more questions.
 3.3 UNDERSTANDING RELATIONSHIPS 79

Each node contains two pointers to nodes on the left and right sides. Leaf
nodes, which are the nodes located at the bottom of the index, also contain a
pointer to where the data for the key value is physically stored. To see how this
works, trace the search for a data record with the key value 92654. You search
at the root node containing index value 51247. The search value 92654 is greater
than 51247, so follow the right pointer from the root and go to the index record
with key value 82928. From here, you follow the right pointer which takes you
to the index record with key value 92654. This is the index record you are look-
ing for. The data pointer from this index record gives the physical location
needed to retrieve the data record.

SELF-CHECK
• Explain the role of entities, attributes, and relationships in data
modeling.
• Describe how logical entities relate to physical tables.
• Explain the term referential integrity and how it is maintained in a
relational database.

3.3 Understanding Relationships

You saw some simple relationship examples in the last section. However, to
understand relationships you need to look at them in greater detail. There are
three basic relationship types:

▲ Binary relationship: a relationship between two types of entities.

▲ Unary relationship: a relationship with another occurrence within the
same entity.
▲ Ternary relationship: a relationship directly involving three entity types.

The majority of the relationships in most relational databases are binary rela-
tionships. An entity can have separate binary relationships with any number of
other entities in the database. Each binary and unary relationship can also be
described as one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many. These terms are
described a little later in this chapter.
This section uses examples based on a fictitious company. The company has
a sales staff that sells directly to its customers. Salespersons are assigned specific
80 DATA MODELING

Figure 3-10

SALESPERSON PRODUCT

* Salesperson * Product
Number Number
Salesperson Sells Product
Name Name
Commission Unit Price Many
Many Percentage Products
Salespersons Year of Hire

A sample binary relationship.

customer accounts and normally sell to those accounts only. Each customer also
has a backup salesperson who handles the customer’s needs if its primary sales-
person is unavailable.

3.3.1 Binary Relationships

The simplest kind of relationship is known as the binary relationship—a rela-
tionship between two entity types. Figure 3-10 shows a small E-R diagram with
a binary relationship between two entity types: salespersons and products. The
diamond-shaped box represents the relationship.
The E-R diagram in Figure 3-10 tells us that a salesperson “sells” products.
Conversely, products are sold by salespersons. That’s good information, but we
can do better than that with a very small increase in effort. Just knowing that a
salesperson sells products leaves open several obvious and important questions.
Is a particular salesperson allowed to sell only one kind of product, or two, or
three, or all of the available products? Can a particular product be sold by only
a single salesperson or by all of the salespersons? Might we want to keep track
of a new salesperson who has just joined the company but has not been assigned
to sell any products yet (assuming that there is indeed a restriction on which
salespersons can sell which products)?
Figure 3-11 shows three binary relationships of different cardinalities,
which is the maximum number of entities that can be involved in a particular
relationship. Figure 3-11a shows a one-to-one (1-1) binary relationship, which
means that a single occurrence of one entity type can be associated with a sin-
gle occurrence of the other entity type and vice versa. A particular salesperson
is assigned to one office. Conversely, a particular office (they are all private
offices) has just one salesperson assigned to it. Note the “bar” or “one” symbol
on either end of the relationship in the diagram indicating the maximum one
cardinality. The way to read these diagrams is to start at one entity, read the rela-
tionship in the diamond, pick up the cardinality on the other side of the diamond
 3.3.1 BINARY RELATIONSHIPS 81

Figure 3-11

SALESPERSON OFFICE

* Salesperson * Office Number

Number Telephone
Salesperson Works in Size
Name
Commission
One Percentage One
Salesperson Year of Hire Office
(a) One-to-one (1–1) binary relationship.

SALESPERSON CUSTOMER S a m ' s H a r d wa r e

* Salesperson * Customer
Number Number S a m ' s H a r d wa r e

Salesperson Sells to Customer

Name Name
Sa m's Ha rdwa re

Commission HQ City
One Percentage Many
Salesperson Year of Hire Customers
(b) One-to-many (1–M) binary relationship.

SALESPERSON PRODUCT

* Salesperson * Product
Number Number
Salesperson Sells Product
Name Name
Commission Unit Price
Many Percentage Many
Salespersons Year of Hire Products
(c) Many-to-many (M–M) binary relationship.
Binary relationships and cardinalities.

near the second entity, and then finally reach the other entity. Thus, Figure 3-11a,
reading from left to right, says, “A salesperson works in one (really at most one,
since it is a maximum) office.” The bar or one symbol involved in this statement
is the one just to the left of the office entity box. Conversely, reading from right
to left, “An office is worked in by (is assigned to) one salesperson.”
The symbols used here represent one standard way of documenting an
E-R model, but are not the only possibility. Your options will depend some-
what on the modeling tool you use. Some modeling tools show all relationships
as simply a line between the entities with no additional information provided.
82 DATA MODELING

Others include a textual description of the relationship, without the mapping

symbols.
Figure 3-11b shows a one-to-many (1-M) binary relationship between
salespersons and customers. The “crow’s foot” device attached to the customer
entity box represents the multiple association. Reading from left to right, the dia-
gram indicates that a salesperson sells to many customers. Note that “many,” as
the maximum number of occurrences that can be involved, means a number that
can be 1, 2, 3, . . . n. It also means that the number is not restricted to being
exactly one, which would require the “one” or “bar” symbol instead of the crow’s
foot. Reading from right to left, it says that a customer is sold to by only one
salesperson. This is reasonable, indicating that in this company each salesperson
has an exclusive territory and thus each customer can only be sold to by one
salesperson from the company.
Figure 3-11c shows a many-to-many (M-M) binary relationship between
salespersons and products. A salesperson is authorized to sell many products; a
product can be sold by many salespersons. By the way, sometimes “many” can
be either an exact number or have a known maximum, in either the 1-M or M-M
case. For example, a company rule may set a limit of a maximum of ten customers
in a sales territory. Then the “many” in the 1-M relationship of Figure 3-3b can
never be more than ten (a salesperson can have many customers but not more
than ten). Sometimes people will include this exact number or maximum next
to or even instead of the crow’s foot on the E-R diagram.
Many database products do not have an option for directly defining many-
to-many relationships. Instead, you must include an intermediary or mapping
table in the physical design to implement them. In the previous example, the
table would have two columns, one identifying the salesperson and one iden-
tifying the product. It would have a unique row for each valid salesperson/prod-
uct combination. Whether or not you define this as a separate entity in your
data model and include it in the data diagram (the graphic depiction of the
data model) depends on your modeling standards. If used, the entity is known
as an associative entity. This concept is described in more detail later in this
chapter.
Figure 3-12 shows the addition of the modality to the relationships—the
minimum number of entity occurrences that can be involved in a relationship.
In our particular salesperson environment, every salesperson must be assigned
to an office. On the other hand, a given office might be empty or it might be
in use by exactly one salesperson. This situation is recorded in Figure 3-12a,
where the inner symbol, which can be a zero or a one, represents the modality—
the minimum—and the outer symbol, which can be a one or a crow’s foot,
represents the cardinality—the maximum. Reading Figure 3-12a from left to
right tells us that a salesperson works in a minimum of one and a maximum
of one office, which is another way of saying exactly one office. Reading from
 3.3.1 BINARY RELATIONSHIPS 83

Figure 3-12

No Cardinality
SALESPERSON OFFICE
Salespersons
Modality
* Salesperson * Office Number
Number Telephone
Salesperson Works in Size
Name
Commission
Percentage
One Year of Hire One
Salesperson Office
(a) One-to-one (1–1) binary relationship.

SALESPERSON CUSTOMER
No
* Salesperson * Customer Customers
Number Number S a m ' s Ha r dw a re S a m ' s Ha r dw a re

Salesperson Sells to Customer S a m ' s H a r dw a re

Name Name
Commission HQ City
Many
One Percentage
Customers
Salesperson Year of Hire

(b) One-to-many (1–M) binary relationship.

SALESPERSON PRODUCT
One
* Salesperson * Product Product
One
Number Number
Salesperson
Salesperson Sells Product
Name Name
Commission Unit Price Many
Percentage Products
Many Year of Hire
Salespersons
(c) Many-to-many (M–M) binary relationship.
Binary relationships and modalities.

right to left, an office may be worked in or assigned to a minimum of no sales-

persons (i.e., the office is empty) or a maximum of one salesperson.
Similarly, Figure 3-12b indicates that a salesperson may have no customers
or many customers. This allows for the case in which we have just hired a new
salesperson and have not as yet assigned a territory or any customers. On the
other hand, a customer is always assigned to exactly one salesperson. If a sales-
person leaves the company, the company’s procedures require that another
84 DATA MODELING

salesperson or, temporarily, a sales manager be immediately assigned the depart-

ing salesperson’s customers.
Figure 3-12c says that each salesperson is authorized to sell at least one or
many of our products and each product can be sold by at least one or many of
our salespersons. This includes the extreme, but not surprising, case in which
each salesperson is authorized to sell all of the products and each product can
be sold by all of the salespersons.

3.3.2 Unary Relationships

Unary relationships associate occurrences of an entity type with other occur-
rences of the same entity type. Thinking about this as a physical database, it
relates data in a table to itself. Take the entity “person,” for example. One per-
son may be married to another person and vice versa. One person may be the
parent of other people; conversely, a person may have another person as one of
his parents.
Figure 3-13a shows the one-to-one unary relationship called “Backup”
involving the salesperson entity. The salespersons are organized in pairs as
backup to each other when one is away from work. Following one of the links,
say the one that extends from the right side of the salesperson entity box, we
can say that salesperson number 137 backs up salesperson number 186. Then,
going in the other direction, salesperson number 186 backs up salesperson 137.
Notice that in each direction the modality of one rather than zero forbids the
situation of a salesperson not having a backup.
Some of the salespersons are also sales managers, managing other salesper-
sons. A sales manager can manage several other salespersons. Further, there can
be several levels of sales managers, that is, several low-level sales managers can
be managed by a higher-level sales manager. Each salesperson (or sales man-
ager) is managed by exactly one sales manager. This situation describes a one-
to-many unary relationship. Consider Figure 3-13b and follow the downward
branch out of its salesperson entity box. It says that a salesperson manages zero
to many other salespersons, meaning that a salesperson is not a sales manager
(the zero modality case) or is a sales manager with several subordinate sales-
persons (the many cardinality case). Following the branch that extends from
the right side of the salesperson entity box, the diagram says that a salesperson
is managed by exactly one other salesperson (who, of course, must be a sales
manager).
Unary relationships also come in the many-to-many variety. One classic
example of a many-to-many unary relationship is known as the bill of materials
problem. Consider a complex mechanical object like an automobile, an airplane,
or a large factory machine tool. Any such object is made of basic parts like nuts
and bolts that are used to make other components or subassemblies of the object.
Small subassemblies and basic parts go together to make bigger subassemblies,
 3.3.2 UNARY RELATIONSHIPS 85

Figure 3-13

SALESPERSON
One
* Salesperson Salesperson
Number
Salesperson
Name
Commission
Percentage
Year of Hire

One
Salesperson Backup

(a) One-to-one (1–1) unary relationship.

SALESPERSON No
Salespersons
* Salesperson
Number Many
Salesperson Salespersons
Name
Commission
Percentage
Year of Hire

One
Salesperson Manages

(b) One-to-many (1–M) unary relationship.

No
PRODUCT Products

* Product Many
Number Products
Product
Name
Unit Price

No
Products

Many Part-Of Quantity

Products
(c) Many-to-many (M–M) unary relationship.
Unary relationships.
86 DATA MODELING

and so on until ultimately they form the entire object. Each basic part and each
subassembly can be thought of as a “part” of the object. Then, the parts are in
a many-to-many unary relationship to each other. Any one particular part can
be made up of several other parts, while at the same time itself being a compo-
nent of several other parts.
In Figure 3-13c, think of the products sold in hardware and home improve-
ment stores. Basic items like hammers and wrenches can be combined and sold
as sets. Larger tool sets can be composed of smaller sets plus additional single
tools. All of these single tools and sets of all sizes can be classified as products.
Thus, as shown in Figure 3-13c, a product can be part of no other products or
part of several other products. Going in the reverse direction, a product can be
composed of no other products or can be composed of several other products.

3.3.3 Ternary Relationships

A ternary relationship involves three different entity types. Assume for the
moment that any salesperson can sell to any customer. Figure 3-14 shows the

Figure 3-14

CUSTOMER

* Customer S a m ' s Ha r dw a re One

Number Customer
Customer
S a m ' s Ha r dw a re S a m ' s Ha r dw a re
Name S a m ' s H a r dw a re
Many
HQ City Customers

SALESPERSON PRODUCT
One
*Salesperson * Product Product
One
Number Number
Salesperson
Salesperson Sale Product
Name Name
Commission Unit Price Many
Percentage Products
Many Year of Hire
Salespersons

Date
Quantity

Ternary relationship.
 3.3.4 BREAKING DOWN MANY-TO-MANY RELATIONSHIPS 87

most general many-to-many-to-many ternary relationship between salespersons,

customers, and products. It means that we know which salesperson sold which
product to which customer.
Each sale has intersection data consisting of the date of the sale and the
number of units of the product sold. Often, rather than trying to consider these
as ternary relationships, it’s easier to look at them as sets of binary relationships.

3.3.4 Breaking Down Many-to-Many Relationships

One of the keys to having a well-designed data model and database is how well
you’ve handled many-to-many relationships. Some designers try to find excuses
not to use them. If the relationships are overlooked, you can end up stuffing a
table with unnecessary, duplicated data. If you try to avoid using many-to-many
relationships, you end up with a poorly designed model that wastes space and
results in less than optimum performance.
Generally, we think of attributes as facts about entities. Each salesperson
has a salesperson number, a name, a commission percentage, and a year of
hire. At the entity occurrence level, for example, one of the salespersons has
salesperson number 528, the name Jane Adams, a commission percentage of
15 percent, and the year of hire of 2003. In an E-R diagram, these attributes
are written or drawn together with the entity, as in the E-R diagrams you have
seen. This certainly appears to be very natural and obvious. Are there ever any
circumstances in which an attribute can describe something other than an
entity?
Consider the many-to-many relationship between salespersons and prod-
ucts back in Figure 3-12c. As usual, salespersons are described by their
salesperson number, name, commission percentage, and year of hire. Products
are described by their product number, name, and unit price. But what if there
is a requirement to keep track of the number of units, call it “quantity,” of a
particular product that a particular salesperson has sold? Can we add the quan-
tity attribute to the product entity box? No, because while a particular product
has a single product number, product name, and unit price, there will be lots
of quantities, one for each salesperson selling the product. Can we add the
quantity attribute to the salesperson entity box? No, because while a particular
salesperson has a single salesperson number, salesperson name, commission
percentage, and year of hire, there will be lots of quantities, one for each prod-
uct that the salesperson sells. It makes no sense to try to put the Quantity
attribute in either the salesperson entity box or the product entity box. While
each salesperson has a single salesperson number, name, and so forth, each
salesperson has many quantities, one for each product he sells. Similarly, while
each product has a single product number, product name, and so forth, each
product has many quantities, one for each salesperson who sells that product.
But an entity box in an E-R diagram is designed to list the attributes that
88 DATA MODELING

simply and directly describe the entity, with no complications involving other
entities. Putting quantity in either the salesperson or the product entity box
just will not work.
Understanding Intersection Data
The quantity attribute doesn’t describe either the salesperson alone or the product
alone. It describes the combination of a particular occurrence of one entity type
and a particular occurrence of the other entity type. The quantity 170 doesn’t
make sense as a description or characteristic of salesperson number 137 alone.
She sold many different kinds of products. To which one does the quantity
170 refer? Similarly, the quantity 170 doesn’t make sense as a description or
characteristic of product number 24013 alone. It was sold by many different
salespersons.
In fact, the quantity 170 falls at the intersection of salesperson number 170
and product number 24013. It describes the combination of or the association
between that particular salesperson and that particular product, and it is known
as intersection data. This is similar to the mapping table described earlier, but
containing data in addition to the associations. Figure 3-15 shows the many-to-
many relationship between salespersons and products with the intersection data,
quantity, as represented in a special five-sided intersection data box. Notice that
the intersection data box is attached to the relationship diamond between the
two entity boxes. That is the natural place for it to be drawn. Pictorially, it looks
like it is at the intersection between the two entities, but there is more to it than
that. The intersection data describes the relationship between the two entities.
We know that an occurrence of the Sells relationship specifies that salesperson
137 has sold some of product 24013. The quantity 170 is an attribute of that

Figure 3-15

SALESPERSON PRODUCT

* Salesperson * Product
Number Number
Salesperson Sells Product
Name Name
Commission Unit Price
Percentage
Year of Hire

Quantity

Intersection data.
 3.3.4 BREAKING DOWN MANY-TO-MANY RELATIONSHIPS 89

Figure 3-16

SALESPERSON Sale PRODUCT

* Salesperson * Product
Quantity
Number Number
Salesperson Product
Name Name
Commission Unit Price
Percentage
Year of Hire

Associative entity.

relationship occurrence further describing the relationship. We know not only

that salesperson 137 sold some of product 24013 but also how many units of
that product that salesperson sold.

Using Associative Entities

Since we know that entities can have attributes and now we see that many-
to-many relationships can have attributes, does that mean that entities and
many-to-many relationships can in some sense be treated in the same way
within E-R diagrams? Indeed they can, although it is a matter of choice and
not a requirement! Figure 3-16 shows the many-to-many relationship Sells
converted into the associative entity Sale. An occurrence of the Sale associa-
tive entity does exactly what the many-to-many relationship did: it indicates
a relationship between a salesperson and a product, specifically sales, and
includes any intersection data that describes that relationship. Note very, very
carefully the reversal of the cardinalities and modalities when the many-to-
many relationship is converted to an associative entity. Sale is now a kind of
entity in its own right, and you must think of the new relationships as fol-
lows. A salesperson can be involved in many sales (where in this case sale
means that a salesperson has been involved in selling a type of product over
some period of time), but a particular sale can only involve one salesperson!
Similarly, a product can be involved in many sales, but a particular sale can
involve only one product.
If the many-to-many relationship E-R diagram style of Figure 3-15 is
equivalent to the associative entity style of Figure 3-16, which one should you
use? This is one of those instances in which this type of diagramming is an
art with a lot of leeway for personal taste. The fact is that you can use either
one, but you may find yourself working for a company that has set standards
for these diagrams and expects you to use the one that has been chosen for
its standards.
90 DATA MODELING

Defining Uniqueness
Since, as we have just seen, a many-to-many relationship can appear to be a
kind of an entity, complete with attributes, it also follows that it should have a
unique identifier, like other entities. In its most basic form, the unique identi-
fier of the many-to-many relationship or the associative entity is the combina-
tion of the unique identifiers of the two entities in the many-to-many relation-
ship. So, the unique identifier of the many-to-many relationship of Figure 3-15
or the associative entity of Figure 3-16 is the combination of the Salesperson
Number and Product Number attributes.
Sometimes, an additional attribute or attributes must be added to this com-
bination to produce uniqueness. This often involves a time element. For exam-
ple, if we wanted to keep track of the sales on a weekly basis, we would have to
have a date attribute or a week number attribute as intersection data and the
unique identifier would be Salesperson Number, Product Number, and Date. If
we want to know how many units of each product were sold by each salesper-
son each week, the combination of Salesperson Number and Product Number
would not be unique because for a particular salesperson and a particular prod-
uct, the combination of those two values would be the same each week! Date
must be added to produce uniqueness, not to mention to make it clear which
week a particular value of the Quantity attribute applies to a particular sales-
person product combination.
The third and last possibility occurs when the nature of the associative entity
is such that it has its own unique identifier. For example, a company might

FOR EXAMPLE
Describing Relationships
It is common to have multiple relationships between one entity and other
entities. Consider this situation. Your company does telephone sales to estab-
lished customers. Each customer has a customer ID. Each employee is iden-
tified by an employee ID. Whenever an order is placed, it must include both
the employee ID of the employee creating the order and the customer ID of
the customer placing the order.
Here, we have two separate one-to-many relationships. One is
between customers and orders—each customer can have multiple orders.
The other is between employees and orders—each employee can create
multiple orders. Even though they are related, there is no need to explic-
itly identify a relationship between employees and customers. This is
taken care of for you, because the two are associated through the order
entity.
 3.4 COMPARING DATA MODELS 91

specify a unique serial number for each sales record, in which case the combi-
nation of Salesperson Number, Product Number, and Date isn’t needed. Another
example would be the many-to-many relationship between motorists and police
officers who give traffic tickets for moving violations. The unique identifier could
be the combination of police officer number and motorist driver’s license num-
ber plus perhaps date and time. But, typically, each traffic ticket has a unique
serial number, and this would serve as the unique identifier.

SELF-CHECK
• Compare binary and unary relationships.
• Give one example each of a one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-
to-many relationship.
• Discuss the role of using a mapping table when implementing a
many-to-many relationship.
• Explain the role of intersection data.

3.4 Comparing Data Models

At this point, you can put what you learned together and start creating basic
data models using E-R diagrams. It’s best to take a careful, organized approach
to things rather than trying to do it all at once. Start by identifying entities, and
for each of the entities, appropriate attributes. Then, identify the associations
between the entities. If an association becomes obvious while you are still iden-
tifying entities, jot it down so that you’ll remember it when you start defining
relationships. Also, keep in mind that during the process of defining relation-
ships, you might discover additional entities or find that you need to break an
entity down into two or more smaller entities.
Before looking at data models in detail, we’re going to talk a little about
modeling tools and their uses. When selecting a tool, choose one that you feel
comfortable using. Most of the options available on the market are very similar,
so it becomes a matter simply of personal choice.
Often, the easiest way to understand concepts like these is to see them in
use. That’s what we’re going to do here, comparing E-R models for two dif-
ferent fictional companies. This gives you an opportunity to see both simi-
larities and differences between the two models. We use the term entity
throughout in these descriptions because that’s what they still are. They don’t
become tables until we create our physical model and start implementing the
database.
92 DATA MODELING

3.4.1 Choosing a Modeling Tool

Hopefully, you’ve been convinced of the importance of documenting your data-
base model. The easiest way to find errors in your logic is to draw them out and
review the logical diagram. This will help you see mistakes like a table standing
alone when it should be related to one or more other tables. You have three
basic options for data modeling:

▲ Manual
▲ Generic draw program
▲ Custom modeling program

It could be that the only modeling tools you need are a pencil and a piece
of paper. When designing a relatively simple database with only a few rela-
tionships, this is often the fastest method. You could possibly have the model
finished before you could even get a modeling application up and running.
And as a “just in case note”, be sure and use a pencil so you can erase your
mistakes.
A common option is to use a generic drawing or modeling program.
Some, like Microsoft Visio, include templates and symbols specific to data-
base modeling so that you can produce models similar to the ones you’ve
seen here. It also includes an object modeling template you can use to cre-
ate object-relation models (ORM) for object-relational databases. ORMs,
because of their flexibility, also are sometimes used when modeling relational
databases.
There are also applications available that are specifically designed for data-
base modeling. Some are model-specific while others support a variety of
standard modeling languages and templates. If you only plan to design and
implement one, or very few, databases in your career, there probably isn’t
much justification for buying an application specific to that purpose. How-
ever, if you plan to do this on a regular basis, you may find it worth your
while.
One advantage of both Visio and some drawing applications is that you have
some flexibility in what is shown in your model. For example, Figure 3-17
shows two different options for how Visio could document the same relation-
ship. The one on the left is the default—a simple line with the arrow pointing
to the referenced table. The one on the right looks more like the drawings
you’ve seen in this chapter, indicating that this is a one-to-many relationship.
You have the option of showing as many or as few details of the relationship
as you want.
Another advantage of drawing programs that include modeling templates
and modeling applications is that they do some of the checking for you to
help you avoid errors. For example, depending on the application, you might
 3.4.2 THE GENERAL HARDWARE COMPANY 93

Figure 3-17

SalesPerson SalesPerson

PK ID PK ID

FirstName FirstName
LastName LastName
Department Department
Supervisor Supervisor

Creates/Is Created By

OrderHead OrderHead

PK OrderNumber PK OrderNumber

Customer Customer
FK1 SalesPerson FK1 SalesPerson
Date Date
ID ID

Visio database diagrams.

be forced to identify the key columns in the referenced and referencing enti-
ties when defining a relationship. You might also be forced to provide cardi-
nality and modality information for each relationship. This added functionality
can help you avoid mistakes when designing a very large or very complicated
database.

3.4.2 The General Hardware Company

Figure 3-18 is the E-R diagram for the General Hardware Company, parts of
which we have been using throughout this chapter. General Hardware is a whole-
saler and distributor of various manufacturers’ tools and other hardware prod-
ucts. Its customers are hardware and home improvement stores, which in turn
sell the products at retail to individual consumers. Again, as a middleman it buys
its goods from the manufacturers and then sells them to the retail stores. How
exactly does General Hardware operate? Now that we know something about E-
R diagrams, let’s see if we can figure it out from Figure 3-18.
Begin with the SALESPERSON entity box in the middle on the left. SALES-
PERSON has four attributes, with one of them, Salesperson Number, serving as
94 DATA MODELING

Figure 3-18

OFFICE

* Office Number
Telephone
Size

Works In

SALESPERSON CUSTOMER

* Salesperson * Customer
Number Number
Salesperson Sells to Customer
Name Name
Commission HQ City
Percentage
Year of Hire

Sells Quantity Works For

PRODUCT CUSTOMER
EMPLOYEE
* Product
Number * Employee
Product Number
Name Employee
Unit Price Name
Title

General Hardware.

the unique identifier of the salespersons. Looking upwards from SALESPERSON,

a salesperson works in exactly one office (indicated by the double ones or bars
encountered on the way to the OFFICE entity). OFFICE has three attributes.
Office Number is the unique identifier. Looking back downwards from the
OFFICE entity box, an office has either no salespersons working in it (the zero
 3.4.3 GOOD READING BOOKSTORES 95

modality symbol) or one salesperson (the one or bar cardinality symbol). Start-
ing again at the SALESPERSON entity box and moving to the right, a salesper-
son has no customers or many customers. Remember that the customers are
hardware or home improvement stores. The CUSTOMER entity has three attrib-
utes and Customer Number is the unique identifier. In the reverse direction, a
customer must have exactly one salesperson.
From the CUSTOMER entity downward is the CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE
entity. According to the figure, a customer must have at least one but can have
many employees. An employee works for exactly one customer. This is actually
a special situation. General Hardware has an interest only in maintaining data
about the people who are its customers’ employees as long as their employer
remains a customer of General Hardware. If a particular hardware store or home
improvement chain stops buying goods from General Hardware, then General
Hardware no longer cares about that store’s or chain’s employees. Furthermore,
while General Hardware assumes that each of its customers assigns their employ-
ees unique employee numbers, those numbers can only be assumed to be unique
within that customer store or chain. Thus the unique identifier for a customer
employee must be the combination of the Customer Number and the Employee
Number attributes. In this situation, CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE is called a depen-
dent entity. As shown in the CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE entity box in Figure 3-18,
a dependent entity is distinguished by a diagonal hash mark in each corner of
its attribute area.
Returning to the SALESPERSON entity box and looking downward, there is
a many-to-many relationship between salespersons and products. A salesperson
is authorized to sell at least one and possibly (probably, in this case) many prod-
ucts. A product is sold by at least one and possibly many salespersons. The
PRODUCT entity has three attributes, with Product Number being the unique
identifier. The attribute Quantity is intersection data in the many-to-many rela-
tionship, meaning that the company is interested in keeping track of how many
units of each product each salesperson has sold.

3.4.3 Good Reading Bookstores

Figure 3-19 shows the E-R diagram for Good Reading Bookstores, a chain of
bookstores that wants to keep track of the books it sells, their publishers, their
authors, and the customers who buy them. The BOOK entity has four attrib-
utes; Book Number is the unique identifier. A book has exactly one publisher.
Publisher Name is the unique identifier of the PUBLISHER entity. A publisher
may have (and generally has) published many books that Good Reading carries;
however, Good Reading also wants to be able to keep track of some publishers
that currently have no books in Good Reading’s inventory. (Note the zero modal-
ity symbol from PUBLISHER towards BOOK.) A book must have at least one
author but can have many (where in this case “many” means a few, generally
96 DATA MODELING

Figure 3-19

PUBLISHER BOOK AUTHOR

* Publisher Name * Book Number * Author

City Book Name Number
Country Published Publication Wrote Author Name
Telephone Year Year Born
Year Founded Pages Year Died

Date
Bought Price
Quantity

CUSTOMER

* Customer
Number
Customer
Name
Street
City
State
Country

Good Reading bookstores.

two or three, at most). For a person to be of interest to Good Reading as an

author, she must have written at least one and possibly many books that Good
Reading carries. Note that there is a many-to-many relationship between the
BOOK and AUTHOR entities but no intersection data.
Looking downward from the BOOK entity box, a book that Good Reading
carries may not as yet have been bought by any of its customers (maybe it just
came out) or may have been bought by many of its customers. For a customer
to be of interest to Good Reading, he must have bought at least one book and
possibly (hopefully!) many. Date, Price, and Quantity are intersection data in the
many-to-many relationship between the BOOK and CUSTOMER entities. Does
this make sense? Might a customer have bought several copies of the same book
on the same date? After all, that’s what the presence of the Quantity attribute
implies. Might she have then bought more copies of the same book on a later
date? Yes to both questions! A grandmother bought a copy of a book for each
of three of her grandchildren one day, and they liked it so much that she returned
and bought five more copies of the same book for her other five grandchildren
several days later.
 KEY TERMS 97

SELF-CHECK
• Describe the relationship in Figure 3-17, including all of the informa-
tion available in the diagram.
• Explain why it is helpful to study other data diagrams before creat-
ing your own data model.

SUMMARY
This chapter introduced data modeling and the use of data diagrams. We started
with a general look at the design process and some of the decisions you must
make about the type of database you need to design and your design goals. We
looked at relational database modeling and the E-R model in some detail, includ-
ing an introduction to some fundamental database objects. You were introduced
to the various types of relationships that might be included in your database
model. Finally, we talked about modeling tools and compared two example data
diagrams.

KEY TERMS
Associative entity Data model
Balanced tree index Data warehouse
Base object Decision support system (DSS)
Binary relationship Entity-Relationship diagram (ERD)
Binary tree index Entity-Relationship (E-R) modeling
B-tree index Field
Bulk loading Hybrid database
Business rules Identifier
Cardinality Index
Clustered index Intersection data
Conceptual design Large object (LOB) data
Concurrency Leaf node
Database object Logical design
Data diagram Many-to-many (M-M) binary relation-
ship
Data mart
98 DATA MODELING

Modality Referenced entity

Node Referencing entity
Nonclustered index Referential integrity
Object-relation model (ORM) Reporting database
One-to-many (1-M) binary relationship Scalable
One-to-one (1-1) binary relationship Secondary index
Online transaction processing (OLTP) Stakeholder
Physical design Ternary relationship
Primary index Transactional database
Primary key Throughput
Record Unary relationship
 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 99

ASSESS YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to evaluate your knowledge of data
modeling.
Measure your learning by comparing pre-test and post-test results.

Summary Questions
1. Entities and attributes are identified during logical design. True or False?
2. A transactional database must support which of the following activities?
(a) adding new data
(b) changing existing data
(c) deleting data
(d) all of the above
3. Your design must ensure that any customer purchases at least $20.00 in
merchandise. This is an example of which of the following?
(a) entity definition
(b) business rule
(c) attribute
(d) relational integrity
4. Each table in your database typically represents which of the following?
(a) an entity
(b) an attribute
(c) a relationship
(d) a data diagram
5. You are defining an employee entity. Which of the following would you
likely use as the identifier?
(a) first name
(b) last name
(c) employee ID
(d) hire date
(e) none of the above
6. A foreign key is based on a unique value in the referenced entity. True or
False?
7. Which statement best describes attributes?
(a) You should have a table for each attribute defined in your model.
(b) Any attribute can be used as an entity’s identifier.
(c) Attributes describe entities.
(d) Attributes are used in object modeling only.
100 DATA MODELING

8. Which statement best describes an identifier?

(a) The identifier must be defined by a single attribute.
(b) It is seldom necessary to specify an identifier for an entity.
(c) An identifier must uniquely identify an entity.
9. Which statement best describes a clustered index?
(a) A table is physically sorted in clustered index order.
(b) A clustered index is used to enforce referential integrity.
(c) A table can have up to 249 clustered indexes.
10. A table’s primary index is based on the table’s primary key. True or
False?
11. Which statement best describes how views are defined?
(a) A view can be based on one table only.
(b) A view can be based on one or more tables.
(c) A view can have tables, but not views, as base objects.
(d) A view can be based on one or more tables or views.
12. Which statement describes the role of a foreign key in a relationship?
(a) A foreign key enforces uniqueness on the referenced table.
(b) A foreign key enforces referential integrity in a relationship.
(c) A foreign key enforces uniqueness on the referencing table.
(d) A foreign key has no role in a relationship.
13. A unary relationship refers to any one-to-one relationship. True or
False?
14. A relationship between two entities is referred to as which of the
following?
(a) a binary relationship
(b) a unary relationship
(c) a ternary relationship
15. A supervisor is responsible for several employees. This describes what
type of relationship?
(a) one-to-one
(b) one-to-many
(c) many-to-many
16. The line connecting two entities in an E-R diagram has a crow’s foot at
either end. This describes what kind of relationship?
(a) one-to-one
(b) one-to-many
(c) many-to-many
 APPLYING THIS CHAPTER 101

17. Which term refers to the maximum number of entities that can be
involved in a relationship?
(a) cardinality
(b) modality
(c) intersection
(d) association
18. What kind of relationship can be used when relating an entity to
instances within itself?
(a) one-to-one
(b) one-to-many
(c) many-to-many
(d) all of the above
19. Which of the following can you use to create E-R diagrams?
(a) pencil and paper
(b) a generic drawing program
(c) a custom modeling program
(d) all of the above
20. When reading an E-R diagram, how is a “one” relationship identified?
(a) by an arrow
(b) by a bar
(c) by a crow’s foot
(d) no special symbol is used to identify a “one” relationship

Applying This Chapter

1. Each customer may have a charge account, known as the AccountBalance
entity. Each AccountBalance entity is related to only one customer. Com-
plete the E-R diagram in Figure 3-20 to show this relationship.
2. You are creating a data model for a transactional database. What are the
primary kinds of activities that the database must support? The Purchase
Order entity must be modeled as two entities, one with header informa-
tion and the other with detailed line items. How can you keep an associ-
ation between these two entities? How is the association enforced?
3. The city of Chicago, Illinois, wants to maintain information about its
extensive system of high schools, including its teachers and their univer-
sity degrees, its students, administrators, and the subjects that are taught.
Each school has a unique name, plus an address, telephone number, year
built, and size in square feet. Students have a student number, name,
102 DATA MODELING

Figure 3-20

CUSTOMER

PK ID

Name
City
PostalCode
Phone

AccountBalance

PK AccountNum

CustomerID
Current
Due
PastDue

Partial E-R diagram.

home address, home telephone number, current grade, and age. With
regard to a student’s school assignment, the school system is only
interested in keeping track of which school a student currently attends.
Each school has several administrators, such as the principal and
assistant principals. Administrators are identified by an employee number
and also have a name, telephone number, and office number. What
attributes are described for the entity STUDENT? Which attribute should
you use as the entity’s identifier? What is the relationship between
student and school? What is the relationship between schools and
administrators?
YOU TRY IT

Creating a Data Model 2. What are the one-to-many relationships

The following is a description of the company Lucky described here?
Rent-a-Car: 3. Sketch the E-R diagram.
Lucky Rent-A-Car’s business environment is, obvi-
ously, centered around its cars. A car was manufac- Reading an E-R Diagram
tured by exactly one manufacturer. A manufacturer The E-R diagram for the World Music Association
manufactured at least one and generally many of (WMA) is shown in Figure 3-21. Musicians are tracked,
Lucky’s cars. A car has had many maintenance events even if not currenlty employed by an orchestra. For the
(but a brand new car may not have had any yet). A car purposes of this diagram, assume there are no in-
may not have been rented to any customers (again, the stances where two different musicians have earned the
case of a brand new car) or to many customers. A cus- same degree from the same university.
tomer may have rented many cars from Lucky and to
1. What are the one-to-many relationships shown
be in Lucky’s business environment must have rented
in the diagram? Many-to-many?
at least one. Rental Date, Return Date, and Total Cost
2. What intersection data is shown in this diagram?
all relate to the many-to-many relationship between
3. What tables would you create, based on the
CAR and CUSTOMER.
diagram?
1. What is intersection data and how is it repre- 4. Fully describe the information provided in this
sented? E-R diagram.

Figure 3-21

ORCHESTRA MUSICIAN DEGREE

* Orchestra *Musician
Name Number
Degree
City Works for Musician Name Earned University
Country Instrument
Year
Music Annual Salary
Director

Recorded Year
Price

COMPOSITION COMPOSER

* Composition * Composer
Name Wrote Name
Year Country
Date of Birth

WMA E-R diagram.

103
103
 4
DESIGNING A DATABASE

Starting Point
Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of database
design.
Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

▲ Entity-relationship to relational table conversion processes
▲ Associative table requirements
▲ Standard normalization forms

After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To

▲ Convert stand-alone entities to tables
▲ Identify entity relationships by type and conversion requirements
▲ Convert unary entity relationships to database objects
▲ Convert binary entity relationships to database objects
▲ Compare E-R diagrams and the resulting relational table designs
▲ Select appropriate foreign keys and their placement in relational tables
▲ Create associative tables, including intersection data where needed
▲ Recognize unnormalized data
▲ Normalize a database by applying the first, second, and third normal forms
▲ Normalize a database through non-loss decomposition
▲ Normalize the tables created from an E-R diagram
▲ Recognize the need for denormalization and selectively denormalize data
 4.1.1 CONVERTING A SINGLE ENTITY 105

INTRODUCTION
As you’ve learned, several steps are involved in designing a database to support
a business and business applications. You must collect business data in the form
of business documents, employee interviews, and other data sources. You use
this data to generate an entity-relationship (E-R) diagram that describes the busi-
ness and its requirements. From this diagram you will create the logical and then
physical design of your database.
In this chapter, we’ll focus on the next step in the process: identifying the
relational tables you will create based on the entities in the E-R diagram and
then going through a process known as normalization, which will help you iden-
tify duplicate data and optimize data storage. Your final result is a finished rela-
tional design from which you can identify the database objects you need to
implement your physical database.

4.1 Designing Relational Tables

The conversion of E-R diagrams to relational tables is a straightforward process.
Typically, each entity converts to a table. For many-to-many relationships, each
associative entity also converts to a table. Attributes become table columns, at
least those attributes that apply to business and application requirements. Dur-
ing the process, rules must be followed to ensure that foreign keys appear in
their proper places in the tables.

4.1.1 Converting a Single Entity

We’ll start with the easiest example, converting a single entity to a table. Figure 4-1
shows a single entity from a representative E-R diagram.
The entity in this situation is named SALESPERSON. The process of creating
a table based on this entity is relatively simple. You create a table, typically with

Figure 4-1

SALESPERSON

* Salesperson
Number
Salesperson
Name
Commission
Percentage
Year of Hire

SALESPERSON entity.
106 DESIGNING A DATABASE

Figure 4-2

SALESPERSON

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of

Number Name Percentage Hire

SALESPERSON table.

the same name, with a column for each of its attributes. This is shown in Figure
4-2. Notice that Salesperson Number is underlined to indicate that it is the entity’s
unique identifier and will be used as the table’s primary key.

4.1.2 Converting Binary Relationships

The process becomes more interesting and more complicated when working with
related tables. The process starts out much the same, identifying tables from busi-
ness entities. Selecting the identifier and the primary key takes on greater impor-
tance because they are used in defining the foreign key to establish relationships
between the tables.
Adding to the complication is that there is often more than one way to rep-
resent entity relationships as relational tables. It becomes a matter of identifying
your options and picking the option that best meets your business and applica-
tion requirements. You may also find it necessary to go back and fine tune the
tables you identify as you go along.

Converting a One-to-One Binary Relationship

We’ll start with the one-to-one binary relationship shown in Figure 4-3. As
you can see, this is a simple relationship based on the SALESPERSON and

Figure 4-3

SALESPERSON OFFICE

* Salesperson * Office Number

Number Telephone
Salesperson Works in Size
Name
Commission
Percentage
Year of Hire

SALESPERSON to OFFICE relationship.

 4.1.2 CONCERTING BINARY RELATIONSHIPS 107

Figure 4-4

SALESPERSON/OFFICE

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of Office

Number Name Percentage Hire Number Telephone Size

SALESPERSON/OFFICE table.

OFFICE entities. Each Salesperson works in one Office. Office, in this case,
identifies a single office cubicle.
There are at least three options for designing tables to represent this data.
The first option is shown in Figure 4-4, with the two entities combined into one
relational table. This design is possible because the one-to-one relationship
means that for one salesperson, there can only be one office associated with the
salesperson and conversely, for one office there can be only one salesperson.
Because of this relationship, a particular salesperson and office combination
could be stored as one record, as shown.
There are three reasons why Figure 4-4 is not a good data design. The first
two can be determined from the diagram in Figure 4-3. First, the very fact that
salesperson and office were drawn in two different entity boxes in the E-R dia-
gram indicates that they are thought of separately in this business environ-
ment. This means that they should be kept separate in the database. Second
is the modality of zero at the SALESPERSON entity. Reading Figure 4-3 from
right to left, it says that an office might have no one assigned to it. In the table
shown in Figure 4-4, a few or possibly many record occurrences could have
values for the office number, telephone, and size attributes but have the four
attributes pertaining to salespersons empty or null. A null value is an unde-
fined value, usually used to identify that no value is provided for that attribute.
Even though considered as an undefined value, it is still considered a valid
value and provides useful information by the fact that the attribute is not
defined. This would result in wasted storage space. It also means that the Sales-
person Number cannot be declared to be the primary key of the table, because
there would be records with no primary key values, which is not allowed.
Before going on, there are a couple of points about storage costs and the rela-
tionship between database design and data storage that you should be aware
of. Even though the cost per byte has dropped significantly over the years,
wasted space continues to be an issue deserving consideration in your data-
base design and implementation. Inefficient design and space use can lead to
inefficient indexes and could mean less than optimal performance. That’s not
the only performance issue. As database tables (and the database as a whole)
grow, access performance tends to suffer because of the increased volume of
108 DESIGNING A DATABASE

data involved. Also, just because the price of storage has dropped, installing
additional storage when you run out of space can be time consuming and usu-
ally means down time for the database, which typically is very expensive.
The third reason is not visible from the partial E-R diagram in Figure 4-3.
However, when you look at the full E-R diagram in Figure 4-5, the reason

Figure 4-5

OFFICE
* Office Number
Telephone
Size

Works in

SALESPERSON CUSTOMER

* Salesperson * Customer
Number Number
Salesperson Sells to Customer
Name Name
Commission HQ City
Percentage
Year of Hire

Sells Quantity Works for

PRODUCT CUSTOMER
EMPLOYEE
* Product
Number * Employee
Product Number
Name Employee
Unit Price Name
Title

Full E-R diagram.

 4.1.2 CONCERTING BINARY RELATIONSHIPS 109

Figure 4-6

SALESPERSON

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of Office

Number Name Percentage Hire Number

OFFICE

Office
Number Telephone Size

Separate SALESPERSON and OFFICE tables, first version.

becomes immediately evident. The salesperson entity is involved in relationships

with other entities in addition to the office entity. It is related to the CUSTOMER
entity through a one-to-many relationship and the PRODUCT entity through a
many-to-many relationship.
Figure 4-6 is a better choice. There are separate tables for the SALES-
PERSON and OFFICE entities. In order to record the relationship (which
salesperson is assigned to which office), the Office Number attribute is placed
as a foreign key in the SALESPERSON table. This connects each salesperson
with the office to which he or she is assigned. Again, look at the modalities
in the E-R diagram of Figure 4-3. Each salesperson is assigned to exactly one
office, as is indicated by the two “ones” adjacent to the office entity. That
translates directly into each record in the SALESPERSON table of Figure 4-6
having a value (and a single value at that) for its Office Number foreign key
attribute. Each unassigned office will have a record in the OFFICE table, with
Office Number as the primary key. In this case, unassigned offices aren’t seen
as a problem. Their office numbers will simply not appear as foreign key val-
ues in the SALESPERSON table.
The third option is shown in Figure 4-7. Instead of placing Office Number
as a foreign key in the SALESPERSON table, you place Salesperson Number as
a foreign key in the OFFICE table. Recall from the E-R diagram that the modal-
ity of zero adjacent to the salesperson entity says that an office might be empty.
As a result, some or perhaps many records of the OFFICE table in Figure 4-7
would have no value or a null in their Salesperson Number foreign key attribute
positions.
It follows that if the modalities were reversed, meaning that the zero
modality was adjacent to the OFFICE entity box and the one modality was
adjacent to the SALESPERSON entity box, then the design in Figure 4-7 might
be preferable. Reversed modality would mean that every office must have a
salesperson assigned to it, but a salesperson may or may not be assigned to an
office. There are different circumstances that could result in this situation. For
110 DESIGNING A DATABASE

Figure 4-7

SALESPERSON

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of

Number Name Percentage Hire

OFFICE

Office Salesperson
Number Telephone Number Size

Separate SALESPERSON and OFFICE tables, second version.

example, perhaps lots of the salespersons travel most of the time and don’t
need offices.
While we’re in a “what if” mode, what if the modality was zero on both sides
and we didn’t have the other relationships to consider? Then we would have to
make a judgment call between the designs of Figure 4-6 and Figure 4-7. If the
goal is to minimize the number of null values in the foreign key, then we have
to decide whether it is more likely that a salesperson is not assigned to an office
or that an office is empty.

Converting a One-to Many Binary Relationship

The relationship shown in Figure 4-8 is a one-to-many binary relationship. In
this relationship, each occurrence of the SALESPERSON entity is related to zero
or more occurrences of the CUSTOMER entity.
Figure 4-9 shows the conversion of this E-R diagram into two relational tables.
This time, the conversion is relatively simple. The rule is that the unique identifier

Figure 4-8

SALESPERSON CUSTOMER

* Salesperson * Customer
Number Number
Salesperson Sells to Customer
Name Name
Commission HQ City
Percentage
Year of Hire

SALESPERSON to CUSTOMER relationship.

 4.1.2 CONCERTING BINARY RELATIONSHIPS 111

Figure 4-9

SALESPERSON

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of

Number Name Percentage Hire

CUSTOMER

Customer Customer Salesperson

Number Name HQ City Number

SALESPERSON and CUSTOMER tables.

of the entity on the “one side” of the one-to-many relationship is placed as a for-
eign key in the table representing the entity on the “many side.” In this case, the
Salesperson Number attribute is placed in the CUSTOMER table as a foreign key.
Each salesperson has one record in the SALESPERSON table, as does each customer
in the CUSTOMER table. The Salesperson Number attribute in the CUSTOMER
table links the two, and since the E-R diagram tells us that every customer must
have a salesperson, there are no empty attributes in the CUSTOMER table records.
This solution also fits the full E-R diagram in Figure 4-5. The same Sales-
person Number attribute used to establish a relationship with the CUSTOMER
table can also be used in the relationship between SALESPERSON and OFFICE.

Converting a Many-to-Many Binary Relationship

Figure 4-10 once again uses the SALESPERSON entity, this time in a many-to-
many binary relationship with the PRODUCT entity.
Figure 4-10

SALESPERSON PRODUCT

* Salesperson * Product
Number Number
Salesperson Sells Product
Name Name
Commission Unit Price
Percentage
Year of Hire

Quantity

SALESPERSON to PRODUCT relationship.

112 DESIGNING A DATABASE

Figure 4-11

SALESPERSON Sale PRODUCT

* Salesperson Quantity * Product

Number Number
Salesperson Product
Name Name
Commission Unit Price
Percentage
Year of Hire

SALESPERSON, SALE, and PRODUCT entities.

Most relational DBMS systems do not directly support many-to-many rela-

tionships. Instead, you must also include an associative entity, in this case SALE,
to establish the relationship. The E-R diagram in Figure 4-11 includes the asso-
ciative entity.
Each of the two entities converts to a table with its own attributes but with
no foreign keys (regarding this relationship). The SALESPERSON table and the
PRODUCT table in Figure 4-12 each contain only the attributes shown in the
SALESPERSON and PRODUCT entity boxes in Figure 4-10 and Figure 4-11.
The primary key of this associated SALE table is the combination of the unique
identifiers of the two entities in the many-to-many relationship. The primary

Figure 4-12

SALESPERSON

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of

Number Name Percentage Hire

PRODUCT

Product Product
Number Name Unit Price

SALE

Salesperson Product
Number Number Quantity

Many-to-many relational tables.

 4.1.3 CONVERTING UNARY RELATIONSHIPS 113

key might also include another attribute, such as a date and time stamp, to
ensure unique values. A key that is defined by multiple columns is called a
composite key.
The table based on the associative entity can include additional attributes
representing intersection data. This is shown as the Quantity attribute in this
example. However, this is not a requirement. The associative table often
includes only the data values needed to establish and maintain the many-to-
many relationship.

4.1.3 Converting Unary Relationships

A unary relationship is one that is based on a single table. The problem in this
case is not deciding what tables you need to create, but on how key values can
be used to identify and maintain the relationship.

Converting a One-to-One Unary Relationship

In Figure 4-13 you see a one-to-one unary relationship based on the SALES-
PERSON entity. Each Salesperson has one backup salesperson, someone who
covers when the original salesperson isn’t available.
In this case, with only one entity type involved and with a one-to-one rela-
tionship, the conversion requires only one table, as shown in Figure 4-14. For
a particular salesperson, the Backup Number attribute represents the salesperson
number of the backup person. The Backup Number is related to the SALES-
PERSON table’s primary key, Salesperson Number. Any value used as Backup
Number must be a valid Salesperson Number.

Figure 4-13

SALESPERSON

* Salesperson
Number
Salesperson
Name
Commission
Percentage
Year of Hire

Backup

One-to-one unary relationship.

114 DESIGNING A DATABASE

Figure 4-14

SALESPERSON

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of Backup

Number Name Percentage Hire Number

SALESPERSON table with Backup Number foreign key.

Converting a One-to-Many Unary Relationship

Figure 4-15 shows a one-to-many relationship based on the same Salesperson
entity. You can read this as “each salesperson manages zero or more salespersons,”
but for the purpose of creating a related table, it’s better to read this as “each
salesperson is managed by a manager.” The manager is also an occurrence of the
SALESPERSON entity.
Figure 4-16 shows the conversion of this diagram into a relational database
table. Some employees manage other employees. An employee’s manager is
recorded in the Manager Number. The manager numbers are actually salesper-
son numbers because some salespersons are sales managers who manage other
salespersons. This arrangement works because each employee has only one man-
ager. For any particular SALESPERSON record, there can only be one value for
the Manager Number attribute. However, if you scan down the Manager Num-
ber column, a particular value may appear several times because a person can
manage several other salespersons.

Figure 4-15

SALESPERSON

* Salesperson
Number
Salesperson
Name
Commission
Percentage
Year of Hire

Manages

One-to-many unary relationship.

 4.1.3 CONVERTING UNARY RELATIONSHIPS 115

Figure 4-16

SALESPERSON

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of

Number Name Percentage Hire Manager

SALESPERSON table with Manager foreign key.

Converting a Many-to-Many Unary Relationship

Though not a common situation, you can have many-to-many unary relation-
ships. One is shown in Figure 4-17. You have a situation where one product can
be constructed out of a set of other products. For example, you might have the
products Cup, Saucer, and Plate as separate occurrences of the PRODUCT entity.
You could also have an occurrence called Place Setting, made up of a Cup, a
Saucer, and a Plate.
As Figure 4-18 indicates, this relationship requires two tables in the con-
version. The PRODUCT table has no foreign keys. The COMPONENT table indi-
cates which items go into making up which other items. This is commonly
referred to as a bill of materials. COMPONENT also contains any intersection
data that might exist in the many-to-many relationship. In this example, the
Quantity attribute indicates how many of a particular item go into making up
another item.
The fact that we wind up with two tables in this conversion is not surpris-
ing. The general rule is that in the conversion of a many-to-many relationship

Figure 4-17

PRODUCT

* Product
Number
Product
Name
Unit Price

Part of Quantity

Many-to-many unary relationship.

116 DESIGNING A DATABASE

Figure 4-18

PRODUCT

Product Product
Number Name Unit Price

COMPONENT

Product Subassembly
Number Number Quantity

Relational tables for many-to-many unary relationship.

of any degree—unary, binary, or ternary—the number of tables will be equal to

the number of entity types (one, two, or three, respectively) plus one more table
for the many-to-many relationship. Thus the conversion of a many-to-many
unary relationship requires two tables, a many-to-many binary relationship
requires three tables, and a many-to-many ternary relationship requires four
tables. Ternary relationships are seldom diagramed in that form, so this chapter
does not include an example of a ternary conversion.

FOR EXAMPLE
Requirements for Converting Diagram Entities
The basic requirements for creating an E-R diagram and relational tables are
essentially the same. However, the reason behind these requirements
becomes more evident as you get closer to your final physical model.
Consider this situation. You are responsible for the initial interviews and
data gathering. You are expected to sketch out a simple E-R diagram of the
company, which is then handed off to an analyst who will create the rela-
tional table design. You sketch the model and hand it off, but you haven’t
determined any identifiers for the entities. Can you see the problem this is
going to cause?
The analyst can describe the tables, but not the relationships between
the tables. In the relational model, you need two things to establish the rela-
tionship. You need a primary key in the referenced table that is used as the
foreign key in the referencing table. Because you did the initial research, you
are the best person to recommend identifiers for the initial entities, which
are then converted to primary keys in the relational table design.
 4.2.1 DESIGNING GENERAL HARDWARE 117

SELF-CHECK
• Describe the information you need to convert related entities into
related tables and how you determine primary and foreign key
columns.
• Explain why an additional table is needed when converting a many-
to-many entity relationship into related tables.
• In a binary one-to-zero-or-one relationship with no other related
entities, explain how can you determine which should be the refer-
enced and which should be the referencing table.

4.2 Comparing Relational Designs

So far, we have (for the most part) taken entity relationships out of context to
focus on the conversion process. You might find it easier to understand the
conversion process between entities and relational tables if you could see exam-
ples based on more complete E-R diagrams. It also puts the process into more
of a real-world context, letting you see how it relates to business models you
might need to develop. We’re going to convert the E-R models of two ficti-
tious companies, General Hardware Company and Good Reading Bookstores.
This chapter assumes that you can read and understand the E-R diagrams used
in each case.
Keep in mind that you are still working in a pencil-and-paper mode, either
literally or using a design or draw program. This is where you should work
through your “what if . . .” scenarios and try out different data and relation-
ship combinations. Your only real expense when making changes now is time.
However, if you need to make changes to the model after you start imple-
menting the physical database, the situation can become very expensive.
Depending on where you are in the process, it might mean having to recreate
the database or reload data. It might also mean having to redesign and even
recode your application.

4.2.1 Designing General Hardware

Figure 4-19 is the General Hardware E-R diagram. It is convenient to begin the
database design process with an important, central E-R diagram entity, such as
salesperson, that has relationships with several other entities.
Thus the relational database in Figure 4-20 includes a SALESPERSON table
with the four Salesperson attributes from the SALESPERSON entity box (plus
the Office Number attribute, which we will return to shortly). Looking to the
118 DESIGNING A DATABASE

Figure 4-19

OFFICE
* Office Number
Telephone
Size

Works in

SALESPERSON CUSTOMER

* Salesperson * Customer
Number Number
Salesperson Sells to Customer
Name Name
Commission HQ City
Percentage
Year of Hire

Sells Quantity Works for

PRODUCT CUSTOMER
EMPLOYEE
* Product
Number * Employee
Product Number
Name Employee
Unit Price Name
Title

General Hardware E-R diagram.

right of the SALESPERSON entity box in the E-R diagram, we see a one-to-many
relationship (“sells to”) between salespersons and customers. The database then
includes a CUSTOMER table with the Salesperson Number attribute as a foreign
key because Salesperson is on the “one side” of the one-to-many relationship and
Customer is on the “many side” of the one-to-many relationship.
 4.2.1 DESIGNING GENERAL HARDWARE 119

Figure 4-20

SALESPERSON

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of Office

Number Name Percentage Hire Number

CUSTOMER

Customer Customer Salesperson

Number Name Number HQ City

CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE

Customer Employee Employee

Number Number Name Title

PRODUCT

Product Product
Number Name Unit Price

SALES

Salesperson Product
Number Number Quantity

OFFICE

Office
Number Telephone Size

General Hardware relational tables.

Customer Employee is a dependent entity of customer, and there is a one-

to-many relationship between them. Customer Employee occurrences are
employees who work for a particular customer and can make purchases for
that customer. Because of the one-to-many relationship, the CUSTOMER
EMPLOYEE table in the database includes the Customer Number attribute as
a foreign key. Furthermore, the Customer Number attribute is part of the pri-
mary key of the CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE table because Customer Employee is
a dependent entity and employee numbers are unique only within a customer.
For example, two different customers could each have an employee number
100, representing different unique persons.
120 DESIGNING A DATABASE

The PRODUCT table contains the three Product entity attributes. The
many-to-many relationship between the SALESPERSON and PRODUCT
entities is represented by the SALES table in the database. Notice that the
combination of the unique identifiers (Salesperson Number and Product Num-
ber) of the two entities in the many-to-many relationship defines the primary
key of the SALES table. Finally, the OFFICE entity has its table in the data-
base with its three attributes, which brings us to the presence of the Office
Number attribute as a foreign key in the SALESPERSON table. This is needed
to maintain the one-to-one binary relationship between Salesperson and
Office. We put the foreign key in the SALESPERSON table rather than in the
OFFICE table because the modality adjacent to SALESPERSON is zero while
the modality adjacent to OFFICE is one. An office may or may not have a
salesperson assigned to it, but a salesperson must be assigned to an office.
The result is that every salesperson must have an associated office number;
the Office Number attribute in the SALESPERSON table can’t be null. This
requirement can be easily enforced, automatically helping prevent data errors
(missing Office Number). If we reversed it and put the Salesperson Number
attribute in the OFFICE table, many of the Salesperson Number attribute val-
ues could be null since the zero modality going from office to salesperson tells
us that an office can be empty. Because the value might or might not be null,
data integrity, ensuring that the data is entered and stored correctly, is harder
to enforce.
One last thought: Why did the PRODUCT table end up without having any
foreign keys? Simply, it is because there is no situation that requires insertion of
a foreign key. It is not the “target” (it is not on the “many side”) of any one-to-
many binary relationship. It is not involved in a one-to-one binary relationship
that requires a foreign key to ensure relational integrity, that is, to maintain the
relationship. (Maintaining the relationship between referencing and referenced
tables is also called referential integrity.) Finally, the PRODUCT table is not
involved in a unary relationship that requires that the primary key to be repeated
in the table.

4.2.2 Designing Good Reading Bookstores

The Good Reading Bookstores E-R diagram is shown in Figure 4-21. Beginning
with the central BOOK entity and looking to its left, we see that there is a one-
to-many relationship between books and publishers. A Publisher publishes many
books, but a BOOK is published by just one publisher.
The Good Reading Bookstore’s relational database tables of Figure 4-22 show
the BOOK and PUBLISHER tables. Publisher Name is a foreign key in the BOOK
table because publisher is on the “one side” of the one-to-many relationship and
book is on the “many side.” Next is the AUTHOR table, which is straightforward.
 Figure 4-21

PUBLISHER BOOK AUTHOR

* Publisher Name * Book Number * Author

City Book Name Number
Country Published Publication Wrote Author Name
Telephone Year Year Born
Year Founded Pages Year Died

Date
Bought Price
Quantity

CUSTOMER

* Customer
Number
Customer
Name
Street
City
State
Country

Good Reading Bookstores E-R diagram.

FOR EXAMPLE
Following Up on Your Design
You might discover during the conversion process that your E-R design isn’t
as complete as it should be. When this happens, you may find it necessary
to go back to your original data to look for missing attributes.
Consider the following situation. You are designing a database for a cus-
tomer support call center. When customers call they are automatically
routed to the next available customer support agent. The agent with whom
the customer speaks is, in this case, completely random. Your first choice
as an associative entity might be the combination of the customer and
employee identities. You would use this as the primary key.
When a customer calls back, he or she might get a different customer
service agent or, by luck of the draw, the same customer service agent. This
would mean the same combination of customer and employee identities,
and would mean a duplicate value in the primary key. This is an illegal con-
dition. You need an additional value, such as the date and time of the call,
to produce a unique primary key value.
122 DESIGNING A DATABASE

Figure 4-22

PUBLISHER

Publisher Year
Name City Country Telephone Founded

AUTHOR

Author Author Year Year

Number Name Born Died

BOOK

Book Book Publication Publisher

Number Name Year Pages Name

CUSTOMER

Customer Customer
Number Name Street City State Country

WRITING

Book Author
Number Number

SALE

Book Customer
Number Number Date Price Quantity

Good Reading Bookstores relational tables.

The many-to-many binary relationship between books and authors is reflected in

the WRITING table, which has no intersection data.
Finally, there is the CUSTOMER entity and the many-to-many relationship
between books and customers. Correspondingly, the relational database includes
a CUSTOMER table and a SALE table to handle the many-to-many relationship.
Notice that the Date, Price, and Quantity attributes appear in the SALE table as
intersection data. Also notice that since a customer can buy the same book on
more than one day, the Date attribute must be part of the primary key to achieve
uniqueness.
 4.3.1 USING NORMALIZATION TECHNIQUES 123

SELF-CHECK
• Explain the role of associative tables when defining many-to-many
relational tables.
• Compare and contrast associative data and intersection data and
the role of each.
• Explain how relational integrity is assured in a one-to-one or one-
to-many binary table.

4.3 Normalizing Data

Data normalization is a methodology for organizing attributes into tables so that
redundancy among the nonkey attributes is eliminated. Each of the resultant
tables deals with a single data focus, which is just another way of saying that
each resultant table will describe a single entity type or a single many-to-many
relationship. Furthermore, foreign keys will appear exactly where they are
needed. In other words, the output of the data normalization process is a prop-
erly structured relational database.
You should be aware that the normalization rules provided here are based on
a common version of the accepted normal forms. The definitions, as they apply
to relational tables, can vary somewhat depending on your reference source. If
you see small differences in how they are defined in other sources, you should
consider it as a difference of opinion rather than that one or the other is wrong.

4.3.1 Using Normalization Techniques

The input required by the data normalization process comes in two parts.
One is a list of all the attributes that must be incorporated into the database—
that is, all of the attributes in all the entities involved in the business envi-
ronment under discussion, plus all of the intersection data attributes in all of
the many-to-many relationships between these entities. The other input,
informally, is a list of all the defining associations between the attributes,
which are a means of expressing that the value of one particular attribute is
associated with a single, specific value of another attribute. Formally, these
defining associations are known as functional dependencies. If we know that
one of these attributes has a particular value, then the other attribute must
have some other value. For example, for a particular Salesperson Number,
137, there is exactly one Salesperson Name, Baker, associated with it. We
know this because a Salesperson Number uniquely identifies a salesperson,
124 DESIGNING A DATABASE

and, after all, a person can have only one last name. Informally, we might say
that Salesperson Number defines Salesperson Name. If I give you a Salesper-
son Number, you can give me back the one and only name that goes with it.
These defining associations are commonly written with a right-pointing arrow
like this:
Salesperson Number → Salesperson Name
In the more formal terms of functional dependencies, the attribute on the
left side is referred to as the determinant attribute. This is because its value
determines the value of the attribute on the right side. Conversely, we also
say that the attribute on the right is functionally dependent on the attribute
on the left.
Data normalization is best explained with an example. In order to demon-
strate the main points of the data normalization process, we will modify part
of the General Hardware Company business environment and focus on the
SALESPERSON and PRODUCT entities. Let’s assume that salespersons are
organized into departments and that each department has a manager who is
not herself a salesperson. Then the list of attributes that we will consider is
shown in Figure 4-23.
The list of defining associations or functional dependencies is shown in
Figure 4-24. Notice a couple of fine points about the list of defining associations
in Figure 4-24. The last association:
Salesperson Number, Product Number → Quantity
shows that the combination of two or more attributes may define another
attribute. That is, the combination of a particular Salesperson Number and a par-

Figure 4-23

Salesperson Number
Salesperson Name
Commission
Percentage
Year of Hire
Department
Number
Manager Name
Product Number
Product Name
Unit Price
Quantity

Salesperson entity attributes.

 4.3.2 NORMALIZING DATA BY THE NUMBERS 125

Figure 4-24

Salesperson Number Salesperson Name

Salesperson Number Commission Percentage
Salesperson Number Year of Hire
Salesperson Number Department Number
Salesperson Number Manager Name
Product Number Product Name
Product Number Unit Price
Department Number Manager Name
Salesperson Number, Product Number Quantity

Salesperson entity defining associations (functional dependencies).

ticular Product Number defines or specifies a particular Quantity. Put another

way, in this business context, we know how many units of a particular product
a particular salesperson has sold.
Another point, which will be important in demonstrating one step of the
data normalization process, is that Manager Name is defined, independently, by
two different attributes, Salesperson Number and Department Number:
Salesperson Number → Manager Name
Department Number → Manager Name
Both of these defining associations are true. If you identify a salesperson by
Salesperson Number, you can determine the salesperson’s manager. Also, given
a department number, you can determine the department manager. What this
means is that during the systems analysis process, both of these equally true
defining associations were discovered and noted. By the way, the fact that we
know the department that a salesperson works in:
Salesperson Number → Department Number
(and that each of these two attributes independently defines Manager Name) is
also an issue in the data normalization process.

4.3.2 Normalizing Data by the Numbers

The data normalization process is known as a decomposition process, some-
times called non-loss decomposition. We will line up all of the attributes to be
included in the relational database and start subdividing them into groups that
will eventually form the database’s tables. Thus we are going to “decompose” the
original list of all the attributes into subgroups. To do so, we are going to step
126 DESIGNING A DATABASE

through a number of normal forms, which are rules for data normalization. First,
we will examine what unnormalized data looks like. Then, we will work through
the three main normal forms in order:

▲ First Normal Form

▲ Second Normal Form
▲ Third Normal Form

There are certain exception conditions that have also been described as nor-
mal forms. Exception conditions are nonstandard normal forms in addition to
the three accepted standard normal forms. These include Boyce-Codd Normal
Form, Fourth Normal Form, and Fifth Normal Form. They are relatively less
common in practice and will not be covered here. Here are three additional
points to remember:

1. Once the attributes are arranged in third normal form (and if none of the
exception conditions is present), the group of tables that they comprise
is, in fact, a well-structured relational database with no data redundancy.
2. A group of tables is said to be in a particular normal form if every table
in the group is in that normal form.
3. The data normalization process is progressive. If a group of tables is in
second normal form, it is also in first normal form. If the tables are in
third normal form, they are also in second normal form.

Understanding Unnormalized Data

Figure 4-25 shows the salesperson and product-related attributes listed in Figure 4-
24 arranged in a table with sample data. The salesperson and product data is taken
from the General Hardware Company relational database. Note that salespersons
137, 204, and 361 are all in department number 73 and that their manager is Scott.
Salesperson 186 is in department number 59 and his manager is Lopez.
The table in Figure 4-25 is unnormalized. The table has four records, one
for each salesperson. But since each salesperson has sold several products and
there is only one record for each salesperson, several attributes of each record
must have multiple values. For example, the record for salesperson 137 has three
product numbers, 19440, 24013, and 26722, in its Product Number attribute
because salesperson 137 has sold all three of those products. Having such mul-
tivalued attributes is not permitted and so this table is unnormalized.

Normalizing to First Normal Form

In the first normal form, each attribute value is atomic, that is, no attribute is
multivalued. The table in Figure 4-26 is the first normal form representation of
 4.3.2 NORMALIZING DATA BY THE NUMBERS 127

Figure 4-25

SALESPERSON/PRODUCT table

Salesperson Product Salesperson Commission Year of Department Manager Product Unit

Number Number Name Percentage Hire Number Name Name Price Quantity

137 19440 Baker 10 1995 73 Scott Hammer 17.50 473

24013 Saw 26.25 170
26722 Pliers 11.50 688

186 16386 Adams 15 2001 59 Lopez Wrench 12.95 1745

19440 Hammer 17.50 2529
21765 Drill 32.99 1962
24013 Saw 26.25 3071

204 21765 Dickens 10 1998 73 Scott Drill 32.99 809

26722 Pliers 11.50 734

361 16386 Carlyle 20 2001 73 Scott Wrench 12.95 3729

21765 Drill 32.99 3110
26722 Pliers 11.50 2738

General Hardware sample unnormalized data.

the data. The attributes under consideration have been listed in one table, and
a primary key has been established. In this definition of normal forms, the
requirement for a primary key is not listed as part of any normal form, but is
considered an assumed requirement of the initial E-R diagramming process.
As the sample data in Figure 4-27 shows, the number of records has increased
compared to the unnormalized representation. Every attribute of every record has
just one value. The multivalued attributes from Figure 4-25 are eliminated.
The combination of the Salesperson Number and Product Number attributes
constitutes the table’s primary key. The business context tells us that the combi-
nation of the two provides unique identifiers for the records of the table and that
there is no single attribute that will do the job. In terms of data normalization,

Figure 4-26

SALESPERSON/PRODUCT table

Salesperson Product Salesperson Commission Year of Department Manager Product Unit

Number Number Name Percentage Hire Number Name Name Price Quantity

Attributes defined in the first normal form.

128 DESIGNING A DATABASE

Figure 4-27

SALESPERSON/PRODUCT table

Salesperson Product Salesperson Commission Year of Department Manager Product Unit

Number Number Name Percentage Hire Number Name Name Price Quantity

137 19440 Baker 10 1995 73 Scott Hammer 17.50 473

137 24013 Baker 10 1995 73 Scott Saw 26.25 170
137 26722 Baker 10 1995 73 Scott Pliers 11.50 688
186 16386 Adams 15 2001 59 Lopez Wrench 12.95 1475
186 19440 Adams 15 2001 59 Lopez Hammer 17.50 2529
186 21765 Adams 15 2001 59 Lopez Drill 32.99 1962
186 24013 Adams 15 2001 59 Lopez Saw 26.25 3071
204 21765 Dickens 10 1998 73 Scott Drill 32.99 809
204 26722 Dickens 10 1998 73 Scott Pliers 11.50 734
361 16386 Carlyle 20 2001 73 Scott Wrench 12.95 3729
361 21765 Carlyle 20 2001 73 Scott Drill 32.99 3110
361 26722 Carlyle 20 2001 73 Scott Pliers 11.50 2738

Data normalized to the first normal form.

according to the list of defining associations or functional dependencies of Fig-

ure 4-24, every attribute in the table is either part of the primary key or is defined
by one or both attributes of the primary key. This is actually a requirement of
the second normal form, as we will see later. Salesperson Name, Commission Per-
centage, Year of Hire, Department Number, and Manager Name are each defined
by Salesperson Number. Product Name and Unit Price are each defined by Prod-
uct Number. Quantity is defined by the combination of Salesperson Number and
Product Number.
These two different ways of approaching the primary key selection are
equivalent. If the combination of a particular Salesperson Number and a par-
ticular Product Number is unique, then it identifies exactly one record of the
table. And if it identifies exactly one record of the table, then that record
shows the single value of each of the nonkey attributes that is associated with
the unique combination of the key attributes. But that is the same thing as
saying that each of the nonkey attributes is defined by or is functionally
dependent on the primary key. For example, consider the first record of the
table in Figure 4-27.
The combination of Salesperson Number 137 and Product Number 19440
is unique. Only one record in the table can have that combination of Salesper-
son Number and Product Number values. Therefore, if someone specifies those
values, the only Salesperson Name that can be associated with them is Baker,
the only Commission Percentage is 10, and so forth. But that has the same effect
 4.3.2 NORMALIZING DATA BY THE NUMBERS 129

as the concept of functional dependency. Since Salesperson Name is functionally

dependent on Salesperson Number, given a particular Salesperson Number, say
137, only one Salesperson Name can be associated with it, Baker. Since Com-
mission Percentage is functionally dependent on Salesperson Number, given a
particular Salesperson Number, say 137, there can be only one Commission Per-
centage associated with it, 10.
First normal form is merely a starting point in the normalization process.
At this point, we have a great deal of data redundancy. Three records involve
salesperson 137 (the first three records), and so there are three places in which
his name is listed as Baker, his commission percentage is listed as 10, and so
on. Similarly, two records involve product 19440 (the first and fifth records),
and this product’s name is listed twice as Hammer and its unit price is listed
twice as 17.50. Intuitively, the reason for this is that attributes of two differ-
ent kinds of entities, salespersons and products, have been mixed together in
one table.
In some references, you will see the first normal form described differently,
stated that each table within a row must be uniquely identified. Data designers
who prefer that definition roll the requirement for atomic data to the second
normal form. In that case, the requirements of the second and third normal
forms, as described in this chapter, are combined as the third normal form. In
either case, the final goal and final result remains the same.

Normalizing to Second Normal Form

Since data normalization is a decomposition process, the next step will be to
decompose the table defined in Figure 4-26 into smaller tables to eliminate data
redundancy. And since we have established that at least some of the redundancy
is due to mixing attributes about salespersons and products, it seems reasonable
to want to separate them out. Informally, we will look at each of the nonkey
attributes and decide which attributes of the key are really needed to define it.
For example, Salesperson Name really only needs Salesperson Number to define
it. Product Name needs only Product Number to define it. Quantity needs both
attributes.
More formally, second normal form does not allow partial functional
dependencies where data is dependent on part of the primary key. That is, in
a table in second normal form, every nonkey attribute must be fully func-
tionally dependent on the entire key of that table. In plain language, a nonkey
attribute cannot depend on only part of the key, the way that Salesperson Name,
Product Name, and most of the other nonkey attributes of Figure 4-26 violate
this restriction.
Figure 4-28 shows the salesperson and product attributes arranged in the
second normal form. There is a SALESPERSON table in which Salesperson
Number is the sole primary key attribute. Every nonkey attribute of the table
130 DESIGNING A DATABASE

Figure 4-28

SALESPERSON table

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of Department Manager

Number Name Percentage Hire Number Name

PRODUCT table

Product Product Unit

Number Name Price

QUANTITY table

Salesperson Product
Number Number Quantity

Relational tables in the second normal form.

is fully defined by Salesperson Number. Similarly, the PRODUCT table has

Product Number as its sole primary key attribute, and the nonkey attributes
of the table are dependent just on it. The QUANTITY table has the combi-
nation of Salesperson Number and Product Number as its primary key
because its nonkey attribute, Quantity, requires both of them taken together
to define it.
Figure 4-29 shows the sample salesperson and product data arranged in the
second normal form structure. Much of the initial data redundancy has been elim-
inated. Now, salesperson 137’s name is listed as Baker, his commission percentage
listed as 10, and so forth only once in the SALESPERSON table. Product 19440’s
name is listed as Hammer, and its unit price is listed as 17.50 only once in the
PRODUCT table.
Second normal form is thus a great improvement over first normal form, but
has all of the redundancy been eliminated? In general, that depends on the par-
ticular list of attributes and defining associations. It is possible that second nor-
mal form can be completely free of data redundancy. In such a case, the second
normal form representation is identical to the third normal form representation.
This is not the case in our example.
A close look at the sample data in Figure 4-29 reveals that the second nor-
mal form structure has not eliminated all of the data redundancy. At the right-
hand end of the SALESPERSON table, the fact that Scott is the manager of depart-
ment 73 is repeated three times. This constitutes redundant data. All of the
nonkey attributes are fully functionally dependent on Salesperson Number, but
that is not the source of the problem. It’s true that Salesperson Number defines
 4.3.2 NORMALIZING DATA BY THE NUMBERS 131

Figure 4-29

SALESPERSON table

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of Department Manager

Number Name Percentage Hire Number Name

137 Baker 10 1995 73 Scott

186 Adams 15 2001 59 Lopez
204 Dickens 10 1998 73 Scott
361 Carlyle 20 2001 73 Scott

PRODUCT table
Product Product Unit
Number Name Price

16386 Wrench 12.95

19440 Hammer 17.50
21765 Drill 32.99
24013 Saw 26.25
26722 Pliers 11.50

QUANTITY table

Salesperson Product
Number Number Quantity

137 19440 473

137 24013 170
137 26722 688
186 16386 1745
186 19440 2529
186 21765 1962
186 24013 3071
204 21765 809
204 26722 734
361 16386 3729
361 21765 3110
361 26722 2738

Second normal form sample data.

both Department Number and Manager Name. Focusing in on a particular sales-

person, you should know the salesperson’s department and manager’s name. But,
as indicated in the next-to-the-last defining association of Figure 4-24, one of
those two attributes defines the other: given a department number, you can tell
who the manager of that department is. In the SALESPERSON table, one of the
nonkey attributes, Department Number, defines another one of the nonkey attrib-
utes, Manager Name. This is what is causing the problem.
132 DESIGNING A DATABASE

Normalizing to Third Normal Form

In third normal form, nonkey attributes are not allowed to define other nonkey
attributes. Stated more formally, third normal form does not allow transitive
dependencies in which one nonkey attribute is functionally dependent on another.
In Figure 4-29, you see that in the SALESPERSON table, Department Num-
ber, and Manager Name are both nonkey attributes. Department Number defines
Manager Name. Figure 4-30 shows the third normal form representation of the
attributes. Note that the SALESPERSON table in Figure 4-28 has been further
decomposed into the SALESPERSON and DEPARTMENT tables in Figure 4-30.
The Department Number and Department Manager attributes, which were the
cause of redundant data in the second normal form, were split off to form the
DEPARTMENT table, but a copy of the Department Number attribute (the pri-
mary key attribute of the new DEPARTMENT table) was left behind in the
SALESPERSON table. If this had not been done, there no longer would have
been a way to indicate each salesperson’s department, and you would have lost
that relationship. Keep in mind, the goal is non-loss decomposition. In other
words, no data is lost in the process.
The sample data for the third normal form structure in Figure 4-30 is shown
in Figure 4-31. Now, the fact that Scott is the manager of department 73 is shown

Figure 4-30

SALESPERSON table

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of Department

Number Name Percentage Hire Number

DEPARTMENT table

Department Manager
Number Name

PRODUCT table

Product Product Unit

Number Name Price

QUANTITY table

Salesperson Product
Number Number Quantity

Relational tables in the third normal form.

 4.3.2 NORMALIZING DATA BY THE NUMBERS 133

Figure 4-31

SALESPERSON table

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of Department

Number Name Percentage Hire Number

137 Baker 10 1995 73

186 Adams 15 2001 59
204 Dickens 10 1998 73
361 Carlyle 20 2001 73

DEPARTMENT table
Department Manager
Number Name

59 Lopez
73 Scott

PRODUCT table
Product Product Unit
Number Name Price

16386 Wrench 12.95

19440 Hammer 17.50
21765 Drill 32.99
24013 Saw 26.25
26722 Pliers 11.50

QUANTITY table

Salesperson Product
Number Number Quantity

137 19440 473

137 24013 170
137 26722 688
186 16386 1745
186 19440 2529
186 21765 1962
186 24013 3071
204 21765 809
204 26722 734
361 16386 3729
361 21765 3110
361 26722 2738

Sample data in the third normal form.

134 DESIGNING A DATABASE

only once, in the second record of the DEPARTMENT table. Notice that the
Department Number attribute in the SALESPERSON table continues to indicate
the salesperson’s department.

4.3.3 Shortening the Process

As you can see, the normalization process tends to result in more and smaller
tables created through decomposition. When you look back over the design
process, you’ll see that most of the tables identified through the normalization
process had already been identified through data modeling. In fact, you should
typically start as we did in the beginning of this chapter, by defining tables based
on the E-R diagram.
Consider the tables defined by the E-R diagram your first draft of the data-
base design. Once you have your relational tables identified, apply the three nor-
mal forms to each of the tables. The usual goal is normalizing to the third nor-
mal form, sometimes indicated as 3NF. Check each table and verify that each
adheres to the requirements for normalization to 3NF. This will save you the
time and effort of building a “supertable” (not a formal term, just a convenient
description) containing every possible attribute in a relationship. Remember that
when looking at normalization through full deconstruction, we focused on one
primary entity. We would have to go through this process with each entity that
brought with it additional relationships. It’s easy to see how this could become
a daunting task.
If you start with your E-R diagram, you will still find normalization
requirements. Start with the first normal form and work your way through.
For example, the customer table might have an attribute of Address. This vio-
lates the first normal form because this attribute is multivalued. For addresses
in the United States, it includes a street address or PO Box (and possibly both),
City, State, and ZIP Code. You would need to break each of these down into
individual attributes to meet the first normal form. Continue the process
through the second and third normal forms, creating additional related tables
as necessary to meet normalization requirements.
You will often find that this is the least complicated and most efficient way
to handle the normalization process. Even though some tables require additional
normalization, others will already be at 3NF and not require any additional
effort.

4.3.4 Denormalizing Data

The smaller tables created by the normalization process are typically the most
efficient design for data entry and data modification. One reason for this is
that you have eliminated duplicate data, reducing the amount of data that
must be written to the database. However, there are two potential problems.
 4.3.4 DENORMALIZING DATA 135

One problem is that this process can be taken to the extreme. Consider cus-
tomer addresses for example. It’s likely that you will have several customers in
the same state. You could create a separate STATE table to contain this informa-
tion and create a relationship between the CUSTOMER and STATE tables, but it’s
probably less work and requires less storage space to just store the 2-character
state abbreviation with each customer.
The other problem is that a design that makes for efficient data entry does
not always make for efficient data retrieval. During normalization, you tend to
break a table down into smaller, related tables. There is a good possibility that
at least some of your queries will require you to recombine that data into a sin-
gle result. This is done through a query process known as joining, where you
combine the data from two tables based on a linking column or columns. Typ-
ically, you will combine two related tables based on the foreign key, but that’s
not the only possibility. This can be a resource-intensive process, becoming more
intensive as more tables are added.
This can be an issue in any database, but tends especially to be a problem
in decision support databases where the majority of the database activity relates

FOR EXAMPLE
Finding New Tables
It’s fairly common to “discover” new tables during the normalization process.
Your E-R diagram includes an ORDER entity. For each order, you have the
customer placing the order, the employee writing up the order, the order
date, order number, and other information that applies to the order as a
whole. You also have information about individual line items, such as the
item ID, quantity, and selling price. There’s no reason, usually, to store the
extended total (quantity times selling price) because that can be calculated
whenever you need it.
If you create an ORDER table, for it to be properly normalized, you will
need a row for each line item in the order. That means that the customer,
employee, order date, and any other general information about the order are
also repeated for each line item. This could result in a significant amount
of data and wasted space. A better solution is to have two tables. One, call
it ORDERHEAD, contains the information that applies to the order as a
whole. The other, call it ORDERITEM, contains the information for each line
item. You would use the Order Number as the identifier in ORDERHEAD,
and also use it as the foreign key in ORDERITEM to maintain the relation-
ship between the two tables.
136 DESIGNING A DATABASE

to data retrieval. If you regularly need the joined data, you could find it more
efficient in the long run to denormalize the data, combine two or more nor-
malized data tables into one less normalized table. For example, you might need
to draw on data from three or four different tables to generate employee pay-
checks, including columns from an EMPLOYEE table, a TIMESHEET table, a
PAYRATE table, and other tables in a single report. You might find it better to
create a separate table named EMPLOYEEPAY that contains all of this informa-
tion. Keep in mind, however, that if you also keep all of the other tables, you
are introducing duplicate data into the database. Whether or not the perfor-
mance increase is worth the additional overhead will have to be evaluated on
a case-by-case basis.
Why the concern about performance? The more operations the database has
to perform, the greater the load on resources, which can result in performance
loss. If you create a new EMPLOYEEPAY table while also keeping the same data
in the EMPLOYEE, TIMESHEET, and PAYRATE tables, you are forcing the data-
base server to make additional updates anytime you add or modify data. If you
change a rate in the PAYRATE table or hours in the TIMESHEET table, for exam-
ple, you will also have to update records in the EMPLOYEEPAY table to reflect
these changes. Introduce too many situations where duplicate updates are needed
and performance eventually suffers.

SELF-CHECK
• List and describe the three normal forms.
• Explain how normalizing to the third normal form can result in addi-
tional relational tables.
• Explain the meaning of the term non-loss decomposition.

SUMMARY
This chapter discussed the process of creating a relational database design. You
saw how to convert simple entities, unary relationships, and binary relationships
to relational tables. This included choosing the foreign keys needed to establish
and maintain the relationships. You compared examples in which E-R diagrams
were converted to relational tables. You also learned about the normalization
process and how apply the three normal forms.
 KEY TERMS 137

KEY TERMS
Composite key Non-loss decomposition
Data integrity Normal forms
Data normalization Null value
Decomposition process Partial functional dependency
Defining association Referential integrity
Determinant attribute Relational integrity
Exception conditions Second normal form
First normal form Third normal form (3NF)
Functional dependency Transitive dependency
Joining
138 DESIGNING A DATABASE

ASSESS YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to evaluate your knowledge of database
design.
Measure your learning by comparing pre-test and post-test results.

Summary Questions
1. There is always a one-to-one relationship between entities in an E-R dia-
gram and the tables in a database design. True or False?
2. Which statement best describes the process of converting a one-to-one
binary relationship to related tables?
(a) You should convert the entities into a single related table.
(b) There will typically be only one way to define the tables.
(c) There will typically be more than one way to define the tables.
3. You are converting a many-to-many unary relationship. How many rela-
tional tables will result from this conversion?
(a) one
(b) two
(c) three
(d) four
4. There is a many-to-many relationship between the Customer and Issue
entities. Each combination of Customer and Issue occurrences is unique.
Which should you use as the associative table primary key?
(a) the Customer identifier
(b) the Issue identifier
(c) the combination of the Customer and Issue identifiers
(d) you don’t have enough information to determine the best primary key
5. Customer relates to Order as a one-to-many relationship. How should
you define the relationship between the CUSTOMER and ORDER tables?
(a) Add the CUSTOMER primary key to the ORDER table as a foreign key.
(b) Add the ORDER primary key to the CUSTOMER table as a foreign key.
(c) Create a new value to use as a foreign key in both the CUSTOMER
and ORDER tables.
(d) Create an associative table.
6. An associative table is needed when converting a one-to-many or many-
to-many relationship. True or False?
7. When converting related entities, it is necessary to consider all
relationships in which an entity is included. True or False?
 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 139

8. Manager-to-Employee is a one-to-many unary relationship. You create an

EMPLOYEE table. How any additional tables do you need?
(a) none
(b) one
(c) two
9. Data integrity ensures that data is entered and stored correctly. True of
False?
10. The usual goal in normalization is normalizing to the third normal form.
True or False?
11. What statement best describes the second normal form?
(a) Each attribute value is atomic, that is, no attribute is multivalued.
(b) Transitive dependencies are not allowed.
(c) Every nonkey attribute must be fully functionally dependent on the
entire key.
12. If tables are in the second normal form, they may or may not also be in
the first normal form. True or false?
13. Which normal form works to eliminate partial functional dependencies?
(a) first
(b) second
(c) third
(d) fourth
14. Which term is used to refer to the value on the left in the following
association?
Salesperson number → Salesperson name
(a) independent attribute
(b) associative attribute
(c) dependent attribute
(d) determinant attribute
15. In normalization, what is an exception condition?
(a) normalization forms beyond the three standard normal forms
(b) data that cannot be normalized
(c) the requirement to add a table to support relationships
(d) a table that is self-normalizing
16. Saying that a table is normalized to the Boyce-Codd normal form is the
same as saying that a table is normalized to 3NF. True or False?
17. Combining data from different normalized tables into a query result is
referred to as joining. True or False?
18. Which column list violates the third normal form?
140 DESIGNING A DATABASE

(a) vendor name (primary key), alternate vendor, PO Box, city, state,
postal code
(b) employee number (primary key), last name, first name, department
number, department name, e-mail address, cubicle location, manager ID
(c) product SKU (primary key), description, warehouse location, quantity
on hand, quantity on order, vendor
(d) order number (primary key), line item number (primary key), prod-
uct SKU, quantity, selling price

Applying This Chapter

1. You can order multiple products from any vendor. A product can be
ordered from multiple vendors. The identifier for the PRODUCT entity is
SKU. The identifier for the VENDOR entity is Vendor Number. What kind
of relationship does this describe? List the tables that would result from con-
version to relational tables. Include the primary key for each of the tables.
2. You are designing relational tables for the E-R diagram shown in Figure
4-32. What foreign keys would be added during conversion (list by table)?
What tables not currently identified by an entity would be added (if any)?
What are the primary key attributes in the first normal form for this model?

Figure 4-32

ORCHESTRA MUSICIAN DEGREE

*Orchestra *Musician *Degree

Name Works for Number Earned University
City Musician Name Year
Country Instrument
Music Director Annual Salary

Year
Recorded
Price

COMPOSITION COMPOSER

*Composition *Composer
Name Wrote Name
Year Country
Date of Birth

Sample E-R diagram.

 APPLYING THIS CHAPTER 141

3. You are designing relational tables based on the functional dependencies in

Figure 4-33. List the tables and primary keys represented by this. YOU
Figure 4-33

Salesperson Number Salesperson Name

Salesperson Number Commission Percentage
Salesperson Number Year of Hire
Salesperson Number Department Number
Salesperson Number Manager Name
Customer Number Customer Name
Customer Number Salesperson Number
Customer Number HQ City
Customer Number, Employee Number Employee Name
Customer Number, Employee Number Title
Product Number Product Name
Product Number Unit Price
Department Number Manager Name
Salesperson Number, Product Number Quantity
Office Number Telephone
Office Number Salesperson Number
Office Number Size

Sample functional dependencies for General Hardware Company.

YOU TRY IT

Creating and Normalizing a Relational Table 2. For each of the relational tables in Table 4-1, list
Design the attributes based on the E-R diagram. Indi-
Figure 4-34 is the E-R diagram for Lucky Rent-A Car. cate any attributes that violate the first normal
1. Complete Table 4-1 with the information re- form.
quested.

Table 4-1: Lucky Rent-a-Car

Table Primary Key Column(s) Foreign Key Column(s)

142
 Figure 4-34

MANUFACTURER

*Manufacturer
Name
Manufacturer
Country
Sales Rep Name
Sales Rep Telephone

Manufactured

CAR CUSTOMER

*Car Serial Number *Customer Number

Model Customer Name
Year Rented Customer Address
Class Telephone

Rental Date
Repaired Return Date
Total Cost

MAINTENANCE
EVENT

*Repair Number
Date
Procedure
Mileage
Repair Time

Lucky Rent-a-Car E-R diagram.

143
Non-loss Decomposition
Figure 4-35 is the E-R diagram for General Hardware
Company.

Figure 4-35

OFFICE
* Office Number
Telephone
Size

Works in

SALESPERSON CUSTOMER

* Salesperson * Customer
Number Number
Salesperson Sells to Customer
Name Name
Commission HQ City
Percentage
Year of Hire

Sells Quantity Works for

PRODUCT CUSTOMER
EMPLOYEE
* Product
Number * Employee
Product Number
Name Employee
Unit Price Name
Title

General Hardware Company E-R diagram.

144
 Sa
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O ct N umb
ffi
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Sa Nu ber
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m o
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Hardware Company taken to the first normal form.

D f H Perc
ep ir en
Figure 4-36 represents the attributes of the General

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M tme ge
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Figure 4-36

sto N mb
m a m er
H er e
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General Hardware Company attributes.

tle e N
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ua
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normal forms. Show the result below.

Te ity
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145
Continue the process and apply the second and third
 5
IMPLEMENTING
A DATABASE

Starting Point
Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of database
implementation.
Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

▲ Physical data design requirements
▲ Tools for creating database objects
▲ Data integrity and database performance design requirements
▲ Database object implementation

After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To

▲ Recognize data integrity issues
▲ Recognize potential performance issues
▲ Modify a database design to address business requirements
▲ Use SQL language commands to create objects
▲ Use graphical utilities to create objects
▲ Enforce domain integrity
▲ Enforce entity integrity
▲ Enforce relational integrity
▲ Create tables, indexes, and views based on physical design requirements
 5.1.1 UNDERSTANDING DESIGN REQUIREMENTS 147

INTRODUCTION
The better your database design, the better it will meet your business and appli-
cation requirements. This means collecting business data, identifying entities and
relationships, and then converting them to database tables. All this is done with
your final goal in mind, implementing your physical database.
Before you can begin creating database tables you need to finish the remaining
details of your database design. Review the physical design requirements and
how they impact your final design. These include not only data requirements,
but application requirements and requirements relating to the environment in
which the database will be deployed. It may be necessary to make additional
adjustments to your design to more accurately reflect the real world. Now you
must not only consider entities and attributes, but also the volume of data that
you must support and how it impacts your physical design requirements.
With the design process out of the way, you’re ready to implement the design
and deploy your database. Even here, there are additional decisions to be made.
These relate to how to create database objects that match your design. The
process starts with database tables and continues on through other database
objects as needed, such as indexes and views.

5.1 Physical Design and Implementation

The process of completing E-R diagrams, data normalization, and conversion to
relational tables does not represent the end of the design process. At best, these
steps can be considered the end of the beginning. There is still work to be done
before you can implement the tables you’ve designed and prepare to deploy your
database solution. The process brings you to the starting point for physical data-
base design.
In order to determine how best to modify the tables to improve application
performance, a wide range of factors must be considered. The factors will help
determine which modification techniques to apply and how to apply them.

5.1.1 Understanding Design Requirements

Keep in mind that design is an ongoing process and the dividing lines between
design phases can become vague over time. Even as you move into the final design
phases you may find it necessary to perform more data gathering as new questions
arise. The new information is applied to your design to try to create the model that
matches your needs as closely as possible in a relational database model. The
remaining process is often considered to be as much art as science. The choices are
so numerous and the possible combinations of modifications are so complex that
even an experienced designer hopes for a satisfactory, but not a perfect, solution.
148 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

Figure 5-1

Inputs Into the Physical Database Design Process

• The Tables Produced by the Logical Database Design
Process
• Business Environment Requirements
 Response Time Requirements

 Throughput Requirements

• Data Characteristics
 Data Volume Assessment

 Data Volatility

• Application Characteristics
 Application Data Requirements

 Application Priorities

• Operational Requirements
 Data Security Concerns

 Backup and Recovery Concerns

• Hardware and Software Characteristics

 DBMS Characteristics

 Hardware Characteristics

Inputs to the physical design.

Figure 5-1 lists the inputs to physical database design, which are also fac-
tors important to the design process. These inputs fall into several subgroups.
We’ll take a look at each of these physical design inputs and factors, one-by-one.
The tables produced by the logical database design process (which for sim-
plicity we will now refer to as the logical design) form the starting point of the
physical database design process. These tables reflect all of the data in the busi-
ness environment. In theory, they have no data redundancy (or at least minimal
redundancy), and they have all of the foreign keys in place that are needed to
establish the relationships in the business environment.
This does not necessarily reflect an optimum performance environment. Keep
in mind that at this point, we have limited our design to database tables only. We
still need to design the objects, like indexes, that will help to optimize data access.
Even then, there may be additional performance issues. For example, it is possi-
ble that a particular query may require the joining of several tables, which may
cause an unacceptably slow response from the database. Clearly then, these tables,
in their current form, might be unacceptable from a performance point of view.
This is why we need to make additional modifications and physical design changes.
One important point is that none of these factors operates in a vacuum. Each
influences the others. Actions taken to help you meet the needs of one require-
ment better could actually make it harder to meet another set of requirements.
 5.1.3 DATA CHARACTERISTICS 149

5.1.2 Business Environment Requirements

Two typical considerations are response time requirements and throughput
requirements. Response time is the delay from the time that the request is made
to execute a query (such as when the Enter key is pressed) until the result
appears on the screen. Throughput is the measure of how many queries from
simultaneous users must be satisfied in a given period of time by the application
set and the database that supports it. In other words, throughput refers to the vol-
ume of work that must be performed and volume of data that must be moved.
One of the main factors in deciding how extensively to modify the logical design
is establishing the response time requirements. This relates directly to how the appli-
cation is used and the response expected by the users. In general, operational and
production environments require very fast responses. Decision support environments
tend to have more relaxed response time requirements. Customers placing orders
through an online e-commerce site don’t like to be left waiting. A service agent online
with a customer needs answers quickly. Requirements can also vary by application
component. You may be less concerned, for example, about how long it takes peri-
odic management reports to run or the time required to process trend analysis data.
Throughput and response time are closely related. The more people who want
access to the same data at the same time, the harder it is to keep the response
time from dropping to an unacceptable level. The more potential pressure on
response time, the more important the physical design task becomes. Some needs
can be met through changes to the table design. This could mean changing the
table structure, such as recombining tables through denormalization. It may be
necessary to subdivide the data in some manner, along with distributing the phys-
ical placement of the data. The solution might also require additional database
objects or an improved hardware platform.

5.1.3 Data Characteristics

How much data will be stored in the database and how frequently different parts
of it will be updated are important considerations in physical design as well. You
need to perform data volume assessment, which deals with both the number
and size of the database records. You must also consider data volatility, which
refers to how often stored data is updated.
Data volume assessment requires you to answer a number of questions so
you can calculate how much data will be in the database. You need a rough idea
of how many records will be stored in each table. Multiply the row size by the
number of rows to get the approximate table size. Add together the table sizes
to get an approximate total database size. Design decisions will hinge on whether
a table is expected to have 300 or 30,000 or 3 million records. This is also
affected by how efficiently the database is able to store the data. To understand
this, you need to know how your database system stores data.
150 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

Figure 5-2

Employee Table Customer Table

Storage Storage

Row 0
(2 KB)

Row 0
Row 1 (5 KB)
(2 KB)

Row 2
(2 KB)

Row 3
(2 KB)

Page Page

Data storage.

Take Microsoft SQL Server for example. The fundamental storage unit is a
page, which is 8 KB of contiguous space. A table row cannot span pages, but a
page can hold multiple rows, assuming that they are small enough.
Now, look in Figure 5-2. The maximum row size for the Employee table in
this example is 2 KB. That means that four rows fit on each page with no wasted
space. If you have 1000 rows in the table, you need 1000 times 2 KB, which is
2000 KB, or 2 MB to store the data.
You have a very different situation in the Customer table. The maximum row
size is 5 KB. That means you can fit only one row per page. What happens to
the remaining 3 KB? It’s lost, wasted, and can’t be used for any other purpose.
That means that each row effectively requires 8 KB. If you have 1000 rows, you
need 8 MB of storage.
When processing data in the Employee table, you need to work with 2 MB of
data (in this example) for each 1000 rows. However, performing an operation on
the Customer table means having to move around 8 MB of data. As you add rows
to the Customer table, the space needed increases, as does the wasted space. If you
just based your calculations on row size and didn’t factor in page use, your space
requirement calculations would be off by nearly 40 percent for the Customer table.
Data volatility can directly impact response time and throughput. Some data,
such as active inventory records that reflect the changes in goods constantly being
put into and taken out of inventory, is updated frequently. Other data, such as his-
toric sales records, is seldom or never updated, except possibly for data from the
 5.1.4 APPLICATION CHARACTERISTICS 151

latest time period being added to the end of the table. Data volatility is often a jus-
tification for how far you take the normalization process, but it doesn’t stop there.
Data volatility is an important factor in physical design decisions. It will directly
impact database object design, placement, and hardware platform requirements.

5.1.4 Application Characteristics

The nature of the applications that will use the data, which applications are most
important to the company, and which data will be accessed by each application
form yet another set of inputs into and factors in physical design. You need to
consider the application data requirements, what information the application
needs and how it will be used. If the database is shared by multiple applica-
tions, relative application priority is another important concern.
When determining the application data requirements, you need to take a
close look at how the application, or applications (if the database supports more
than one), use data. You need to determine to which database tables each appli-
cation requires access. You also need to know if any applications require that
tables be joined. Concurrent access is another issue. This means finding out
which tables are shared by more than one application and how frequently the
tables are used. This information serves as one indication of how much demand
there will be for access to each table and its data. More heavily used tables and
tables frequently involved in joins require particular attention during the design
process. Once again, issues are raised relating to response times and through-
put, though now specifically at the application level.
To put this in perspective, think about a point-of-sale application for a store.
Each time you make a sale, you would need to access tables used for inventory
tracking and for recording sales. Because you need to get customers checked out
and on their way quickly, access to these tables and the speed at which updates
are performed are both critical. Demand for these tables during normal hours of
operation is frequent, probably nearly constant.
You also need to understand the relative priority between all of the applica-
tions that share the database. Because tables in a database will be shared by dif-
ferent applications, a modification to a table proposed during physical design
that’s intended to help the performance of one application can hinder the per-
formance of another application. When this happens, or could happen because
of a change you want to make, it’s important to know which application is more
critical to business activities. Ask yourself:

▲ Which application is required to support the core business and primary

processes?
▲ Which application most directly impacts company profits?
▲ Which application provides for cost savings?
152 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

The tables used to track sales in our retail example are used by the point-
of-sale application, but that’s probably not the only application needing access
to those tables. Suppose you also have an accounting application that collects
sales information and writes in the tables used to track financial accounting infor-
mation. The two applications have to compete for the same resources. In this
case, the higher-priority application should be the point-of-sale application,
because of the need to quickly complete customer transactions.
Sometimes priority decisions are based, at least partially, on which applica-
tion’s sponsor has greater political power in the company. No matter how the
determination is made, the changes you make and how you make them rely on
these relative priorities. The higher the application’s relative priority, the more
important that the modifications do not adversely affect it.

5.1.5 Operational Requirements

Operational requirements include any number of ongoing activities that deal with
issues relating to protecting the data and to data availability. Most operational
requirements fall under the general category of data management. These can
include any of a wide-ranging number of administrative tasks. Activities sup-
porting these task requirements are sometimes integrated into one or more
database applications or can be performed outside of the scope of any of the
applications using tools provided with the DBMS.
Some design decisions can depend on such data management issues as data
security and backup and recovery. Data security can include such concerns as
protecting data from theft or malicious destruction and making sure that sensi-
tive data is accessible only to those employees of the company who have a “need
to know.” Backup and recovery ranges from being able to recover a table or a
database that has been corrupted or lost due to hardware or software failure, to
the recovery of an entire information system after a natural disaster. Design issues
include both how the data is organized and where and how the data is physi-
cally stored on the host computer. They can also include the physical location
of and access to the physical computer hosting the database.

5.1.6 The Hardware and Software Environment

The hardware and software environments in which the databases will reside have
an important bearing on design. Software, in this context, refers to the DBMS
and its characteristics rather than the database application. Hardware character-
istics relate to physical computer resources (the computer platform on which the
database is deployed).
All relational database management systems are similar in that they support
the basic, sometimes thought of as the classic, relational model. However, rela-
tional DBMSs differ in certain details, such as the exact nature of their indexes,
attribute data type options, and SQL query features, which must be known and
 5.1.6 THE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT 153

Figure 5-3

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Pr
sk
Memory

Scaling Up

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Scaling Out

Scale up/scale out.

taken into account during database design. For example, different DBMS systems
support different options for how data is stored and organized within the data-
base tables. Microsoft SQL Server, for example, supports a data type that directly
supports storage and manipulation of XML data. Data types are data storage for-
mats used when defining database tables. Most other DBMSs, at least at this point
in their development, do not include a data type designed for this purpose. XML
data storage requires you to develop your own work-arounds based on more tra-
ditional data types.
Certain hardware characteristics, such as processor speeds and disk data
transfer rates, are associated with the physical database design process though
not directly part of it. Simply put, the faster the hardware, the more tolerant the
system can be of a less than optimal physical design. In fact, some database
designers might try to scale up or scale out the hardware platform rather than
correcting problems found in the physical design after the database has been
deployed. Options are shown in Figure 5-3. Scaling up refers to improving the
server hardware, such as by installing additional processors, more memory, or
faster disk subsystems. Scaling out refers to spreading the data across multiple
database servers in a distributed data environment. Both are valid responses to
changing conditions such as increased user support requirements or an increase
in the volume of data stored on the database. However, these responses can also
be used in attempt to cover up an inefficient design.
154 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

In regards to hardware characteristics and their impact on database design,

you have two basic, but interrelated, options. One is to design the database for
optimal performance on the available hardware platform. The other is to design
a hardware platform that meets the performance requirements needed to sup-
port the database design and application needs. In the real world, the final solu-
tion is usually a compromise between the two. As a database designer and imple-
menter you request the best (most powerful) server that you can get, but design
the database understanding that it might be deployed on a less than optimal
hardware platform.

5.1.7 Evaluating Implementation Options

While you think about the “what” of your physical implementation require-
ments, you also need to consider the “how” of the process. In most modern
DBMS environments, you have two options for creating database objects. One
is to use graphical user interface (GUI) utilities, when supported. The other is
to use traditional SQL language CREATE statements. Each has its advantages
and disadvantages.

GUI Management Utilities

Let’s start with GUI-based utilities. Microsoft SQL Server 2005, for example,
installs SQL Server Management Studio by default with nearly all database
server editions. It can also be installed on client systems as part of a client
utilities suite. MySQL, on the other hand, doesn’t include a GUI-based man-
agement utility. There is, however, one that was developed by a third party
and available as a free download from several Web sites, including the MySQL
website. Microsoft Access, which is part of the Microsoft Office Suite, takes
the opposite approach from MySQL. It has a primarily GUI environment for
design, management, and even data access. Unlike SQL Server or MySQL,
Access is most often used as a local data store—for example, for personal
databases.
The advantage of a GUI management utility is its graphical environment. The
user interface for creating a database table in Management Studio is shown in
Figure 5-4 as an example. The biggest advantage of a graphical utility is that it
prompts you through the process, asking for the column name, letting you
choose a data type from a dropdown list, and providing you with a list of col-
umn properties that you can review and set.
We have four table columns named SerialNumber, Model, Year, and Class.
The Allow Nulls checkbox sets nullability. Nullability determines whether or not
you must provide a value for a column. A key icon, which you can see to the
left of the column name SerialNumber, is used to identify primary key columns.
Nulls are never allowed in the primary key. Null values and their use are
described in more detail later in this chapter.
 5.1.7 EVALUATING IMPLEMENTATION OPTIONS 155

Figure 5-4

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Column Properties
B CJ Database Diagrams
3 L_J Tables
B CJ System Tables
11
B □
dbo.Car □ (General)
S CJ Views (Name) SerialNumber
B CJ Synonyms Alow Nuls No
B CJ Programmability Data Type char
S [Ci Service Broker Default Value or Boding
SB CJ Storage Length 30
B [J Security H Table Decinner
IS CJ Security (General)
(2 LJ Server Objects
QB LJ Replication
IB ('] Marwiement
IBSSBaOBSSBai
Ready

Management Studio new table dialog box.

At this point, the table is named Table_1, as you can see in the window tab.
You’ll be prompted to specify the table name when you save it. Additional graph-
ical utilities let you modify table columns for existing tables and manage prop-
erties for the table as a whole.
The disadvantages might not be immediately obvious. There are usually some
actions that you can take or properties that are accessible through the SQL com-
mand that are not available through the GUI-based command. The biggest dis-
advantage is the command environment itself. You must have access to SQL
Server Management Studio, either locally or through a remote virtual desktop,
which is a utility that lets you run the command on one computer, but see the
screens and control the command remotely from another computer. This is pos-
sible with programs like Windows Remote Desktop Connection. Because Man-
agement Studio is graphic- and resource-intensive, it cannot be used in this way
over a low-bandwidth connection such as a dial-up connection.

SQL Command Utilities

SQL is a standard (or more accurately, the standard) database command lan-
guage. SQL command utilities are text-based utilities and are run from a com-
mand prompt. Database management systems provide a SQL command processing
156 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

environment for running SQL commands. When you use GUI utilities, in some
environments they work by building SQL command strings and then executing
them in the background where you don’t see them used. Depending on whose
definition you prefer, you will see SQL commands divided into either two or
three types of commands. You will learn more about these types of commands
in Chapter 6. The most common categories you’ll see are data manipulation
language (DML) and data definition language (DDL) statements. DML state-
ments are, like the name implies, statements used to modify data, including
statements used to insert new data or delete data rows. DDL statements are used
to define server and database objects, like logins, users, tables, views, indexes,
and so forth.
You will sometimes see a third type of statement, data query language (DQL)
statements. A DQL statement refers specifically to SELECT command queries that
are used to retrieve data. Because the term query can be used to refer to state-
ments used to retrieve or modify data, the SELECT statement is often rolled in
as part of the DML command set.

Using SQL Commands

The standard SQL command set includes the CREATE TABLE command, which
can be used to create a table, specify columns and data tables, and set table prop-
erties and constraints, such as identifying the primary key. Constraints, in basic
terms, are limits or controls placed on tables and table columns. For example,
a table’s primary key and foreign keys (if any) are technically referred to as
its primary key constraint and foreign key constraints. Another command,
ALTER TABLE, lets you modify existing tables. Here’s an example CREATE
TABLE command:
CREATE TABLE dbo.Car(
SerialNumber char(30) NOT NULL,
Model varchar(50) NOT NULL,
Year char(4) NOT NULL,
Class nchar(2) NULL,
CONSTRAINT PK_Car PRIMARY KEY(SerialNumber) CLUSTERED )
ON PRIMARY

The full command syntax is beyond the scope of this chapter, but if you
take a close look at this command example, it’s relatively easy to see what the
command is doing. The command name tells you that you are creating a table.
The table name in this example is Car. The dbo is the relational schema and is
part of the fully qualified object name, which is the complete object name that
defines the object as globally unique. The period (.) is used as a delimiter to
identify the different parts of the fully qualified name. The object name syntax
is a SQL concept, but its specific implementation can vary somewhat by DBMS.
The column names, along with basic column parameters, are enclosed in
 5.1.7 EVALUATING IMPLEMENTATION OPTIONS 157

parentheses, along with any constraint definitions. You can see that the com-
mand creates four columns named SerialNumber, Model, Year, and Class, set-
ting the data type and nullability for each. “NOT NULL” says a value must be
provided during data entry or modification. “NULL” means that you can leave
the column blank during data entry and a null value will be entered as the
default. The primary key is identified as SerialNumber. The command is creat-
ing a clustered index for the primary key, so the table data will be physically
sorted in primary key order. The ON [PRIMARY] clause at the end specifies the
physical storage location, in this case, specifying the default storage location.
As you learned in Chapter 4, a null value is a special type of value. In some
cases, you want to set the column value as unknown or undefined rather than
as what you might consider “nothing” values of zero or an empty string. A null
value represents “no value,” either unknown, undefined, or no value applied.
Even though it stands for “nothing,” a null can be significant.
Consider an inventory table. One of the columns you might have is the
QuantityOnHand column, the number of items that you currently have in stock.
Typically, you would expect to see an integer value. A value of 0 indicates that
you do not currently have any of that item in stock. But what about a null value?
You could have a null entered automatically if a record is added to the table
without specifying an amount for QuantityOnHand. You could then retrieve a
list of items that you have never had in stock by retrieving all rows with a null
value in QuantityOnHand.
One place null values can be problematic is in text fields. You use charac-
ter data types to store text data. If you don’t see a value, it could be a null, or
it could be a zero-length string, a valid character string that happens to contain
zero characters. The two might look the same to you, but a database server sees,
and sorts, the two differently. A query used to retrieve zero-length strings would
ignore null-valued fields. By the same token, a query retrieving records with a
null value would ignore zero-length strings.
There are several advantages to using SQL commands. They are typically
more powerful and more flexible than their GUI equivalents. They require min-
imal resources to run, so they can be used over a remote connection. You can
also use them inside of a batch file, which is a file that contains a set of exe-
cutable statements that can run as a group. In fact, you could create all of the
tables for a database, and the database itself, using a batch. You could even send
the batch to a user in another location as an email attachment and let that user
run the batch locally.
The biggest disadvantage is that some SQL commands can be complicated and
difficult to use. In order to use them effectively, you need to understand the state-
ment syntax and available options. The order in which options are specified in
SQL commands can even be an issue. Command documentation can sometimes
run on for several pages for a single command. In the case of creating tables, for
example, you need to know the available data types and how they are specified.
158 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

FOR EXAMPLE
Remote Updates
Consider this situation. You are a consultant and one of your clients has a
database that you created as part of a business solution. The client requested
some additional security features that will require you to create some new
tables in the database. The application developer has already created an
installation file that patches the application, but you need a way to modify
the database.
You don’t have remote access to the database server, can’t go on site at
the client’s location in time to create the tables, and don’t want to chance
talking a local user through the process of creating the tables. The client has
already loaded data, so you can’t easily replace the complete database. This
is a situation made for using CREATE TABLE.
You can create a SQL batch file that contains the appropriate CREATE
TABLE statements. You can then attach this batch file to an email message
and send it to a local user. Include instructions for running the batch file in
the body of the email. The user runs the batch and updates the database, the
user can now run the application setup file to patch the application, you’re
a hero in your client’s eyes, and everyone is happy (until the next crisis).

SELF-CHECK
• List business environment requirements that can directly impact
your database design.
• Create a table that compares and contrasts advantages and disad-
vantages of using GUI-based utilities and SQL commands to create
database objects.
• Discuss why it is necessary to consider design influences as a
group, rather than individually.

5.2 Adjusting Your Design to the Real World

The design considerations discussed help you adjust your physical design to
meet real world requirements. Throughout this design process, you need to
match your data to the business requirements while ensuring data integrity and
meeting performance expectations.
 5.2.1 ENSURING DATA INTEGRITY 159

You need to ensure that data is accurate when it is entered and remains accu-
rate during updates and modifications. Two of the primary tools for ensuring
this have already been mentioned, primary keys and foreign keys. Another fac-
tor already mentioned is controlling nullability.
As fast as computers have become, their speeds are certainly not infinite and
the time it takes to find data stored on disks and bring it into primary memory
for processing is a crucial performance issue. Data storage, retrieval, and pro-
cessing speeds all matter. Regardless of how elegant an application and the data-
base structures it uses are, it must meet performance expectations to be a suc-
cess. Because of this, you may need to make changes to your table design that
go beyond converting entities and applying normalization rules.

5.2.1 Ensuring Data Integrity

Modern DBMSs are designed to help you ensure data integrity. Some of these
are considered to be part of the basic SQL features set while others are database
specific. To understand what you have available, however, you need a better
understanding of just what data integrity encompasses.
Data integrity requirements are typically broken down into key areas. These are:

▲ Domain integrity: ensures that the values entered into specified columns
are legal.
▲ Entity integrity: ensures that each row is uniquely identified.
▲ Referential integrity: ensures that references with other tables remain
valid.
▲ Policy integrity: ensures that values adhere to established business rules.

Domain, entity, and referential integrity issues are actually relatively straight-
forward. It’s a little more difficult to make universal statements about policy
integrity. Policy integrity requirements are business and business rule specific, as
are actions taken to ensure them.
Addressing Domain Integrity
The first step in ensuring domain integrity is specifying an appropriate data type
for each table column. This limits the type of data that you can store in the col-
umn and to some extent sets the data storage format. Data type also relates to
data volume assessment because it determines how much space is required for
storing column data.
You also control domain integrity through:

▲ Nullability: determines whether or not a column can contain null values.

You could use this, for example, to differentiate between a zero value and
a field that has never held a value.
160 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

▲ Check constraint: limits column values to a set list, to within a specified

range, or to match a specified format. This is used for simple limits. For
example, you might want to set maximum stocking levels for inventory
items. One way to do this is through check constraints.
▲ Unique constraint: requires that values in a column or set of columns
are unique. For example, you have an inventory table with each item’s
part number used as its primary key. You might also have a separate
manufacturer part number, which is also supposed to be a unique value.
You can use a unique constraint to enforce this requirement.
▲ Default constraint: A value entered into the column when no value is
provided. Suppose you are adding new items to the inventory file, but
you want don’t necessarily want the ordering system to order items auto-
matically. You can include an OrderPoint column and use the default
constraint to give it a default value of zero. That way, if you don’t enter a
value, 0 is entered for you.

You must specify a data type for each table column, though some DBMSs
allow for a default data type. You can apply nullability, check constraints, unique
constraints, and default constraints to any or all table columns as appropriate.

Addressing Entity Integrity

In most cases, entity integrity is the easiest part of ensuring database integrity.
Entity integrity is enforced through the primary key. Identifiers are specified dur-
ing initial entity and attribute design. When you convert entities to database
tables, the identifiers become the tables’ primary keys.
We’ve already discussed different entity integrity examples. One mentioned
was the inventory table, using the part number as the primary key to enforce
entity integrity. Each item has a unique part number and is identified by that
part number.
If an entity doesn’t naturally have a primary key, you need to create one arti-
ficially. This is usually done through an identity column. An identity column is
usually a numeric column, most often an integer value, generated automatically
during data entry. When you specify an identity column you specify the start-
ing value and an increment, usually a one-up count value. Some DBMSs also
support automatically generated globally unique identifiers (GUIDs). These are
values that are generated in such a way that even if created for different tables
or on different servers, each value is unique.

Addressing Referential Integrity

Referential integrity, also called relational integrity, maintains relationships between
tables. Most relationships are defined and maintained through a foreign key. The
foreign key is specified as one or more columns in the referencing table. It relates
 5.2.1 ENSURING DATA INTEGRITY 161

to one or more matching columns (with the same or compatible data types) in the
referenced table. The referenced column values must be unique, so the foreign key
must be related to the referenced table’s primary key or a unique constraint.
Think about customer orders. Each order contains one or more inventory items.
You would use referential integrity between the orders table(s) and the inventory
table to ensure valid part numbers, and through these, valid inventory items.
In some cases, the requirements for ensuring referential integrity go beyond
what can be accomplished through a foreign key constraint. In that situation, it
might be necessary to use a trigger to enforce integrity. A trigger is a specialized
type of executable procedure, in short, a program.

Adding Policy Integrity

It’s difficult to make any blanket statements about policy integrity because the
requirements will be business specific. Policy integrity requirements are defined
through business rules which will naturally vary, based on businesses’ specific
requirements. The way in which policy integrity is enforced depends on the busi-
ness rule.
In many cases, policy integrity is defined as an extension of other types of
data integrity. Others require more complicated programming logic. For example:

▲ You require that each customer order must identify the employee who
wrote up the order. You could enforce this through relational integrity,
relating orders to employees.
▲ You require a phone number for each customer. This can be enforced
through nullability requirements and by applying a check constraint.
▲ More than 8 hours worked in a day or 40 hours worked in a week must
be identified as overtime. You could use a simple check constraint to
limit the hours, but to calculate the overtime hours and store them sepa-
rately would require more. In this case, you would likely create a trigger
to perform the calculation and save the overtime hours appropriately.

Policy integrity is usually enforced through the DBMS whenever possible, as

long as it does not adversely impact performance to the point that it becomes
unacceptable. Policy integrity requirements, especially more complicated
requirements, can also be implemented through the database application. In
some cases, where the requirements are extensive, they are implemented through
a separate application server.

Introducing Triggers
Triggers run, or fire, in response to events. Events can be related to data or data
objects. For example, you can have triggers that fire when data is entered, updated,
or modified in a table, either through the actions of a GUI-based utility or a DML
162 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

FOR EXAMPLE
Security through Triggers
Your database includes several tables that contain sensitive information. A
small number of employees are allowed to view the information, but no
employees are authorized to directly modify the information. You’ve set
access limits, but you need to audit attempts to change the data in the tables.
This is a situation where you could use triggers as a security tool. You
would create DML triggers on each of the tables that execute when a user
attempts to modify or delete table data. You configure the trigger to run
instead of the triggering statement. You could then have the trigger write
information about the attempt to a separate audit table. You could include
not only that the action occurred, but also what the employee attempted to
do, when, and even which employee made the attempt.

statement. With a few DBMSs, including SQL Server 2005, you can also have trig-
gers that fire when database or database server objects are created or modified,
such as a trigger that fires any time you create a table; these are DDL triggers. As
you learned earlier, DDL statements are statements used to create and manage
server and database objects, such as tables, views, and even databases themselves.
However, most current DBMS products do not support DDL triggers.
Triggers are extremely flexible in what they can do. They can include nearly
any SQL language executable statement. They can be set up to run after the trig-
gering event, the statement that causes the trigger to fire. In the case of SQL
Server and some other DBMS products, you can have the trigger run in place of
the statement or statements in the triggering event. Triggers can be used to
enforce data integrity that cannot be enforced through normal constraints and
to set limits on what can be done to server and database objects. You can also
use triggers for security auditing, to block and track attempts to perform unau-
thorized actions.
You will typically limit trigger use to situations where you cannot enforce
your requirements with a constraint, such as a check or foreign key constraint.
That is because executing a trigger is more resource-intensive than enforcing a
constraint and has a bigger potential adverse affect on database performance.

5.2.2 Adjusting Factors Relating to Performance

Database performance can be adversely affected by a wide variety of factors.
Some factors are a result of application requirements. Normalization can some-
times be the source of your performance issues. Often, the most obvious culprit is
the need for joining. Joining is an elegant solution to the need for data integration,
 5.2.2 ADJUSTING FACTORS RELATING TO PERFORMANCE 163

but it can be unacceptably slow in many cases. Another common issue is the
need to calculate and retrieve the same totals of numeric data over and over
again. In a normalized database, you would normally calculate rather than store
these values to save space. Technically, you would consider these to be redun-
dant data. However, when performance becomes an issue, it might be better to
calculate the values once and then store them with the rest of the table data.
Also, the “correct” primary key and foreign keys values, from a logical design
standpoint, aren’t always the best choices for physical implementation.
Data volume is another issue. Data is the lifeblood of an information system,
but when there is a lot of it, care must be taken to store and retrieve it efficiently
to maintain acceptable performance. Certain factors involving the structure of
the data, such as the amount of direct access provided and the presence of
clumsy, multi-attribute primary keys, can affect performance. If related data in
different tables that has to be retrieved together is physically dispersed on the
disk, retrieval performance will be slower than if the data is stored physically
close together on the disk.
Finally, the business environment often presents significant performance chal-
lenges. We want data to be shared and to be widely used for the benefit of the
business. But a very large number of access operations to the same data can cause
a bottleneck that can ruin the performance of an application environment. Also,
giving people access to more data than they need to see can be a security risk.
We need to spend a little time looking at additional design changes that you
might make that relate directly to managing performance issues. At this point
we are not limiting ourselves to table design only. We’re also looking at how we
might organize the data stored in the table to make our database more efficient.

Combining Tables
Most of what you do during normalization relates to non-loss decomposition,
breaking entities down into smaller and smaller related tables. While good in
theory, this doesn’t always result in the most efficient design. Sometimes, it’s best
to combine some of your design’s individual tables into larger tables. In some
cases, you will keep both the normalized and combined tables in your database,
trading increased storage requirements for improved performance. Let’s start with
a look at the tables created for a fictional company, General Hardware. This is
shown in Figure 5-5.
Consider a one-to-one relationship between salespersons and offices. Typically,
you would use this entity definition to create two tables, but it could be created
as a single table as shown in Figure 5-6. After all, if a salesperson can have only
one office and an office can have only one salesperson assigned to it, there can
be nothing wrong with combining the two tables. Since a salesperson can have
only one office, a salesperson can be associated with only one office number, one
(office) telephone, and one (office) size. A like argument can be made from the
164 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

Figure 5-5

SALESPERSON

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year Office

Number Name Percentage of Hire Number

CUSTOMER

Customer Customer Salesperson

Number Name Number HQ City

CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE

Customer Employee Employee

Number Number Name Title

PRODUCT

Product Product
Number Name Unit Price

SALES

Salesperson Product
Number Number Quantity

OFFICE

Office
Number Telephone Size

General Hardware tables.

Figure 5-6

SALESPERSON/OFFICE

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year Office

Number Name Percentage of Hire Number Telephone Size

Combined SALESPERSON OFFICE table.

 5.2.2 ADJUSTING FACTORS RELATING TO PERFORMANCE 165

perspective of an office. Office data can still be accessed on a direct basis by sim-
ply creating an index on the Office Number attribute in the combined table.
The advantage is that if we ever have to retrieve detailed data about a sales-
person and his office in one query, it can now be done without joining. How-
ever, this is not a perfect solution and, in fact, has three definite negatives. First
is that the tables are no longer logically or physically independent. If we want
information just about offices, there is no longer an OFFICE table. The data is
still there, but we have to be aware that it is buried in the SALESPERSON/OFFICE
table. Second, retrievals of salesperson data alone or of office data alone could
be slower than before because the larger combined SALESPERSON/OFFICE
records would tend to spread the combined data over a larger area of the disk.
Third, the storage of data about unoccupied offices is problematic and may
require a reevaluation of which field should be the primary key. If you can jus-
tify combining the tables, it’s likely that you will also keep the original, separate
tables as well, in this situation.
Another way of adjusting data is to find alternatives for repeating groups.
Suppose we change the business environment so that every salesperson has
exactly two customers, identified respectively as their “large” customer and their
“small” customer, based on annual purchases. This would result in repeating
groups of customer attributes, with one “group” of attributes (Customer Num-
ber, Customer Name, etc.) for each customer. The attributes are so well con-
trolled they can be folded into the SALESPERSON table. What makes them so
well controlled is that there are exactly two for each salesperson and they can
even be distinguished from each other as “large” and “small.” This arrangement
is shown in Figure 5-7. With this structure, the foreign key attribute of Sales-
person Number from the CUSTOMER table is no longer needed.
This arrangement avoids joins when salesperson and customer data must
be retrieved together. However, retrievals of salesperson data alone or of cus-
tomer data alone could be slower than before because the longer combined
SALESPERSON/CUSTOMER records spread the combined data over a larger area
of the disk. Retrieving customer data alone is also now more difficult. As with
the last example, even if you can justify this combined table, it’s likely you would
also keep the two separate tables as is.

Figure 5-7

SALESPERSON/CUSTOMERS

Large Large Large Small Small Small

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year Office Customer Customer Customer Customer Customer Customer
Number Name Percentage of Hire Number Number Name HQ City Number Name HQ City

Combined SALESPERSON/CUSTOMER table.

166 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

Figure 5-8

CUSTOMER

Customer Customer Salesperson Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of

Number Name Number HQ City Number Name Percentage Hire

Denormalized CUSTOMER table.

Both of these are examples of denormalization. To optimize data retrieval

performance, it may be necessary to take pairs of related, third normal form
tables and to combine them, introducing possibly massive data redundancy. If
all else has been done to improve performance and response times and
throughput are still unsatisfactory for the business environment, eliminating
run-time joining by recombining tables may mean the difference between suc-
cess and failure. If designers go this route, they must put procedures in place
to manage the redundant data as updates are made to the data over time.
Figure 5-8 shows the denormalized CUSTOMER table containing data from
the SALESPERSON table. When combining tables in this manner, the surviving
table in the one-to-many relationship will always be the table on the “many side”
of the relationship. That’s because you can attach one set of salesperson data to
a customer record, but you cannot attach many sets of customer data to a sin-
gle salesperson record without creating an even worse mess.
Figure 5-9 shows the denormalized data as stored in the combined table.
Since a salesperson can have several customers, each salesperson’s data will be
repeated for each customer for which he is responsible. In this sample data, the

Figure 5-9

CUSTOMER

Customer Customer Salesperson Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year of

Number Name Number HQ City Number Name Percentage Hire
0121 Main St. 137 New York 137 Baker 10 1995
Hardware
0839 Jane's Stores 186 Chicago 186 Adams 15 2001
0933 ABC Home 137 Los Angeles 137 Baker 10 1995
Stores
1047 Acme 137 Los Angeles 137 Baker 10 1995
Hardware
Store
1525 Fred's Tool 361 Atlanta 361 Carlyle 20 2001
Stores
1826 City Hardware 137 New York 137 Baker 10 1995

Denormalized salesperson and customer data.

 5.2.2 ADJUSTING FACTORS RELATING TO PERFORMANCE 167

table shows that salesperson number 137’s name is Baker four times, his com-
mission percentage is 10 four times, and his year of hire was 1995 four times.
The added storage requirement would normally be avoided unless it can be jus-
tified by the performance improvement.

Adjusting Table Attributes

You may find it necessary to make changes to your initial set of entity attributes
and table columns. For instance, as mentioned before, sometimes a table simply
does not have a single, unique attribute that can serve as its primary key. A two-
attribute primary key might be okay, but there are circumstances in which the
primary key of a table might consist of two, three, or more attributes, with the
combination leading to unacceptable performance. For one thing, having to use
the multi-attribute key as a foreign key in the other tables could be unaccept-
ably complex.
The solution is similar to what you would do if there were no columns
that could be used at the primary key. You can invent a new primary key for
the table that consists of a single, new attribute. The new attribute will be a
unique, serial number attribute, with an arbitrary unique value assigned to
each record of the table. An identity column, like that discussed in the earlier
example, is once again an appropriate solution. This new attribute will then
also be used as the foreign key in the other tables in which such a foreign key
is required.
In most cases, this new attribute will be in addition to the multiple values
rather than a replacement for them. The values likely contain valid, perhaps crit-
ical, business information and therefore cannot be removed from the table.
Instead, you simply choose not to use them as your primary key columns.
The CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE table in Figure 5-5 has a two-column primary
key, a composite key, based on Customer Number and Employee Number (the
customer employee number). You could create a new attribute, Customer
Employee Number, which will be its own set of employee numbers for these
people that will be unique across all of the customer companies. This is shown
in Figure 5-10. If the Customer Number, Employee Number combination had
been placed in other tables in the database as a foreign key, the two-attribute
combination would need to be replaced by this new, single attribute.
Figure 5-10

CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE

Customer
Employee Customer Employee Employee
Number Name Number Name Title

Restructured CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE table.

168 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

Customer Number is still necessary as a foreign key because it links back to

the CUSTOMER table and detailed customer information. The original Employee
Number attribute may still be required because that is still that company’s inter-
nal identifier for the employee.
Some queries require that calculations be performed on the data in the data-
base, returning the calculated result. If these same values have to be calculated
over and over again, then it might make sense to calculate them once and store
them in the database. If the raw data is updated, calculated values must be
updated as well or the accuracy and integrity of the database will be compro-
mised. This is another situation where you would use a trigger to perform the
updates automatically.
To illustrate this point, let’s add an attribute to General Hardware’s CUS-
TOMER table. This attribute, called Annual Purchases in Figure 5-11, is the
amount of merchandise, in dollars, that a customer purchases from General Hard-
ware in a year. There is a one-to-many relationship from salespersons to cus-
tomers, with each salesperson being responsible for several customers. Each sales-
person’s sales total for the year is the total of all of the sales for all of that
salesperson’s customers.
Suppose you need to retrieve this information quickly. This sum could be
recalculated each time it is requested for a particular salesperson, but the time
required to perform the calculations might make this solution inappropriate. The
other choice is to calculate the sum for each salesperson and store it in the data-
base, updating the value as the data on which it is based is updated.
Now you have to decide where to store the sum of annual purchase
amounts for each salesperson. Since the annual purchases figures are in the
CUSTOMER table, your first instinct might be to store the sums there, but you
have to decide where. You can’t store them in individual customer records
because each sum involves several customers. You could insert special “sum
records” in the CUSTOMER table, but they wouldn’t have the same attributes
as the customer records themselves and that would be very troublesome. The
answer is to store them in the SALESPERSON table because there is one sum
for each salesperson. The way to do it is to add an additional attribute, the
Total Annual Customer Purchases attribute, to the SALESPERSON table, also
shown in Figure 5-11.

Splitting Tables
It shouldn’t surprise you that the larger the table, the greater the resources
required to sort and retrieve the data. The bigger the table, the bigger the poten-
tial performance hit when applications must reference that table. One way to
reduce the resources requirement is to split the table. There are two basic options
for this, horizontal partitioning and vertical partitioning. Horizontal partitioning
is partitioning by rows, storing different rows in different tables. Vertical
 5.2.2 ADJUSTING FACTORS RELATING TO PERFORMANCE 169

Figure 5-11

SALESPERSON

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Year Office Total Annual

Number Name Percentage of Hire Number Customer Purchases

CUSTOMER

Customer Customer Salesperson Annual

Number Name Number HQ City Purchases

Modified CUSTOMER and SALESPERSON tables.

partitioning is partitioning by column, storing different columns in different

tables. The tables can be stored in different tables on the same database with the
best performance improvement coming when the tables are stored on different
physical hard disks. You can also store the data in different tables on different
servers in a distributed processing environment.
In horizontal partitioning, the rows of a table are divided into groups, writ-
ten to different tables, and stored on different areas of a disk or (usually) on
different disks. This may be done for several reasons. The obvious one is to
improve data retrieval performance when, for example, one group of records

FOR EXAMPLE
Splitting Tables
Consider a situation where a company has offices in different geographic loca-
tions. Each location keeps an inventory specific to its warehouse’s needs. You
keep a master inventory list on a database server in the home office in San
Diego, California. You also have a database server at each of the warehouse
locations. At the warehouses, you want to minimize data storage require-
ments and optimize performance when performing inventory lookups.
This is a situation where you would split a table across multiple loca-
tions. The database server would store only those records appropriate to that
warehouse, keeping the size of the INVENTORY table to a minimum. Reduc-
ing the table size also helps improve performance when retrieving data. You
can have the database servers in each of the warehouses send updates to the
server in San Diego to keep the master inventory file up-to-date.
170 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

is accessed much more frequently than the rest of the records in the table.
Another is to manage the different groups of records separately for security or
backup and recovery purposes. For example, you might need to access the
records for sales managers in the CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE table more fre-
quently than the records of other customer employees. Separating out the more
frequently accessed group of records means that they can be stored near each
other on the disk, which will speed up their retrieval. The records can also be
stored on an otherwise infrequently used disk, so that the applications that use
them don’t have to compete with other applications that need data on the same
disk. The downside of horizontal partitioning is that a search of the entire table
or the retrieval of records from more than one partition can be more complex
and slower.
In vertical partitioning a table is subdivided by columns, producing the same
advantages as horizontal partitioning. In this case, the separate groups, each
made up of different columns of a table, are created because different users or
applications require different columns. For example, it might be beneficial to
split up the columns of the SALESPERSON table so that the Salesperson Name
and Year of Hire columns are stored separately from the others. But note that in
creating these vertical partitions, each partition must have a copy of the primary
key, Salesperson Number in this example. In all but one of the tables it is also
used as the foreign key, relating all of the vertically partitioned tables as a set. The
major disadvantage is one you’ve already seen. A query that involves the retrieval
of complete records, that is, data that is in more than one vertical partition,
requires that the vertical partitions be joined to reunite the different parts of the
original records.
In some situations, vertical partitioning may be physically required by the
DBMS. For example, when using SQL Server a table’s row size is limited to
approximately 8 KB. This is a physical limit that cannot be exceeded. If you have
too many attributes, or the attributes are too large to fit in a single physical row,
you must vertically partition the table into multiple tables.

SELF-CHECK
• List and describe key data integrity requirements.
• Explain how entity integrity can be enforced if an entity does not
have a uniquely-valued attribute.
• Describe changes you might make to table design to optimize
performance.
 5.3.1 IMPLEMENTING YOUR FINAL TABLE DESIGN 171

5.3 Implementing Database Objects

Physically implementing the database objects is one of the major milestones in
solution deployment that you’ve been working toward. First you create the data-
base, and then you create the database objects you need to support the solution.
The three most basic database objects in any database design are tables, indexes,
and views, so that is where we’ll focus our attention.
As part of this discussion, we will introduce three SQL language DDL com-
mands: CREATE TABLE, CREATE INDEX, and CREATE VIEW. Each of these
commands supports a large number of options and command parameters, but
we’re going to limit ourselves to using the commands in their most basic forms
as a way of starting the implementation process.

5.3.1 Implementing Your Final Table Design

We’ve picked apart the concept of table design as much as we can for now. Sooner
or later you get to the point where you have to put up or shut up. In other words,
you have to prove your design by putting it into use.
You create your database tables based on your conversions from the E-R
models and any additional physical design changes you’ve made. Each table
must have a unique name, usually something easily recognizable and easy to
remember. Attributes become table columns. Each column must also have a
name. Columns names must be unique in the context of the table: each table
column must have a unique name, but you can reuse the same column name
in different tables.
You must also specify the data type for each column. Once again, you have
to make physical design decisions. The data type must be appropriate to the data
the column will contain. You will usually want to choose a data type that min-
imizes storage requirements. For example, you will usually have multiple choices
for storing integer data. The differences between the choices are the maximum
value that you can store and the storage space required. The larger the maxi-
mum value, the more space you need.
Some data types can be fixed or variable length. Fixed length data types
always require the same amount of storage space. For character data, they use
one byte per character for ASCII data types and two bytes per character for Uni-
code data types, whether or not all of the characters are used or even if there is
any data at all in the column. ASCII, the American Standard Code for Infor-
mation Interchange, is an encoding standard for encoding English language
characters and control characters. Unicode is a universal writing system encod-
ing system capable of encoding any written language. With variable-length data
types you set the maximum column size, but the space used is based on the
actual data stored in the columns.
172 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

Data type selections can also impact performance and flexibility. DMBSs can
store, retrieve, and manipulate some data types more quickly than others. What
you can do with data, including the types of calculations in which the data can
be used, also varies by data type.
Data types fall into general categories, with most DBMSs supporting the same
basic categories. Typically, these will include:

▲ Numeric: For storage of integer, floating point, and scientific format

numeric data.
▲ Binary: Fixed or variable-length flexible storage that can store a raw
binary image, even files such as photos or executable program.
▲ String: Fixed or variable-length character storage.
▲ Date/Time: Stores date and time values, usually with various levels of
accuracy supported.
▲ Large object (LOB): Used to store large blocks of text or binary data,
with “large” as a relative term defined by the DBMS.
▲ Other: Specialized storage for data such as globally unique identifiers
(GUIDs), XML data, or generic storage that can accept nearly any kind of
data without having to predefine the data.

In addition to defining the data columns, you can also define table con-
straints. Depending on the DBMS, these can include primary key, foreign key,
check, unique, and default constraints. You can specify them when you create
the table or, in most cases, add them later.
The basic CREATE TABLE syntax requires you to specify the table name and
column list, along with the data type for each column. For example, to create
the General Hardware Company CUSTOMER table, you could use the following
command:
CREATE TABLE CUSTOMER
(CustomerNumber as int,
CustomerName as nvarchar(40),
SalespersonNumber as int,
HQCity as nvarchar(40))
This is similar to the statement example you saw earlier in this chapter. This
statement creates the table CUSTOMER with the following four columns:

▲ CustomerNumber that stores integer data.

▲ CustomerName that stores up to 40 Unicode characters.
▲ SalespersonNumber that stores integer data.
▲ HQCity that stores up to 40 Unicode characters.
 5.3.2 IMPLEMENTING INDEXES 173

You need to specify additional command parameters if you want to also

define the primary key and any foreign keys when you create the table.

5.3.2 Implementing Indexes

If the name of the game is performance and since today’s business environ-
ment is addicted to finding data on a direct access basis, then the use of
indexes in relational databases is a natural. There are two questions to con-
sider.
The first question is which attributes or combinations of attributes should
you consider indexing in order to have the greatest positive impact on the appli-
cation environment? There are two categories of qualifying columns. One cate-
gory is columns that are likely to be prominent in direct searches. These include
primary keys and search attributes. Search attributes are values you will use to
retrieve particular records. This is true especially when the attribute and result-
ing table column can take on many different values, referred to as having high
selectivity. It really isn’t beneficial to build an index on an attribute that has
only a small number of possible values, one with low selectivity, because of the
limited benefit derived from the index. The other category is table columns likely
to be used in operations such as joining that will require direct searches inter-
nally. Such operations also include queries in which data is grouped or sorted
by particular values.
The second question is, what potential problems can be caused by building
too many indexes? The primary issue here is the volatility of the data. Indexes
are wonderful for direct searches, but when the data in a table is updated, the
system must take the time to update the table’s indexes, too. It will do this auto-
matically, but it takes time. If several indexes must be updated, this multiplies
the time it takes to update the table several times over, which slows down the
operations that are just trying to read the data for query applications, degrading
query response time down to an unacceptable level.
One final point about building indexes is that if the data volume, the num-
ber of records in a table, is very small, there is usually no point in building any
indexes. If the table is small enough, it is more efficient to just read the whole
table into main memory and search by scanning it. However, some DBMSs will
always create an index automatically on the primary key, no matter what the
table size. SQL Server falls in this category.
Figure 5-12 shows the General Hardware Company relational database with
some added indexes. We start by building indexes, marked indexes A–F, on the
primary key attribute(s) of each table. Consider the SALESPERSON and CUS-
TOMER tables. If queries that join the SALESPERSON and CUSTOMER tables
are needed, the Salesperson Number attribute of the CUSTOMER table would
be a good choice for an index (index G). Because Salesperson Number is the
174 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

Figure 5-12

Salesperson Salesperson Commission Office

A Number Name Percentage Year of Hire Number

SALESPERSON

Customer Customer Salesperson

B Number Name Number HQ City

CUSTOMER

Customer Employee Employee

C Number Number Name Title

CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE

Product Product
D Number Name Unit Price

PRODUCT

Salesperson Product
E Number Number Quantity

SALES

Office
F Number Telephone Size

OFFICE

General Hardware Company tables and indexes.

 5.3.3 IMPLEMENTING VIEWS 175

foreign key, it connects those two tables in the join. If we need to frequently
find salesperson records on a direct basis by Salesperson Name, then we would
want an index with that as a key column (index H).
Consider the SALES table. If we have an important, frequently run applica-
tion that has to find the total sales for all or a range of the products, then the
query would run more efficiently if the Product Number attribute was indexed
(as index I, in this example).
The SQL language statement for creating an index is the CREATE INDEX
command. In its most basic format you specify the table on which the index is
based and the index key columns, the columns used to organize the data.
Columns are applied in the order in which they are listed. An index is created
as nonclustered by default, which means that it does not affect the table’s phys-
ical storage order. You can include the keyword CLUSTERED when you to cre-
ate the index if you want the table physically sorted in index order. Because of
the impact on the table sort order, a table can obviously have only one clustered
index.
Suppose you want to create an index on the CUSTOMER table. You might
use the following statement:
CREATE INDEX ix_CUSTOMER_NAME
ON CUSTOMER (Customer Name)

This creates an index on the CUSTOMER table using Customer Name as the
only key column. This might be used, for example, to optimize an application
that prints customer lists.

5.3.3 Implementing Views

A view is a way of enforcing logical controls over physical data. When based on
a single table, you can limit the view to allowing access to a subset of the table’s
columns, a subset of the table’s rows, or a combination of the two. You can also
create a view based on two or more tables or, with most DMBSs and in most
situations, a combination of views and tables. No data is physically duplicated
when a standard view is created.
Suppose you want to limit most users’ access to the SALESPERSON table.
You could create a view that includes the Salesperson Number, Salesperson
Name, and Office columns only. Users with access to this view, but not the table,
would be limited to seeing these three columns. In fact, the users would have
no way of knowing that other columns even existed.
A view is often created as a means for protecting the security and privacy of
data. Using views to limit the access of individuals to only the parts of a table
that they really need to do their work is an important means of protecting the
company’s data. Views become even more powerful when used together with
access permission sets.
176 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

FOR EXAMPLE
Choosing the Correct Index Keys
You have a table with a two-column identifier, PartNumber and Salesper-
sonNumber. You want to create a clustered index to optimize data retrieval,
but you need to know which column you should list first when you create
the index. What should you do?
The first column listed has the most effect on how the data is physically
sorted. Before you can make your decision, you need to know one thing:
When data is retrieved from the table, in what order is the data usually
needed? If you usually need the data in PartNumber order, that’s your first
column. If you need it in SalespersonNumber order, then that’s your choice.
If the data retrieval requirements are too evenly split to tell for sure, then
choose based on selectivity. If it’s still too close to call, the choice comes
down to your personal preference. If the order doesn’t matter, then you
should probably create a nonclustered index instead of a clustered index.

The SQL command to create a view is the CREATE VIEW command. In

its simplest form you specify the view name, base object or objects, and columns
to include in the view. The view content is defined through a query based on a
SELECT statement. For example, to create the view we just described, you could
use the following statement:
CREATE VIEW v_LIMIT_SALESPERSON AS
SELECT [Salesperson Number],
[Salesperson Name], Office
FROM SALESPERSON

As you can see in the SELECT statement column list, the column names
immediately following the SELECT statement, the query returns the three
columns specified as making up the view. Salesperson Number and Salesperson
Name are enclosed in square brackets so that the command will recognize and
process the names correctly. This is needed because the names include embed-
ded spaces. Whenever a user accesses data through this view, the SELECT state-
ment executes and the specified columns are returned.
To improve performance when accessing data through a view, SQL Server
supports a type of view called an indexed view that persists the view data. In
other words, it stores the result of the SELECT query on disk for faster retrieval.
There is no reason to run the query unless the underlying table data changes.
SQL Server places several restrictions on the creation and use of indexed views,
so they cannot be used in all situations. Also, as we have already seen, there are
usually trade-offs when addressing a design issue like access performance. In this
 KEY TERMS 177

case, the improved performance comes at the cost of the additional disk storage
needed to keep the query result.

SELF-CHECK
• Describe the basic information needed to create a table.
• Describe the basic information needed to create an index.
• Describe the basic information needed to create a view.

SUMMARY
This chapter takes a close look at some final physical design issues and the basic
implementation process. It introduced additional design requirements. You were
also introduced to the types of utilities available for object creation. You learned
about data integrity and performance optimization needs. You also saw how to
create basic tables, indexes, and views.

KEY TERMS

Application data requirements Globally unique identifier (GUID)

ASCII Horizontal partitioning
Batch Nullability
Check constraint Policy integrity
Constraint Referential integrity
CREATE INDEX command Response time
CREATE TABLE command Scaling out
CREATE VIEW command Scaling up
Data type Search attribute
Data volatility Selectivity
Data volume assessment Throughput
Default constraint Trigger
Denormalization Unique constraint
Domain integrity Unicode
Entity integrity Vertical partitioning
Fully qualified object name Virtual desktop
178 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

ASSESS YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to evaluate your knowledge of database
implementation.
Measure your learning by comparing pre-test and post-test results.

Summary Questions
1. Data volatility refers to which of the following?
(a) how often data changes
(b) the size of data rows
(c) the number of rows in a table
(d) the number of constraints placed on a table
2. Which of the following can be used to determine relative application
priority?
(a) requirements to support primary processes
(b) impact on company profits
(c) cost savings provided
(d) all of the above
3. Which of the following is an advantage of using SQL language commands
to create database objects?
(a) The commands are easier to use than graphic utilities.
(b) The commands must run locally at the server.
(c) Commands can run as part of a SQL batch file.
(d) Commands prompt you for options and replaceable parameters.
4. Your database server hardware platform in not a factor in database
physical design. True or False?
5. When storing numeric data, a null value is the same as a zero. True or false?
6. Domain integrity ensures which of the following?
(a) that business rules are implemented
(b) that each row is uniquely defined
(c) that values entered into columns are legal
(d) that users are members of a Windows domain
7. Which of the following is used to enforce entity integrity?
(a) foreign key constraint
(b) check constraint
(c) default constraint
(d) primary key constraint
 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 179

8. Which of the following statements best describes a trigger?

(a) A trigger is the same as a check constraint.
(b) A trigger is a program that runs in response to an event.
(c) A trigger can be used to override DML statements only.
(d) A trigger is the most efficient way to enforce nullability.
9. Foreign keys are used to enforce referential integrity. True or False?
10. You would combine tables to minimize the adverse impact of which of
the following?
(a) storing very large tables
(b) queries that join tables
(c) domain constraint requirements
(d) table row size
11. You can use an identity column as a table’s primary key when none of
the table columns contain unique values. True or False?
12. In which situation would you use vertical partitioning to split a table?
(a) table row length is excessively long
(b) the table contains an excessively large number of rows
(c) none of the table columns contain unique values
(d) all of the table columns contain unique values
(e) both a. and b
13. In which situation would you use horizontal partitioning to split a table?
(a) table row length is excessively long
(b) the table contains an excessively large number of rows
(c) a subset of tables rows are needed more often than the remaining
rows
(d) all of the table columns contain unique values
(e) both b. and c
14. Which of the following should you use to limit column values to a set list?
(a) unique constraint
(b) default constraint
(c) check constraint
(d) trigger
15. Executing a trigger requires more resources than enforcing a constraint.
True or False?
16. Which data type category is best suited to storing an employee’s name?
(a) large object
(b) binary
180 IMPLEMENTING A DATABASE

(c) string
(d) numeric
17. Unicode data is stored as one byte per character. True or False?
18. SQL Server automatically creates an index based on which of the following?
(a) primary key constraint
(b) foreign key constraint
(c) check constraint
(d) default constraint
19. Selectivity refers to the number of unique values present in a column.
True or False?
20. In which situation should you create a view?
(a) You want to vertically partition a table.
(b) You want to limit user access to table columns.
(c) You want to audit attempts made to modify table data.
(d) You want to physically combine tables.

Applying This Chapter

1. You are designing a database solution for an established retail sales company.
The core goal is to complete point of sale transactions accurately and as
quickly as possible. The solution will include four applications:
▲ An application responsible for posting and managing customer orders.
▲ An inventory control application.
▲ An accounting application.
▲ A reporting application.
You have completed your logical design and converted the entities to
tables. You are trying to determine additional design changes that you
must make. How can you determine which data is the most volatile?
Which application has the highest relative priority and why? What types
of operational requirements would relate to minimizing down time?
2. You are deploying a distributed database application with database
servers in several regions. Connectivity methods and available bandwidth
vary by region. How can you determine whether or not GUI-based utili-
ties can be used for remote management? How can you have employees
that do not have a DMBS background or experience make changes to
database objects with minimal risk of errors? What guidelines should you
use for splitting data tables by region? How should you limit local users’
access to data to a subset of available table rows and columns?
 APPLYING THIS CHAPTER 181

Figure 5-13

MANUFACTURER

Manufacturer Manufacturer Sales Rep Sales Rep

Name Country Name Telephone

CAR

Car Serial Manufacturer

Number Model Year Class Name

MAINTENANCE

Repair Car Serial Repair

Number Number Date Procedure Mileage Time

CUSTOMER

Customer Customer Customer Customer

Number Name Address Telephone

RENTAL

Car Serial Customer Rental Return Total

Number Number Date Date Cost

Lucky Rent-a-Car database tables.

3. You are preparing to deploy the database tables shown in Figure 5-13.
This is the logical design for the Lucky Rent-a-Car company’s database.
How can you ensure that a legal value is used for the Manufacturer
Name in the CAR table? How can you have Customer Number gener-
ated automatically as a one-up count of customers in the CUSTOMER
table with minimal resource requirements? In the MANUFACTURER
table, how can you ensure that Sales Rep Telephone is formatted
properly?
YOU TRY IT

Good Reading Bookstores Figure 5-14

You are preparing to implement a database to support
Good Reading Bookstores. The current logical table PUBLISHER
design in shown in Figure 5-14.
Publisher Year
1. For which tables and columns should you store
Name City Country Telephone Founded
data as date/time type data?
2. Customer numbers are a 5-digit alphanumeric
string, two letters and three numbers. How can
AUTHOR
you enforce this?
3. You want to minimize disk space requirements. Author Author Year Year
Which columns in the CUSTOMER table should Number Name Born Died
be fixed length string types and which should
be variable length string types? Explain your
answers.
BOOK
4. How can you determine whether character data
should be stored as ASCII or Unicode? Book Book Publication Publisher
5. How can you determine whether or not a trigger Number Name Year Pages Name
should be used to enforce data integrity?

Implementation Requirements CUSTOMER

You are designing a database to support a Customer
Service company. You have already designed part of Customer Customer
the table requirements and have some idea of data Number Name Street City State Country
storage needs. The EMPLOYEE table will have approx-
imately 200 rows. Managers are identified through a
one-to-many unary relationship. The CUSTOMER table WRITING
will have approximately 2000 rows initially but could
grow to over a million rows. There is no set relationship Book Author
between customers and employees. Any employee can Number Number
take an initial call from any customer.
The CALL COMMENT table will need to track the
customer, employee, date and time of the call, and a SALE
written summary. You include Customer Number and
Employee Number as foreign key constraints referenc- Book Customer
ing CUSTOMER and EMPLOYEE. You must be able to Number Number Date Price Quantity
call up these summaries by employee and customer as
quickly as possible. You want to provide as much
space as possible for the summary. Good Reading Bookstores tables.

182
 YOU TRY IT 183

The CALL CONTACT table will be used with a 4. You may need to split the CALL CONTACT and
screen form that has the employee collect initial infor- ONLINE CONTACT tables if they become too
mation about the customer and purpose of the call. large (contain too many rows). What should you
The ONLINE CONTACT table will store a complete use to filter the rows? Justify your answer.
transcript of customers who contact the service cen- 5. At minimum, what information in the ONLINE
ter through an Internet chat program. Both CALL CONTACT table would be needed to enforce en-
CONTACT and ONLINE CONTACT must give you a tity integrity? How can you minimize the space
way of identifying the customer, time and date of the needed to relate other tables to the ONLINE
contact, the employee, the general call category, and CONTACT table?
whether or not the problem was resolved. 6. You want to restrict each manager to seeing in-
formation relating to employees he or she man-
1. How can you avoid the need to store detailed
ages in the ONLINE CONTACT, CALL CONTACT,
information about a customer in the CALL
and CALL COMMENT tables. How can you en-
CONTACT and ONLINE CONTACT tables?
force this, considering the volatility of the infor-
2. Chat sessions can sometimes run on for an hour mation? What could you add to these tables to
or more. What category of data type should you optimize the data retrieval?
use to store the transcript and why?
3. What can you do to optimize performance when
looking up entries in the CALL COMMENT table?
 6
UNDERSTANDING THE SQL
LANGUAGE

Starting Point
Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of the SQL
language.
Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

▲ Basic SQL features and functionality
▲ SELECT statement fundamentals
▲ Operators and functions
▲ DDL and DML statements

After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To

▲ Execute SQL statements in query mode
▲ Use embedded SQL statements
▲ Recognize required and optional keywords and parameters in SQL
command syntax
▲ Use SELECT to retrieve data from database tables
▲ Use SELECT to evaluate expressions and execute functions
▲ Identify the proper use of arithmetic, comparison, and logical operators
▲ Use operators in command search conditions
▲ Identify selected functions in the standard SQL-99 function set
▲ Identify the need for function variations and accepted function categories
▲ Use aggregate functions to calculate requested values
▲ Recognize and use DDL and DML statements
 6.1.1 UNDERSTANDING SQL FEATURES 185

INTRODUCTION
Most modern database management systems are based on the SQL language stan-
dard. You’ll find, however, that most are based somewhat loosely on that stan-
dard, choosing instead to employ their own variations and additions to the SQL
language. There is also some confusion as to what is considered part of the SQL
language and what has been added as part of manufacturers’ DBMS products.
In this chapter, you’ll get a formal introduction to the SQL language stan-
dard and to the types of variations that have been added by different DBMSs.
You will learn about basic language components through simple command exam-
ples. The chapter introduces representative DDL and DML command statements
through the standard command syntax and gives some insight into how some
DBMS providers have modified these statements to meet their particular needs
and design visions.

6.1 Introducing the SQL Language

There are two aspects of data management: data definition and data manipula-
tion. Data definition requires a data definition language (DDL) that instructs
the DBMS software as to what tables will be in the database, what attributes will
be in the tables, which attributes will be indexed, and so forth. Data manipula-
tion refers to the four basic operations performed on data stored in any DBMS:
data retrieval, data update, insertion of new records, and deletion of existing
records. Data manipulation requires a special language with which users can
communicate data manipulation commands to the DBMS. As a class, these com-
mands are known as data manipulation language (DML). Data retrieval state-
ments are sometimes placed in a different category, separate from DML, as data
query language (DQL) statements. For the purposes of this chapter, retrieval
statements are treated as part of the DML set.
The current relational database management system language, Structured
Query Language (SQL), was developed in the early 1980s and incorporates both
DDL and DML features. SQL has been declared a standard by the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) and by the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO), with several standard versions issued since its initial
development. Many manufacturers have produced versions of SQL, most quite
similar, including mainstream DBMSs such as DB2, Oracle, MySQL, Informix,
and Microsoft SQL Server.

6.1.1 Understanding SQL Features

The SQL standard defines the features supported by “standard” SQL implemen-
tations. Most vendor implementations, however, go beyond the SQL standard.
186 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

They offer the standard features and support most, if not all, of the standard
command set, but provide their own extension to the language, giving them
added functionality. These extensions usually take the form of additional com-
mands or additional command options. There are also differences in how fea-
tures that are not fully defined in the SQL standard are implemented.
For example, the SQL standard defines basic database objects such as tables,
views, and indexes. It does not define how these features are physically imple-
mented. Microsoft SQL Server stores database objects in one or more database
files, with each file containing one or more database objects. MySQL, on the
other hand, creates separate files for database objects. Each table in MySQL can
be effectively thought of stored as its own operating system file.
Basic features of SQL can be described as falling within the following categories:

▲ Data definition language (DDL): statements used to create and maintain

database objects.
▲ Data manipulation language (DML): statements used to retrieve and
manipulate data.
▲ Command operators: operator symbols and keywords used to run arith-
metic, comparison, and logical operations.
▲ Functions: special executables that return values.
▲ Transaction control: include statements used to initiate and complete or
abort transaction processing.

What this means is that some things that you might have considered part of
SQL because they are common to relational database systems are not. Instead
they are features and command extensions implemented first by one DBMS
provider and sometimes copied by others. For example, the SQL language spec-
ifies nothing about scheduled command execution, but this is a feature sup-
ported by Microsoft SQL Server and many others. The SQL language defines
procedures, which are compiled sets of executable statements, in the context of
the statements used to create and modify them. It does not include any specific
management procedures to be included with a DBMS, but most do support a
wide array of predefined management procedures that install with the database
server and are treated as part of the vendor’s language set.

6.1.2 Using SQL

There are two basic options for executing SQL commands: interactive SQL and
embedded SQL. Interactive SQL, also known as dynamic SQL, refers to state-
ments that you run directly, interacting with the database server. Embedded SQL
refers to functionality that is embedded in a procedure or part of an application
written in a different programming language.
 6.1.2 USING SQL 187

Query mode execution, which is used to refer to interactive execution, and

embedded SQL, are both supported by all current DBMS products. Where
DBMSs differ is in how they support them and what tools they provide. There
is also, many times, a difference in what is called the language set included with
the DBMS. For example, when you run statements in SQL Server, you’re run-
ning Transact-SQL (or TSQL) statements. Many of these support command
options not supported by standard SQL. Also, a small number of commands
defined in standard SQL are not included as part of the Transact-SQL language.

Interactive SQL
All DBMSs provide some sort of command interface or command prompt for
running SQL commands interactively. Microsoft SQL Server, for example, sup-
ports two basic options. It provides a character-based command prompt where
statements can be typed in one at a time. Statements can be executed individu-
ally or as a set of executable statements known as a batch. You can also load
and run scripts, groups of SQL Server commands stored as a file. Microsoft has
released various versions of its command interface over the years, retaining older
versions to provide backward compatibility as new ones are released. The pre-
ferred command interface for SQL Server 2005, sqlcmd, is shown in Figure 6-1.
One of the biggest problems with a character-based interface is that it can
be confusing and difficult to use. Sqlcmd, for example, supports a large num-
ber of startup options to let you configure the command environment. The
options let you log in to a specific server, choose a working database, specify
a script file to load and run automatically, and set options such as communication

Figure 6-1

c SQLCMD B
Microsoft l/indows XP [Uersion 5.1.2600]
<C> Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
D:\Docunents and Sett ings\FMiller>sqlcnd -S "webpro" -E
1> use aduentureworks
2> go
Changed database context to 'AdventureWorks'.
1> select lastnane from person.contact where contact id <5
2> go
lastnane
Achong
Abel
Abercrombie
Acevedo
<4 rows affected)
1>

D
Sqlcmd command interface.
188 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

time-out values and network packet sizes for network communication. You can
set default options for how data returned by queries is displayed. Set wrong,
they can impair your performance and even keep you from doing what you
need to do.
Using a character-based interface also requires either a thorough under-
standing of SQL language commands or a readily available reference. The inter-
face is unforgiving and the error messages returned by most DBMSs are usually
brief and not always helpful. Editing command strings in the interface can be
difficult and even small typographic errors could lead to major problems.
The biggest advantage of using a character-based interface is that it provides
a way of executing SQL language commands through operating system batch
files. This can be significant with a DBMS that does not internally supported
scheduled command executions. In that case, you can still run periodic activi-
ties, such as data backups, through command scheduling supported by the oper-
ating system.
SQL Server, as well as many other popular DBMS options, also provides a
windowed command environment using a graphic user interface (GUI). In the
case of SQL Server, it is included as part of SQL Server Management Studio,
shown in Figure 6-2. The interface has menu-driven option support, making it
somewhat easy to manage the command environment. You also have windowed

Figure 6-2

SQL Server Management Studio.

 6.1.2 USING SQL 189

help available with access to database and database object structures, and easy
access to documentation. You can check commands for syntax errors before run-
ning them and easily edit your commands using a tool called Query Analyzer.
The biggest problem with using Query Analyzer is that it is resource inten-
sive and is not always available. If you want to run it from a client computer,
which is what you would normally want to do for security reasons, then you
must install the SQL Server client tools on that computer. The client tools include
SQL Server Management Studio.

Embedded SQL
Embedded SQL is best suited to activities that must be performed periodically
and that you want performed in the same way each time. Embedded SQL is also
a critical part of any database application. Embedded SQL uses the same SQL
language commands as when you are running interactive SQL statements. The
difference is that they are included as part of an executable program.
SQL Server, for example, has two basic programmable objects that provide
embedded SQL support. These are stored procedures and user-defined functions.
Both are similar in that they are sets of executable statements, they can accept
parameters to help control execution, and they can perform actions and return
results. The primary difference is how they are used. Stored procedures are most
often used to automate periodic procedures or to hide the details of those pro-
cedures from the users. User-defined functions are used when you want to return
either a scalar value to a user or a result formatted as a table.
For example, you might create a stored procedure to process customer pay-
ments. The user would need to provide the stored procedure name, the customer
ID, and the payment amount. Statements inside the stored procedure would han-
dle the details of exactly what changes need to be made to the table or tables involved
and could detect and respond to errors that might occur during the process. Not
only do you ensure that the payments are posted properly, this also helps to ensure
data security. Users do not need to know how the tables involved in the process are
structured. Because they don’t know how the data is structured, it’s harder for some-
one to retrieve information from the database without proper authorization.
Embedded SQL is also used in application programs. The programming envi-
ronment provides the connectivity tools to communicate with the database server
and execute SQL commands. This can be done by passing literal command
strings to the database server for execution or through application programming
interfaces (APIs) that provide the necessary functionality. For example, SQL
Server 2005 provides a set of.NET Framework management objects that make it
easy to build management applications. Also, the data objects provided with
ADO.NET support direct manipulation of database tables and other database
objects. In fact, ADO.NET is able to mirror the database and table structure,
down to column names and table constraints, in memory.
190 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

6.1.3 Understanding Command Basics

Whether running DDL or DML commands (as well as DQL commands, if you
want to consider them separately), whether using interactive or embedded SQL,
there are a few basic things that you need to understand. The first thing is that
each SQL command has a specific command syntax that describes how you run
the command. The command syntax includes the command name and any com-
mand keywords and parameters. Command keywords, also known as command
clauses, are used to describe specific actions that a command will take. Com-
mand parameters are values that you supply so the command can run. Take a
look at the following example, a simplified version of the SELECT statement:
SELECT select_list FROM table [WHERE
qualifying_conditions]
Let’s break this down. SELECT is the command name. The SELECT com-
mand has various uses, but is most commonly used in queries to retrieve val-
ues from tables and views. The select_list, when SELECT is used in this man-
ner, is the list of columns that you want the command to return. The select_list
is one of the SELECT command parameters. Command syntax descriptions typ-
ically use italicized type, as in this example, to identify replaceable parameters.
FROM is a command keyword defining the FROM clause. When using
SELECT to retrieve data, FROM is a required keyword. It identifies the object
or objects (typically tables and views) from which you are retrieving data.
WHERE is an optional keyword and is used to filter the retrieval result.
When retrieving data, if you don’t include a WHERE clause, all rows are
returned. The WHERE clause lets you set qualifying conditions, also called the
search argument, that limit the rows returned. For example, you might want to
filter a numeric column by the value it contains, or a date/time column by a
range of dates. Square brackets are typically used in command syntax descrip-
tions when describing command syntax to identify optional clauses. In actual
command strings, square brackets can be used to enclose object names.
When you run any command, SQL Server parses the command before it
does anything else. In this context, parsing is the process of reviewing the com-
mand string to verify that you’ve used the correct command syntax. For exam-
ple, attempting to run the following would result in a syntax error:
SELECT name, street, city FORM employees
This would return an error that “FORM” is not recognized. The exact word-
ing of the error depends on your DBMS. In most cases, you will receive an
error number and a textual description of the error. With some DBMSs, you
can use its help system to look up the error number and get more informa-
tion. However, some DBMSs just repeat the textual error statement that you’ve
already seen.
 6.1.3 UNDERSTANDING COMMAND BASICS 191

You need to understand that most commands, with the exception of some
DDL commands, run in the context of a database. When you connect to a SQL
Server database server, for example, through a command-line or graphical inter-
face, your connection is associated with a default database, also known as the
working database. When you execute a command that depends on a database,
the default database is assumed. For example, when you specify a table by name
or by schema and name only, SQL Server assumes the table is in the default
database. Some commands, mostly maintenance commands, can run against the
default database only. Other database products have similar defaults for connec-
tions, but the terminology used can vary between different DBMS products.
Each connection will also have an associated user—the user specified when
you connected to the database server. The actions you can take depends on the
permissions assigned that user. In some cases, you can temporarily override this
by specifying to run a command using the security context of a different user,
but this feature is not supported by all DBMSs.
The result returned by the command after successful completion is somewhat
command specific. When you run a SELECT command to retrieve data, it returns
the requested columns and qualifying rows, known as the result set. You might
also see this referred to as a relational result. It will also return a message stating

FOR EXAMPLE
About SQL Compatibility
If all modern DBMSs are based on the SQL language standard, then why is
there such a concern about selecting a DBMS? The difference relates pri-
marily to the version of the SQL standard on which the DBMS is based and
how close it is to that standard. You will find that the closer a DBMS is to
the SQL standard, the fewer features and less functionality it supports. Mov-
ing away from the standard brings more power and flexibility, but also
means that you have to deal with more proprietary command syntaxes and
language components. The learning curve before you can successfully deploy
a database solution increases.
Microsoft SQL Server is one of the most popular modern DBMS prod-
ucts. It is also one of the fastest, if not the fastest, depending on whose
benchmark tests you prefer. It is also one of the most difficult to learn. An
understanding of the SQL language standards will be enough to get you
started so you can employ basic features, but to make use of its unique ben-
efits, you need to learn new commands and learn about features that aren’t
part of the SQL standard. It also means that scripts containing executable
command statements that are written for SQL Server may or may not run
on another DBMS, depending on what statements you’ve used, and how.
192 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

how many rows were returned. DML statements usually just return a count of
rows affected. You receive even less with most DDL statements. In most cases,
they only return a statement that the command completed successfully.
If the command didn’t complete successfully, the DBMS returns an error.
Often, the errors returned give little information other than the fact than an error
has occurred. One reason for this is security. One possible source of errors is
that someone is trying to break into a database without authorization. The less
information you provide them about why a command didn’t work, the more dif-
ficult it is for them to figure out a solution without knowing the database and
database object structures.

SELF-CHECK
• Briefly describe the importance of the SQL language standard.
• Compare interactive and embedded SQL.
• Explain why DBMS providers vary from the SQL standard.

6.2 Understanding SELECT Fundamentals

One of the most commonly used SQL commands is the SELECT command. As
you have already learned, you use SELECT to retrieve data. You can also use
SELECT to perform calculations and to retrieve the results from functions, which
are special commands designed to operate on data and return a result.

6.2.1 Working with SELECT

You have already been introduced to the SELECT statement and its basic syn-
tax. We’re going to talk a bit more about SELECT because you will likely use it
more than any other command. The complete SELECT command syntax is
beyond the scope of this chapter, but we’ll take a closer look at a few additional
syntax options. SELECT statement command examples used in this chapter are
all based on Microsoft SQL Server’s Transact-SQL variation of the SQL standard
language. Command syntax for the SELECT command, as well as for other com-
mands discussed later in the chapter, varies for other DBMS products.
SELECT commands are considered declarative statements rather than being
procedural in nature. This means that you specify what data you are looking for
rather than provide a logical sequence of steps that guide the system in how to
find the data. The relational DBMS analyzes the declarative SQL SELECT state-
ment and creates an access path—a plan for what steps to take to respond to
the query. The SELECT command also allows the user, in some circumstances,
to exert a certain amount of logical control over the data retrieval process.
 6.2.2 USING SIMPLE DATA RETRIEVAL 193

Another point is that SQL SELECT commands can be run in either an inter-
active query or an embedded mode. In the query mode, the user types the com-
mand at a workstation and presses the Enter key. In the embedded mode, the
SELECT command is embedded within the lines of a higher-level language pro-
gram and functions as an input or “read” statement for the program. When the
program is run and the program logic reaches the SELECT command, the pro-
gram executes the SELECT. The SELECT command is sent to the DBMS where,
as in the query mode case, the DBMS processes it against the database and
returns the results, this time to the program that issued it. The program can then
use and further process the returned data. The only tricky part to this is that
some programming environments are designed to retrieve one record at a time.
In the embedded mode, the program that issued the SQL SELECT command
and receives the result set must process the rows returned one at a time. How-
ever, many newer languages and programming environments are designed to rec-
ognize and process result sets. Microsoft.NET Framework, for example, includes
data objects that let you access rows one at a time, in the order received, or store
the entire result set in memory and randomly access its contents.

6.2.2 Using Simple Data Retrieval

Let’s look at a couple of examples of simple retrieval statements. We’re retriev-
ing data from the SALESPERSON table shown in Figure 6-3.
Let’s start with a simple request: “Find the commission percentage and year of
hire of salesperson number 186.” The SQL statement to accomplish this would be:
SELECT COMMPERCT, YEARHIRE FROM SALESPERSON
WHERE SPNUM=186;
The desired attributes are listed in the SELECT clause, the required table is
listed in the FROM clause, and the restriction or predicate indicating which
row(s) is involved is shown in the WHERE clause in the form of an equation.
Notice that the SELECT ends with a single semicolon (;) at the very end of the
entire statement. This is used to identify the end of the statement. The use of a

Figure 6-3

(a) SALESPERSON table

SPNUM SPNAME COMMPERCT YEARHIRE OFFNUM

137 Baker 10 1995 1284

186 Adams 15 2001 1253
204 Dickens 10 1998 1209
361 Carlyle 20 2001 1227

SALESPERSON table.
194 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

semicolon is specified in the SQL standard with command statements as the

end-of-statement delimiter, but its use is optional with Microsoft SQL Server.
Different vendors vary in how they use end-of-statement delimiters. The result
of this statement is:
COMMPERCT YEARHIRE
15 2001
As is evident from this query, a qualifying condition (or search argument)
like SPNUM, being used to filter the result set by searching for the required
rows, does not have to appear in the query result. Its inclusion in the select list
is optional as long as its absence does not make the result ambiguous, confus-
ing, or meaningless.
To retrieve the entire record for salesperson 186 the statement would change
to:
SELECT * FROM SALESPERSON WHERE SPNUM=186
This gives the result:
SPNUM SPNAME COMMPERCT YEARHIRE OFFNUM
186 Adams 15 2001 1253
The “*” in the SELECT clause indicates that all columns (fields) are to be
retrieved.
Now, let’s look at an example where you want a specific set of columns, but
don’t limit the rows, such as: “List the salesperson number and salesperson name
of all of the salespersons.” Here, you would run:
SELECT SPNUM, SPNAME FROM SALESPERSON
This gives the result:
SPNUM SPNAME
137 Baker
186 Adams
204 Dickens
361 Carlyle
Finally, if you want to return all rows and all columns, all of the data in the
SALESPERSON table, you would run:
SELECT * FROM SALESPERSON
The result would be identical to the table shown in Figure 6-3.

6.2.3 Retrieving Other Values

When using Microsoft SQL Server, you can use SELECT to evaluate expres-
sions. These can be, for example, mathematical expressions or expressions
 6.2.3 RETRIEVING OTHER VALUES 195

containing SQL functions. The syntax for using SELECT to perform a calcu-
lation is:
SELECT expression
You can’t get much simpler than that. The expression is any mathematical or log-
ical expression that returns a result. Here’s an easy example:
SELECT 5 ⫹ 7
When you execute the command, the database server returns a result of 12. The
expression must resolve to a legal value or an error is returned. For example,
the following will return a divide by 0 error:
SELECT 5/0
The syntax is similar for resolving a function. In this case, the syntax is:
SELECT function [(parameter_list)]
The parameter_list is in square brackets because some functions do not include
any parameters. Others can accept multiple parameters, depending on what the

FOR EXAMPLE
The SELECT Statement
The SELECT statement is the basic workhorse of most database applications.
To understand this, think about how a database might meet the needs of a
business, such as an online sales business. A customer logs onto your Web
site. When this happens, it’s likely that your application will attempt to
retrieve information from the customer’s computer and compare it with
information it has on file, using the information to recognize returning cus-
tomers. How will it do this? By running a SELECT statement filtered by this
identifying information. The customer wants to view information about
products you have for sale. This information is often spread across multiple
tables, requiring the use of one or more SELECT statements used to retrieve
the information and organize the result.
The checkout process relies on a series of SELECT statements, retriev-
ing shipping options and formulas for calculating shipping costs, the cus-
tomer’s preferred shipping address and possibly one or more alternate
addresses. Some online vendors will also use queries against secure database
tables to retrieve credit card information you’ve left on file. Even when using
embedded SQL features that don’t necessarily execute an explicit SELECT
statement, they are still based on SELECT statement functionality.
196 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

function is designed to do. This syntax for evaluating expressions and functions
is not supported by all DBMS products.

SELF-CHECK
• Explain the basic SELECT statement syntax.
• Explain the importance of the WHERE clause when retrieving
SELECT results.

6.3 Understanding Operators and Functions

A key part of writing and understanding expressions is understanding opera-
tors. SQL operators include both arithmetic and logical operators. Logical oper-
ators are used in the WHERE clause to build search conditions that depend on
more than one qualifying condition. You can also categorize operators as the
following:

▲ Unary Operator: an operator applied to only one operand at the time;

typically in the format operator operand. For example, NOT A.
▲ Binary Operator: an operator applied to two operands at the time, typi-
cally in the format operand operator operand. For example, A OR B.

Because of variations between different DBMS products, specific examples in

this chapter are based primarily on Microsoft SQL Server.

6.3.1 Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators are used for arithmetic computations. The use of the arith-
metic operators is very intuitive, and they can be used in virtually every clause
of a SQL statement. Because of its effect when used with numeric data, we’ve
also included a concatenation operator in our discussion. The full list of arith-
metic operators is given in Table 6-1.
While doing arithmetic in SQL is relatively easy, you must pay attention to
the data type used in the operations. For numeric values, this includes the pre-
cision and scale of the result; for datetime, the range of the resulting values; and
so on. Most DBMSs can convert similar data types automatically for evaluation
through a process known as implicit conversion, but dissimilar types require
explicit conversion (manual conversion) to a compatible type.
To add two values, as you’ve already seen, you could:
SELECT 5 ⫹ 5 total_value
 6.3.2 COMPARISON AND LOGICAL OPERATORS 197

Table 6-1: Arithmetic and Concatenation Operators

Operator Description
⫹ Addition: adds two numbers. When used with SQL Server,
also concatenates (joins together) strings. The use for
concatenation in nearly unique to SQL Server.
⫺ Subtraction: subtracts one numeric value from another.
* Multiplication: multiplies one number by another.
/ Division: divides one number by another.
% Modulo: calculates the integer remainder of a division.
For example, 15%5⫽0, 17%5⫽2, 18%5⫽3, and 20%5⫽0

This gives you the following result, with “total_value” used as the column name.
total_value
10
To concatenate (join together) numbers in SQL Server, you would need to
use a different expression. Instead of numeric data, you would use numbers rep-
resented as strings. Use the ⫹ operator with values that are explicitly identified
as strings, as in the following:
SELECT ’5’ ⫹ ’5’ total_value
This gives you the result:
total_value
55

6.3.2 Comparison and Logical Operators

You can use comparison operators in a SELECT statement’s WHERE clause or
with decision statements that take an action depending on the logical result of
a comparison operation, such as: “If A ⬎ B, then perform an action.” The most
commonly supported comparison operators are listed in Table 6-2.
Some DBMS vendors recommend that whenever possible, you should avoid
negated operators because they require more resources to process. For example,
a query using ⬎⫽ will run faster than a query using !⬍.
Comparison operators can be used by themselves or together with logical
operators. Logical operators are used to evaluate a set of conditions, with the
returned result a value of TRUE, FALSE, or “unknown.” Like comparison operators,
you can use logical operators in a SELECT statement’s WHERE clause or with
198 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

Table 6-2: Comparison Operators

Operator Description
⫽ Equal to. The operand values are equal.
⬎ Greater than. The value of the left operand is greater than
the value of the right operand.
⬎⫽ Greater than or equal to. The value of the left operand is
greater than or equal to the value of the right operand.
⬍ Less than. The value of the left operand is less than the
value of the right operand.
⬍⫽ Less than or equal to. The value of the left operand is less
than or equal to the value of the right operand.
⬍⬎ Not equal to. The value of the left operand is not equal to
the value of the right operand.
! Not. Used to reverse the operand logic. For example, you
can use !⫽ for not equal to or !⬍ for not less than.

decision statements that take an action depending on the result of a logical oper-
ation, such as: “If A AND B are true, then perform an action.” The most com-
mon logical operators are shown in Table 6-3.
In addition to these operators, there are special operators that are used with
subqueries. A subquery is a special way of retrieving information where one
query is dependent on another query. A discussion of subqueries is beyond the
scope of this chapter.
We should, however, look at a couple of examples of using common logical
operators. We’re going to use them in the SELECT statement WHERE clause.
This time, we’ll be querying the CUSTOMER table shown in Figure 6-4.

Table 6-3: Logical Operators

Operator Description
AND Evaluates to TRUE if both Boolean expressions are TRUE.
BETWEEN Evaluates to TRUE if the operand is within a range.
LIKE Evaluates to TRUE if the operand matches a pattern.
NOT Reverses the value of any other Boolean operator.
OR Evaluates to TRUE if either Boolean expression is TRUE.
 6.3.2 COMPARISON AND LOGICAL OPERATORS 199

Figure 6-4

(b) CUSTOMER table

CUSTNUM CUSTNAME SPNUM HQCITY

0121 Main St. Hardware 137 New York

0839 Jane's Stores 186 Chicago
0933 ABC Home Stores 137 Los Angeles
1047 Acme Hardware Store 137 Los Angeles
1525 Fred's Tool Stores 361 Atlanta
1700 XYZ Stores 361 Washington
1826 City Hardware 137 New York
2198 Western Hardware 204 New York
2267 Central Stores 186 New York

CUSTOMER table.

First, let’s look at an example where we have two conditions and both must
be met for a row to qualify.
List the customer numbers, customer names, and headquarter cities of the
customers that are headquartered in New York and that have a customer
number higher than 1500.
In this case, you would run:
SELECT CUSTNUM, CUSTNAME, HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER
WHERE HQCITY=’New York’ AND CUSTNUM>1500
This gives us the result:
CUSTNUM CUSTNAME HQCIT
1826 City Hardware New York
2198 Western Hardware New York
2267 Central Stores New York
Notice that customer number 0121, which is headquartered in New York, was
not included in the results because it failed to satisfy the condition of having a
customer number greater than 1500. With the AND operator, it had to satisfy
both conditions to be included in the result.
To look at the OR operator, let’s change the last query to:
List the customer numbers, customer names, and headquarter cities of the
customers that are headquartered in New York or that have a customer
number higher than 1500.
In this case, you would run:
SELECT CUSTNUM, CUSTNAME, HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER
WHERE HQCITY=’New York’ OR CUSTNUM>1500
200 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

This time, our result is:

CUSTNUM CUSTNAME HQCIT
0121 Main St. Hardware New York
1525 Fred’s Tool Stores Atlanta
1700 XYZ Stores Washington
1826 City Hardware New York
2198 Western Hardware New York
2267 Central Stores New York
Notice that the OR operator really means one or the other or both. Customer
0121 is included because it is headquartered in New York. Customers 1525 and
1700 are included because they have customer numbers higher than 1500. Cus-
tomers 1826, 2198, and 2267 satisfy both conditions.
If both AND and OR are required, AND has a higher precedence than OR.
Operator precedence determines the order in which operators are processed, so
all ANDs are considered before any ORs are considered. The following query,
which has to be worded very carefully, illustrates this point:
List the customer numbers, customer names, and headquarter cities of the
customers that are headquartered in New York or that satisfy the two con-
ditions of having a customer number higher than 1500 and being head-
quartered in Atlanta.
The query for this is:
SELECT CUSTNUM, CUSTNAME, HQCITY
FROM CUSTOMER WHERE HQCITY=’New York’ OR
(CUSTNUM>1500 AND HQCITY=’Atlanta’)
The result of this query is:
CUSTNUM CUSTNAME HQCIT
0121 Main St. Hardware New York
1525 Fred’s Tool Stores Atlanta
1826 City Hardware New York
2198 Western Hardware New York
2267 Central Stores New York
Notice that since the AND is considered first, one way for a row to qualify
being in the result is if its customer number is greater than 1500 and its head-
quarter city is Atlanta. With the AND taken first, it’s that combination or the
headquarters city has to be New York. If the OR operator was considered first,
it would change the whole complexion of the statement. The best way to deal
with this, especially if there are several ANDs and ORs in a WHERE clause, is
to use parentheses. The rule is that anything in parentheses is done first. If the
 6.3.3 STANDARD SQL FUNCTIONS 201

Table 6-4: LIKE Wildcard Characters

Character Description
% Matches any string of zero or more characters.
_ (underscore) Matches any single character within a string.
[] Matches any single character within the specified range or
set of characters. This wildcard is unique to Microsoft
SQL Server.
[^] Matches any single character NOT within specified range or
set of characters, and also supported by SQL Server only.

parentheses are nested, then whatever is in the innermost parentheses is done

first and then the system works from there toward the outermost parentheses.
The rule regarding parentheses also applies to arithmetic operators, with opera-
tions contained in the innermost parentheses evaluated first.
The LIKE operator needs special consideration. Operator LIKE belongs to
the “fuzzy logic” domain. It is used any time criteria in the WHERE clause of
the SELECT query are only partially known. It utilizes a variety of wildcard char-
acters, listed in Table 6-4, to specify the missing parts of the value. The pattern
must follow the LIKE keyword.
Suppose that you want to find the customer records for those customers
whose names begin with the letter A. You can accomplish this with the LIKE
operator and the % character used as a wildcard to represent any string of char-
acters. Thus, “A%” means the letter A followed by any string of characters, which
is the same thing as saying any word that begins with A:
SELECT * FROM CUSTOMER WHERE CUSTNAME LIKE ’A%’
The result would be:
CUSTNUM CUSTNAME SPNUM HQCIT
0933 ABC Home Stores 137 Los Angeles
1047 Acme Hardware Store 137 Los Angeles

6.3.3 Standard SQL Functions

SQL functions exist to make your life easier when you need to manipulate data.
Think of the SQL functions as tools designed to accomplish a single well-defined
task—for example, calculating square root or converting lowercase letters into upper-
case. You invoke a function within SQL query by name (usually a single keyword).
Some functions accept arguments, some do not, but they always return a value.
202 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

All functions could be divided into two broad categories: deterministic func-
tions and nondeterministic functions. Deterministic functions always return the
same result if you pass in the same arguments; nondeterministic functions
might return different results, even if they are called with exactly the same argu-
ments. For example, ABS, which returns the absolute value of a number passed
to it as an argument, is a deterministic function. No matter how many times
you call it with, say argument –5, it will always return 5 as a result. The
Microsoft SQL Server function GETDATE() accepts no arguments and returns
only the current date and time, and so is an example of a nondeterministic
function. Each time you call it a new date and time is returned, even if the
difference is less than one second.
One reason this is important is that some DBMSs restrict use of the nonde-
terministic functions in database objects such as indexes or views. For example,
SQL Server disallows use of such functions for indexed computed columns and
indexed views.
The list of functions changes slightly with each new release of the ANSI
SQL standards. However, the functions supported by the various DBMS
providers vary widely from the standard function list and from each other. As
an example, the functions specified in the SQL-99 standard (as well as earlier
standard versions) are described in Table 6-5. The SQL-99 standard refers to a
version of the SQL standard released in 1999. New SQL standard versions are
released every few years.
Rather than expecting a standard implementation of any of these functions,
you should refer to the documentation specific to your DBMS for available func-
tions. Limit use of functions to statements, procedures, and other executables to
be used with a specific SQL implementation.

6.3.4 Function Variations

Rather than try to cover all of the function variations you might see, or even all
of the functions supported by a particular vendor, the goal here is to provide a
general overview of the types of functions you might see and focus on a few key

Table 6-5: SQL-99 Standard Functions

SQL Function Description
BIT_LENGTH Returns the length of the expression,
(expression) usually string, in bits.
CAST (value AS data Converts supplied value from one
type) data type into another compatible
data type.
 6.3.4 FUNCTION VARIATIONS 203

Table 6-5 (Continued)

CHAR_LENGTH Returns the length of the expression,
(expression) usually string, in characters.
CONVERT (expression Returns a string converted according
USING conversion) to the rules specified in the conversion
parameter.
CURRENT_DATE Returns current date of the
system.
CURRENT_TIME Returns current time of the
(precision) system, of the specified precision.
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP Returns current time and the
(precision) current date of the system, of the
specified precision.
EXTRACT (part Extracts specified named part
FROM expression) of the expression.
LOWER (expression) Converts character string from
uppercase (or mixed case) into
lowercase letters.
OCTET_LENGTH Returns the length of the
(expression) expression in bytes (each byte
containing 8 bits).
POSITION (char Returns position of the char
expression IN source) expression in the source.
SUBSTRING (string Returns the string part of a
expression,start, string expression, from the start
length) position up to specified length.
TRANSLATE (string Returns the string translated into another
expression USING string according to specified rules.
translation rule)
TRIM (LEADING | Return the string from a string
TRAILING | BOTH expression where leading, trailing,
char expression FROM or both char expression characters
string expression) are removed.
UPPER (expression) Converts character string from
lowercase (or mixed case) into uppercase
letters.
204 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

Table 6-6: General Function Categories

Function Category Description
Numeric Functions that operate with numbers and usually
include a random number generator. These include
statistical functions, such as those for finding mean and
standard deviation.
Mathematical Functions that are also used with numeric values,
but to perform specific mathematic calculations, such
as trigonometric functions for SIN, COS, and so forth.
Date/Time Functions used to return current date/time information,
format date and time strings, and perform calculations
based on date and time, such as the number of days that
have passed between two dates.
Aggregate Used to generate aggregate values based on sets
of numeric values, such as generating a total, a count,
or finding an average.
String Functions that perform string manipulations such
as modifying strings, locating patterns within a string,
inserting characters, concatenating strings, finding string
length, and changing character case.
Conversion Used to convert values between data types. These
functions let you perform explicit conversions between
otherwise incompatible types.

functions you are likely to use. Table 6-6 lists commonly accepted function cat-
egory descriptions.
To give you an idea of the functions supported by a specific DBMS, let’s take
a quick look at the aggregate functions supported by SQL Server. An aggregate
function operates on a set of values, returning a single result based on these val-
ues. These are listed in Table 6-7.
In the case of SQL Server, these functions are also part of the set of functions
referred to as built-in functions. Built-in functions are simply the predefined func-
tions that install with SQL Server. They are considered part of the general function-
ality of the SELECT statement as implemented by SQL Server. Aggregate functions
can be used on a result set as a whole or to provide summary or intermediate
values based on groups of rows within a result as specified by another SELECT
statement clause, the GROUP BY clause. Let’s take a look at a couple of exam-
ples based on the SALES table shown in Figure 6-5.
 6.3.4 FUNCTION VARIATIONS 205

Table 6-7: SQL Server Aggregate Functions

Function Return Data Type Description
AVG Number (real) Calculates average for a range of
numeric values.
COUNT Int Returns number of rows in a
SELECT statement.
COUNT_BIG Bigint Returns number of rows in a
SELECT statement based on a
bigint type value.
MAX Number (real) Returns max value among selected
values.
MIN Number (real) Returns min value among
selected values.
SUM Number (real) Calculates sum of the selected
values.

The SALES table shows the lifetime quantity of particular products sold by
particular salespersons. For example, the first row indicates that Salesperson 137
has sold 473 units of Product Number 19440 dating back to when she joined
the company or when the product was introduced.

Figure 6-5

SALES table

SPNUM PRODNUM QUANTITY

137 19440 473

137 24013 170
137 26722 688
186 16386 1745
186 19440 2529
186 21765 1962
186 24013 3071
204 21765 809
204 26722 734
361 16386 3729
361 21765 3110
361 26722 2738

SALES table.
206 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

Consider the following query:

Find the average number of units of the different products that Salesper-
son 137 has sold (i.e., the average of the quantity values in the first three
records of the SALES table).
Using the AVG operator, you would write:
SELECT AVG(QUANTITY) FROM SALES WHERE SPNUM=137
The result would be:
AVG (QUANTITY)
443.67
To find the total number of units of all products that she has sold, you would
use the SUM operator and write:
SELECT SUM (QUANTITY) FROM SALES WHERE SPNUM=137
The result would be:
SUM (QUANTITY)
1331
Notice that when used with the SELECT statement, the aggregate function is
used as either part of the SELECT list, or as in these examples, the entire SELECT
list.
Now, let’s take a look at an example that relies on grouping rows, once
again using the SALES table in Figure 6-5. At some point, you might want to
find the total number of units of all products that each salesperson has sold.
That is, you want to group together the rows of the SALES table that belong
to each salesperson and calculate a value—the sum of the Quantity attribute
values in this case—for each such group. Here is the way such a query might
be stated: “Find the total number of units of all products sold by each sales-
person.” The SQL statement, using the GROUP BY clause, would look like
this:
SELECT SPNUM, SUM (QUANTITY) FROM SALES GROUP BY SPNUM
The result would be:
SPNUM SUM(QUANTITY)
137 1331
186 9307
204 1543
361 9577
Notice that GROUP BY SPNUM specifies that the rows of the table are to be
grouped together based on having the same value in their SPNUM attribute. All
 6.3.4 FUNCTION VARIATIONS 207

of the rows for Salesperson Number 137 will form one group, all of the rows
for Salesperson Number 186 will form another group, and so on. The Quantity
attribute values in each group will then be summed—SUM(QUANTITY)—and
the results returned to the user.

FOR EXAMPLE
The Importance of Parentheses
Parentheses and their placement can play an important role in SQL expres-
sions. Most people don’t take the time to memorize operator precedence,
the order in which operators are evaluated. That means that they don’t nec-
essarily know how an expression containing multiple operators, especially
one containing different types of operators, is going to be evaluated. Take,
for example, the following statement:
SELECT 2 * 2 + 6
This statement returns a result of 10. When evaluating the expression, the
database server first multiplies 2 times 2 (for 4), then adds 6 to the prod-
uct, giving you 10.
What if we turn it around, as in the following:
SELECT 2+6*2
This time, the result is 14. The multiplication operator has a higher prece-
dence than the addition operator, so it is evaluated first as 6 times 2 (for
12), with 2 then added to the product for a result of 14.
Typically, you will want to use parentheses so you can explicitly control
the order in which operators are evaluated. What if you want the database
server to first add 2 and 6 then multiply the sum by 2? Here’s the statement
you need:
SELECT 2*(2+6)
The addition operator is evaluated first, because it is enclosed in parenthe-
ses, then the multiplication operator. As expressions become more compli-
cated, especially when they depend on function results or scalar values
returned by queries, parentheses become more important in ensuring the
expressions are evaluated properly. Errors caused by operator precedence
can easily go unnoticed during application design, can lead to costly mis-
takes, and can be very difficult to locate and correct.
208 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

SELF-CHECK
• List and describe available operator categories.
• Explain the significance of operator precedence.
• List and describe function categories.

6.4 Understanding DML Commands

Many DML commands vary in how they are implemented by various DBMSs.
Rather than trying to introduce you to all of the statements you might use or
focusing on the statement syntax for a particular DBMS, this section’s goal is to
give you a general introduction to the statements. The section includes a few
ANSI standard command syntax examples as representative examples. Statement
examples are based on Microsoft SQL Server.
Popular DBMS products have full product documentation readily available. For
example, you can install complete product documentation, including command syn-
tax and command use examples, when you install SQL Server. Because of the vari-
ations in how statements are implemented, you should refer to your product-specific
documentation for information about statement syntax and specific functionality.
The ANSI SQL standard defines three basic DML statements: INSERT, UPDATE,
and DELETE. You use the INSERT statement to add rows to a table. UPDATE lets
you modify values in specified columns and rows (existing records). Run DELETE
to remove rows from tables. Keep in mind with any of these statements that you
might be prevented from taking actions due to constraints or other limits placed
on a table. For example, you might not be allowed to delete a row that is refer-
enced by another row in a different table through a foreign key constraint.
Our discussion is limited primarily to the ANSI SQL standard syntax of each
of these DML statements and their basic use. We use the statement syntax as
defined in the ANSI SQL-99 standard, the standard on which most DBMSs
implementations of the statements are based. Details of how to use advanced
functionality, such as using queries to pass retrieved values for use in DML state-
ments, is beyond the scope of this chapter.

6.4.1 Using INSERT

The standard syntax for the INSERT statement is:
INSERT INTO table_or_view_name
[(column_list)] { {VALUES (literal | expression |
NULL,...) |
select_statement | DEFAULT VALUES
 6.4.2 USING UPDATE 209

You must specify the table or view to which you are inserting the new row
or rows. If you specify a view, it must either be based on a single table or you
must create a trigger to handle the details of the INSERT process. The column_list
is specified only if you are not providing values for all columns. In that case,
you would list the columns for which values are provided.
You have several options for providing values. You can use literal values,
such as numeric values or character strings, as long as the value is appropriate
to the column’s data type. Character strings must be enclosed in quotes to be rec-
ognized as such. You can use expressions that evaluate as an appropriate value.
For columns that allow NULL values, you can specify NULL. In some cases, you
can use a SELECT statement to provide the values.
When inserting a row into a table, you must provide a value for every col-
umn unless the column:

▲ Is an identity column (in those DBMSs where identity columns are sup-
ported).
▲ Has a value calculated from the values of other columns.
▲ Allows NULLs (in which case, a value of NULL is inserted if none is
provided).
▲ Has a defined default value (which can be overridden by a supplied value).

SQL Server is one of the few DBMSs that currently support the DEFAULT
VALUES keyword. It specifies to use all default values when inserting the row.
These can include the next value of an identity column, automatically gener-
ated values such as GUID and timestamp values, default values based on lit-
erals or expressions, and, for nullable columns that don’t otherwise have a
default, NULL.
As an example, think back to the SALESPERSON table in Figure 6-3. Assume
that the COMMPERCT column has a default value of 10. You might use the fol-
lowing statement to add another salesperson to the table.
INSERT INTO SALESPERSON (SPNUM, SPNAME, YEARHIRE,
OFFNUM)
VALUES (427, ’Smythe’, 2005, 1247)
Notice that in this example, we didn’t include COMMPERCT in the column list,
and therefore, it will receive the default value when the row is added. The other
columns take their values from the literal values we’ve provided.

6.4.2 Using UPDATE

The UPDATE statement lets you modify existing database information. Two com-
mon examples of when you need to do this include:
210 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

▲ You did not have all of the information for the row when you inserted it
into the table.
▲ You need to change database information to reflect changes in the real
world.

When data becomes available, or when it changes, you need to update table
data as appropriate, using the UPDATE statement. The ANSI SQL-99 standard
UPDATE syntax is:
UPDATE table_or_view_name
SET column_name = literal | expression |
(single_row_select_statement) |
NULL | DEFAULT,...
[WHERE search_condition]
In general, the rules and restrictions are the same as for using the INSERT
statement. You must specify the destination table or view. If the view is based on
more than one table, you must have a trigger that makes the update for you. You
can update directly through a view only if the view is based on just one table.
Use the SET keyword, followed by the column that you want to modify and
the new value. You can also specify a column list, with values provided for each
column in the list. As with INSERT, you can specify a literal value, an expres-
sion, the NULL keyword, or the DEFAULT keyword to set a column to its default
value (if any). If you specify an illegal value, an error is generated. This would
include an invalid value, that is, one not supported by the column data type, a
NULL value for a column that does not accept NULLs, or the DEFAULT key-
word for a column that does not have a defined default.
If you want to modify one row or a specific set of rows, you must include
the WHERE clause with a search condition to filter the rows affected by the com-
mand. Consider this situation. The salesperson you previously entered, Smythe,
married and took her husband’s name (Watson). She wants all company records
to reflect her new last name. To make this change, run:
UPDATE SALESPERSON SET SPNAME = ’WATSON’
WHERE SPNUM = 427
One of the most common problems when using the UPDATE statement is
either forgetting to include the WHERE clause (so that all rows are updated), or
using inappropriate values in the WHERE clause. Either can result in the wrong
rows being updated.
In this example, you didn’t have to use SPNUM as the qualifying column.
However, assuming that it is the primary key, it’s the value you would want to
use because it uniquely identifies the row. What if you had multiple salesper-
sons with the name Smythe and ran the following:
 6.4.3 USING DELETE 211

UPDATE SALESPERSON SET SPNAME = ’WATSON’

WHERE SPNAME = ’Smythe’
This time, you would change “Smythe” to “Watson” for every salesperson with
the name “Smythe”. The point here is that you must be careful when defining
your search conditions when updating (or, as you will see later, deleting) table
information.
Here’s another example that requires a logical operator in the WHERE clause.
Every salesperson that currently has a COMMPERCT value of 10 hired in 2004
or later is getting an automatic increase to 11.5. To do this, you could run:
UPDATE SALESPERSON SET COMMPERCT = 11.5
WHERE COMMPERCT = 10 AND YEARHIRE >= 2004
Now, let’s say you changed your mind. You decide to put any salespersons
hired in or after 2006 back on the default percentage. To do this, run
UPDATE SALESPERSON SET COMMPERCT = DEFAULT
WHERE YEARHIRE >= 2006
Just as an added note, this last example could have also been run as the fol-
lowing with the same result:
UPDATE SALESPERSON SET COMMPERCT = DEFAULT
WHERE YEARHIRE > 2005
The difference in the search condition logic is less complicated than in the pre-
vious example. If processing a very large number of salespersons, there could be
a difference in performance between the two, with the latter running faster.

6.4.3 Using DELETE

DELETE provides a way to get rid of the information that is no longer needed.
Deleting database rows is usually necessary when the entity these rows corre-
spond to becomes irrelevant or completely disappears from the real world. For
example, an employee quits, a customer does not place orders any more, or ship-
ment information is no longer needed. Perhaps order information, once it reaches
a certain age, is transferred to an archive table. However, there isn’t a TRANSFER
or ARCHIVE command. Instead, you would run INSERT to write the orders into
the archive table, and then DELETE to remove the orders from the original table,
effectively transferring them.
The ANSI SQL-99 syntax for this statement, as you might guess, is relatively
simple:
DELETE [FROM] table_or_view_name
[WHERE search_condition]
212 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

The command does not support any addition of optional keywords or para-
meters, making it very simple to use. Keep in mind, however, that constraints
or other restrictions placed on a table or individual columns could still prevent
you from deleting rows from the table.
The table or view name is required. The FROM keyword is optional with
some DBMSs, including SQL Server, but required by others. Some DBMSs
require a WHERE clause and search condition. However, SQL Server does not,
which could lead to a problem. If you run DELETE without a search condi-
tion, all rows are deleted from the table. For example, consider the following
statement:
DELETE SALESPERSON
That statement would delete all rows from the SALESPERSON table. Once
the change is committed, permanently written to the table, the only way to
retrieve the rows would be either to recover from backup or manually reenter
the information. However, reentering won’t work if the table has identity
columns because deleting all rows does not revert the identity back to its seed
value. That means that all rows would have new identity values.
It’s more likely that you would want to delete one row, or a subset of the
rows, from the table. In an earlier example, you added a salesperson with a
SPNUM value of 427 to SALESPERSON. To delete this person, you could
run:
DELETE SALESPERSON WHERE SPNUM=427
Microsoft SQL Server does support a statement that will both delete all rows
and reset the table’s identity column, if it has one, to its seed value. This is a
nonstandard command and is not always included as a DML statement. You
might find it classified as a DDL statement, or as neither. This is the TRUNCATE
TABLE statement, using the syntax:
TRUNCATE TABLE table_name
The potential problem is that this runs as a non-logged operation. Trans-
action logging is beyond the scope of this chapter, but in brief, a non-logged
operation provides a way of rolling back changes as if they were never run. That
means that the change isn’t written to the transaction log, but instead is made
directly to the database. SQL Server 2005 changed the description to say that
the command is minimally logged, which means that the fact that the operation
ran is logged, but not its effect on the database or its data. Even if the command
is run from within a transaction, which normally lets you roll-back your actions
if caught early enough in the process, there is no way to completely reverse the
result other than by restoring the table from a recent backup. TRUNCATE TABLE
is not a standard ANSI SQL command.
 6.5 UNDERSTANDING DDL COMMANDS 213

FOR EXAMPLE
Embedding DML Statements
As you can imagine, DML statements play a major role in most database
applications. One of the justifications for normalizing database tables is to
optimize performance when entering and modifying data. To use the
INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements, you need to understand the
table structure. However, knowing too much about how tables are struc-
tured could make it easier for someone looking to steal, or maliciously
change, database data.
You can avoid this by using embedded DML statements. You run the
statements in the context of custom procedures or your application. You
design the embedded statements so that users only need to provide the data
values as parameters without necessarily knowing anything about table
structure, the number of columns and column names, data types, or much
of anything else about the tables. You are able to ensure that updates are
made accurately and consistently while protecting data against unauthorized
access.

SELF-CHECK
• Explain why vendor command syntax is often different than SQL
standard syntax.
• Describe the purpose of the INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE com-
mands.

6.5 Understanding DDL Commands

As with DML commands, DDL commands vary widely in how they are imple-
mented by various DBMSs. Once again, this section’s goal is to give you a general
introduction to the statements. The section again includes a few ANSI standard
command statements as representative examples.
DDL commands are used to create and manage server and database objects.
Server objects, as the name implies, are objects implemented at the server level.
In Microsoft SQL Server, for example, logins (used for server access) are server
level objects. Database objects are those objects created as database-specific, such
214 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

as tables. There are three basic commands that relate to object management. They
are as follows:

▲ CREATE: used to create server and database objects, such as CREATE

TABLE and CREATE INDEX.
▲ ALTER: used to modify server and database objects, such as ALTER
TABLE and ALTER INDEX.
▲ DROP: used to delete server and database objects, such DROP TABLE
and DROP INDEX.

6.5.1 Using CREATE

The basic syntax of a CREATE command is:
CREATE objecttype objectname
commandoptions_and_parameters
The objectype is simply the type of object that you want to create, such as a
table, index, or view. The objectname uniquely identifies the object. The general
syntax of an object’s fully qualified name in SQL Server 2005 is:
server.database.schema.object
What this means is, that in a SQL Server database, you can have only one object
of a particular name in a particular schema, which is used to organize database
objects. For xample, you could have a table named:
MyServ.OpsData.Sales.Employees
You could also have another table named:
MyServ.OpsData.Operations.Employees
Even though this would be allowed, because the table’s fully qualified name is
different, it isn’t recommended. It would be less confusing to create objects so
that each object has a unique, easily identifiable name. In this case, better table
names might be:
MyServ.OpsData.Sales.SalesEmployees
MyServ.OpsData.Operations.OperationsEmployees
Command options are somewhat command specific. Many are specified
through keywords, like the optional clauses in the SELECT statement. For exam-
ple, the CREATE TABLE command syntax lets you specify table columns and
data types. The CREATE INDEX command syntax, on the other hand, lets you
specify the source table and columns to use when creating an index. Some
options are supported across multiple commands, such as options that let you
specify the object’s physical storage.
 6.5.1 USING CREATE 215

Each command includes both required and optional keywords and para-
meters. Required parameters must be specified when you run the command.
For example, when you create a table, the table name is a required parameter.
So is specifying at least one table column. Optional parameters are parameters
that you can include, but aren’t required to. Optional parameters sometimes
have a default value that is used if none is specified. For example, a table’s pri-
mary key is an optional parameter that does not have a default value. If you
don’t specify a primary key, the table is created without one. The table’s stor-
age location is also an optional parameter, but there is a default storage loca-
tion if none is specified.
The ANSI SQL-99 statement syntax for the CREATE TABLE statement, for
example is:
CREATE [{GLOBAL | LOCAL} TEMPORARY] TABLE table_name
(column_name [domain_name |
datatype [size1[,size2]]
[column_constraint,...] [DEFAULT default_value]
[COLLATE collation_name],...)
[table_constraints]
[ON COMMIT {DELETE | PRESERVE} ROWS]
The ANSI SQL standard uses the GLOBAL and LOCAL keywords to define tem-
porary tables, tables that are often created in memory only and having a lim-
ited scope. SQL Server does not support these keywords, but instead identifies
temporary tables by the table name. A # is used as the first character in a local
temporary table name and ## is used to identify a global temporary table.
The basic column definition is provided by the column name and data type,
both of which are required. The SQL standard lets you specify a domain as an
alternate to a data type. A domain is an object definition that includes a stan-
dard data type, but can also include a default value, collation, and constraints.
Domains are not supported by SQL Server, but SQL Server does support a sim-
ilar concept, known as a user-defined data type, which you can use instead of
a standard SQL data type. Constraints, as well as supplying a default value of
the column and column collation, are optional. You can also specify optional
table constraints which include the primary key, foreign keys, and unique con-
straints.
The ON COMMIT clause is also part of the SQL standard that is not sup-
ported by SQL Server. It is used with some DBMSs to control the actions of tem-
porary tables.
However, you shouldn’t get the idea that you are shortchanged in func-
tionality if you are using SQL Server. Microsoft supports several options that
are not supported in the SQL standard; these include options to control phys-
ical storage.
216 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

6.5.2 Using ALTER

An ALTER statement will follow a similar syntax to the CREATE statement for
the same type of object. ALTER TABLE, for example, lets you manage table
columns, table constraints, column constraints, and so forth. ALTER INDEX lets
you change the index type (as clustered or nonclustered) and change the index’s
key and nonkey columns. With most object types, some actions will be restricted
and changes made to one object might impact another.
The ANSI SQL-99 standard ALTER TABLE statement uses the following syntax:
ALTER TABLE table_name
{[ADD [COLUMN] column_definition] |
[ALTER [COLUMN] column_name
{SET DEFAULT default | DROP DEFAULT}] |
[DROP [COLUMN] column_name RESTRICT | CASCADE] |
[ADD table_constraint] |
[DROP CONSTRAINT constraint_name RESTRICT | CASCADE]}
Though not specifically described in the standard syntax, most DBMSs let
you alter other aspects of the column definition, such as column constraints, in
addition to column default values. You are limited to taking one action each time
you run an ALTER statement. For example, if you want to add a column, drop
anther column, and add a constraint to the table, you would need to run the
ALTER TABLE statement three times.

6.5.3 Using DROP

The DROP command is used to delete objects of that type. The DROP statement
is different from other statements in that you can drop multiple objects of the
same type in a single statement. The syntax for the DROP TABLE command is,
for example:
DROP TABLE table_name,...
Your DBMS will put restrictions on dropping objects, preventing you from
creating illegal conditions. For example, most DBMSs will not let you drop a
table (by default) if it is referenced by any other table’s foreign key.

SELF-CHECK
• Describe the purpose of CREATE, ALTER, and DELETE statements.
• Explain the role of DDL statements in the SQL language.
 KEY TERMS 217

SUMMARY
This chapter introduced the SQL language. We began with a general introduc-
tion to the SQL language and a comparison between interactive and embedded
SQL. We spent some time working with the most basic version of the SELECT
statement to retrieve values from a single table and to evaluate expressions. The
chapter also introduced the concept of operators and SQL language functions.
We also looked at function categories used in vendor implementations of SQL
and took a relatively close look at the SQL Server aggregate functions. We ended
with a discussion of DDL and DML statements, including the standard SQL syn-
tax for selected commands.

KEY TERMS
Access path Keyword
Aggregate function Minimally logged operation
Batch Non-logged operation
Binary Operator Nondeterministic function
Built-in functions Operator precedence
Clause Parameters
Command operators Parsing
Command syntax Procedure
Data definition language (DDL) Qualifying conditions
Data manipulation language (DML) Query mode
Data query language (DQL) Relational result
Declarative statement Result set
Default database Script
Deterministic function Search argument
Domain Sqlcmd
Dynamic SQL Subquery
Embedded SQL Temporary table
Explicit conversion Transaction control
Function User-defined data type
Implicit conversion Unary operator
Interactive SQL Working database
218 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

ASSESS YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to evaluate your knowledge of the SQL
language.
Measure your learning by comparing pre-test and post-test results.

Summary Questions
1. The ANSI SQL standard defines other commands in addition to DDL and
DML command statements. True or False?
2. What is the advantage of a command-line based interface for interactive
SQL?
(a) A command-line interface is easier to use than a graphic-based inter-
face.
(b) A command-line interface lets you run commands from an operating
system batch.
(c) A command-line interface does NOT require you to provide connec-
tion information.
(d) A command-line interface is more forgiving of user error than other
interfaces.
3. Embedded SQL is supported by.NET Framework development language
only. True or False?
4. Which of the following statements accurately describes running SQL
commands?
(a) You must specify the database context when running any SQL com-
mand.
(b) All SQL commands require you to specify a WHERE clause.
(c) Unless otherwise specified, commands run in the security context of
the user establishing the database connection.
5. SELECT commands are considered to be declarative in nature. True or
False?
6. You must always specify the FROM clause when executing the SELECT
command. True or False?
7. What is the purpose of the SELECT command WHERE clause?
(a) to provide search conditions to filter the result set
(b) to identify the source database
(c) to identify the source tables or views
(d) to specify the destination for reporting the command result
 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 219

8. What is the general syntax for using SELECT to evaluate a function?

(a) SELECT [(parameter_list)] FROM function
(b) SELECT function WHERE (parameter_list)
(c) SELECT function [(parameter_list)]
(d) SELECT function [(parameter_list)]
WHERE database_name
9. When running the following SELECT statement, what does the asterisk
(*) specify?
SELECT * FROM CUSTOMER
(a) retrieve all rows
(b) retrieve NULL values only
(c) retrieve from all databases
(d) retrieve all columns
10. What is determined by operator precedence?
(a) the order in which operators must be listed
(b) the types of operands that can be used in a single expression
(c) whether an operator performs a unary or binary operation
(d) the order in which operators are processed
11. Parentheses are used in an expression to explicitly determine the order in
which operators are processed. True or False?
12. Which of the following is NOT a standard SQL-99 function introduced
in this chapter?
(a) CAST
(b) AVG
(c) CURRENT_DATE
(d) UPPER
13. Which aggregate function returns the total of all numeric values in a col-
umn?
(a) SUM
(b) TOTAL
(c) MAX
(d) COUNT
14. When does a LIKE expression evaluate as true?
(a) when two operands are numerically identical
(b) when two operands are logically identical
(c) when an operand matches a pattern
(d) when two Boolean expressions both evaluate as true
220 UNDERSTANDING THE SQL LANGUAGE

15. Which operator is used to test for a value within a range?

(a) LIKE
(b) BETWEEN
(c) <>
(d) !
16. Which operator returns the integer remainder of a division?
(a) ||
(b) *
(c) &
(d) %
17. What are the basic DDL statement types?
(a) CREATE
(b) ALTER
(c) DROP
(d) all of the above
18. Which of the following keywords are supported in the Microsoft SQL
Server version of the CREATE TABLE statement?
(a) DEFAULT
(b) GLOBAL
(c) LOCAL
(d) COMMIT
19. Vendor implementations of DML statements always support all keywords
defined by the SQL standard. True or False?
20. Which command is used to remove rows matching a qualifying condition
from a database table?
(a) DROP
(b) DELETE
(c) TRUNCATE TABLE
(d) none of the above

Applying This Chapter

1. You are designing a database application. You have selected the application
development language, but not the DBMS. You want a DBMS that supports
as broad a base of features as possible. Should you select a DBMS based
strictly on the SQL language standard? Why or why not? Why is the avail-
ability of product-specific documentation a selection issue?
 APPLYING THIS CHAPTER 221

2. You need to design SELECT statements to retrieve data from database

tables in a Microsoft SQL Server database. When would you use an
asterisk in the SELECT clause? When is the FROM clause required?
When is the WHERE clause required? When are neither FROM nor
WHERE needed with the SELECT statement?
3. You are designing a database application that will be used to enter,
retrieve, and update data in the database. You want to minimize the
user’s understanding of table structure, including column names and data
types. In addition, many operations require calculations based on dates
stored in database tables and the number of months or days between
selected dates. Should you rely on interactive or embedded SQL? Why?
When performing calculations, how can you ensure that operators are
processed in the order you want? In this specific example, why should
you choose a DBMS that extends the basic SQL language standard as
your database platform?
YOU TRY IT

Using Standard SQL Figure 6-6

You are providing command specifications for a data-
base application. The specific DBMS product has not (d) PRODUCT table
been chosen, so, for the initial draft you are using
sample commands and functions using SQL standard PRODNUM PRODNAME UNITPRICE
syntax.

1. Why should you avoid the use of the DEFAULT

16386 Wrench 12.95
VALUES keyword with draft application version 19440 Hammer 17.50
INSERT commands? 21765 Drill 32.99
2. When adding records to a table, what are the 24013 Saw 26.25
conditions under which you are NOT required to 26722 Pilers 11.50
provide a value for a table column?
3. You want to create a table named Ops.Quick
PRODUCTS table.
Check. You are not defining a primary key or any
constraints at this time. The column names and
3. You want to change the price of the hammer
data types are listed below. What statement would
listed in Figure 6-6 to 18.01. Show two ways you
you run?
could do this.
Validation char(4)
4. Assuming that Figure 6-6 is a partial list of the
EnterBy int
table contents, what would you run to delete all
CheckBy int
hammers from the table?
Status varchar(20)
4. You decide you may need to periodically delete
and recreate Ops.QuickCheck. How would you Using SQL Server
remove the table from the database? You are creating a database application that will use
Microsoft SQL Server as its DBMS. You are developing
Data Modification Language command statements that will be used as embeded
You are writing command statements based on the SQL in the application.
table shown in Figure 6-6, as well as other tables in the
General Hardware Company database. Use standard 1. The ORDER table includes the Quantity and
SQL syntax for the commands unless otherwise Price columns. You need to find the total ex-
specified. tended prices (Price times Quantity) for all items
in the ORDER table. What should you run?
1. If this is the full table contents and you run a SE- 2. The DAILYRUN table has six columns, including
LECT statement with a select list and no WHERE an identity column. Each evening, you need to
clause, how many rows will it return? Explain remove all rows from DAILYRUN and reset the
your answer. identity to its seed value. What should you run?
2. Assume that PRODNUM values are generated 3. The CALCS table has the columns ID, C1, C2,
automatically. Write statements to add the fol- and C3. C1 and C2 accept NULL values. C2 and
lowing: C3 have defined default values. You want to add
PRODNAME UNITPRICE a row to the column, assign a NULL value to C1
Bit 1.47 and C2, and accept the default for C3. What
Torch 211.44 should you run?
222
 7
DATA ACCESS AND
MANIPULATION

Starting Point
Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of SQL
language use.
Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

▲ SELECT statement keywords and clauses
▲ The use of joins and subqueries
▲ The fundamentals of writing batches and scripts

After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To

▲ Use common SELECT statement keywords
▲ Design, write, and use queries to retrieve and organize data
▲ Design, write, and use queries that group data and calculate values using
aggregate functions
▲ Design, write, and use queries that join two or more tables
▲ Design, write, and use queries that use nested subqueries to retrieve data
▲ Given data requirements, choose either a join or subquery as the best data
retrieval solution
▲ Design, write, and execute batches and scripts
▲ Use variables in batch execution
▲ Control batch execution based on Boolean expressions
224 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

INTRODUCTION
The primary reason for designing and deploying a database is to support a busi-
ness. A production database provides support for day-to-day business activities.
A decision support database provides the information needed to make strategic
business decisions. With both types of databases, a large percentage of the activ-
ity is related to retrieving data. Because of this, it is important to have a good
understanding of what you can do with the SELECT statement, keeping in mind
that the features available to you will depend on the DBMS you select for your
database solution. It also helps to understand the role that batches and scripts
can play in automating recurring procedures.

7.1 Using SELECT Statement Advanced Syntax

The SELECT statement is one of the major workhorse statements of the SQL
language. It is the primary statement for data retrieval, but that simple statement
falls short of describing its full capabilities. The clauses available with the
SELECT statement let you specify the precise information retrieved from data-
base tables, how it is sorted and organized, and even how information is grouped
to return summary information.
In its most basic form for retrieving data, the SELECT statement uses the
following syntax:
SELECT column_list FROM source WITH search_conditions

The column_list specifies the columns (fields) you want to return and can
include calculated values. Use an asterisk (*) as the column_list to have the state-
ment return all columns from a table. The source can include tables, views, and
table-valued user-defined functions, which are special functions supported by
some DBMSs that you can design and create to meet specific data retrieval needs.
The optional search_condition is used to filter the result so that you only get the
rows (records) that you actually want in your result.
This, however, is just the starting point for the SELECT statement. In order
to learn more about its features and functionality, you need to see more of the
statement syntax.

7.1.1 Understanding SELECT Statement Syntax

Let’s take a more complete look at the SELECT statement syntax. When you get
into advanced keywords and options, the available functionality becomes some-
what DBMS-specific. For our examples, we’re using the SELECT statement as
implemented in Microsoft SQL Server 2005.
 7.1.1 UNDERSTANDING SELECT STATEMENT SYNTAX 225

SELECT column_list [ALL | DISTINCT]

[TOP expression [PERCENT] [WITH TIES]]
[INTO table_name]
FROM source [[INNER|OUTER|CROSS] JOIN]
WHERE search_condition
[ORDER BY order_expression [ASC] | [DESC]]
[GROUP BY [ALL] group_expression]
[HAVING search_condition]

This is still not the complete SELECT statement syntax. There are some fea-
tures and functionality supported by the SELECT statement that are beyond the
scope of this text. A discussion of some of the remaining keywords and options,
at this point, might do more to confuse than to enlighten.
Because of this, you might see uses of the SELECT statement that include
keywords not presented here, such as the FOR XML clause that is used to return
database table data formatted as an XML document fragment, a portion of an
XML document containing data organized in a hierarchical fashion. Refer to the
Books Online that install with SQL Server and the Microsoft Developer Network
(MSDN) Web site for more complete information on advanced SELECT statement
syntax (in SQL Server) and keywords not covered as part of this text.
Table 7-1 has a brief explanation of the additional keywords introduced here.
You will get a chance to see these keywords used in this chapter.

Table 7-1: SELECT Statement Keywords

Keyword Description
ALL Default option, specifying that all results, including
duplicate rows, are returned.
DISTINCT Limits result set to distinct (non-duplicate) rows only.
TOP Used to limit the result set to a set number or percentage
of the rows returned.
INTO Create the table specified as table_name based on the
result.
JOIN Combines two or more data sources in a single statement
based on the values in specific joining columns.
ORDER BY Sets the order in which rows are returned.
GROUP BY Used to group rows by column value for generation of
aggregate value results.
HAVING Used with the GROUP BY statement to filter the result.
226 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

The easiest way to understand how these keywords work is to see them
in use. For this purpose, we’ll use a database based on the fictitious General
Hardware Company business. Figure 7-1 is a SQL Server database diagram of
General Hardware showing you the tables contained in the database.
The key icon identifies each table’s primary key. The links between tables
identify foreign key relationships established between the tables. These relation-
ships are used to maintain relational integrity between the tables. If you want to
retrieve data based on these relationships, you must use joining statements,
which are statements that combine results from multiple tables.

7.1.2 Filtering Your Result

Let’s start with options for filtering your result. You can use the comparison oper-
ators ⫽, ⬎, ⬎⫽, ⬍, ⬍⫽, and both ⬍⬎ and !⫽ for “not equal to” for simple
filtering. If you need to combine conditions, use the AND and OR operators:

▲ AND: the search condition is satisfied if both conditions are satisfied.

▲ OR: the search condition is satisfied if either condition is satisfied.

Using AND and OR

When using both AND and OR, AND is evaluated first. You may need to use
parentheses to control operator precedence or to leave no question about how
a query is evaluated. For example, the following query uses parentheses, even
though operators are evaluated in default order:
SELECT CUSTNUM, CUSTNAME FROM CUSTOMER
WHERE HQCITY=’New York’ OR
(CUSTNUM>1500 AND HQCITY=’Atlanta’)

This query captures customers with an HQCITY value of New York, as well as
those who meet both of the remaining conditions, CUSTNUM over 1500 and
an HQCITY of Atlanta. This results in:
CUSTNUM CUSTNAME
0121 Main St. Hardware
1525 Fred’s Tool Stores
1826 City Hardware
2198 Western Hardware
2267 Central Stores

If you want the OR operator evaluated first, you would use the following
query:
SELECT CUSTNUM, CUSTNAME FROM CUSTOMER
WHERE (HQCITY=’New York’ OR CUSTNUM>1500) AND
HQCITY=’Atlanta’
 7.1.2 FILTERING YOUR RESULT 227

Figure 7-1

General Hardware Company.

228 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

The result changes significantly. In this case, only one row qualifies:
CUSTNUM CUSTNAME
1525 Fred’s Tool Stores

This would mean that, with the AND outside of the parentheses, both of two
conditions have to be met for a row to qualify for the results. One condition is
that the headquarters city is New York or the customer number is greater than
1500. The other condition is that the headquarters city is Atlanta. Since for a
given row the headquarters city can’t be both Atlanta and New York, the result
is extremely limited.

Using BETWEEN and IN

Another way to filter results is to use the BETWEEN and IN keywords.
BETWEEN filters values in a range. You might use BETWEEN to retrieve recent
orders by order number or to retrieve records from a table by date. Say that you
include a date and time stamp when you enter new customer records. You could
then, for example, use BETWEEN to find all customer records added between
1990 and 1999.
Suppose that you want to find the customer records for those customers
whose customer numbers are between 1000 and 1700, inclusive (meaning that
both 1000 and 1700, as well as all numbers in between, are included). Rather
than using the AND operator, you could use BETWEEN, as in the following:
SELECT CUSTNUM, CUSTNAME FROM CUSTOMER
WHERE CUSTNUM BETWEEN 1000 AND 1700

The qualifying records are:

CUSTNUM CUSTNAME
1047 Acme Hardware Store
1525 Fred’s Tool Stores
1700 XYZ Stores

Suppose that you want to find the customer records for those customers
headquartered in Atlanta, Chicago, or Washington. Rather than using the OR
operator, you can use the IN keyword with a list of qualifying values, as in the
following query:
SELECT CUSTNUM, HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER
WHERE HQCITY IN (’Atlanta’, ’Chicago’, Washington’)

This returns:
CUSTNUM CUSTNAME
0839 Chicago
1525 Atlanta
1700 Washington
 7.1.3 MANAGING YOUR RESULT SET 229

Using LIKE
You get even more flexibility when you use the LIKE operator and its supported
wildcard characters for pattern matching, so you can filter by results that match
any string of characters (%), any single character (__), characters in a range or
set ([]), or that don’t match a specific character ([^]). Common uses of the LIKE
keyword are to retrieve customers by name or geographically by the first few
numbers in the customer’s ZIP code. For example, you could look for all cus-
tomers with a name beginning with the letter C using:
SELECT * FROM CUSTOMER WHERE CUSTNAME LIKE ’C%’

Or, you can reverse the logic and return those customers whose names don’t
begin with the letter C.:
SELECT * FROM CUSTOMER WHERE CUSTNAME LIKE ’[^C]%’

You can combine the wildcard characters in different ways to give you con-
trol over the result. For example, consider this query:
SELECT CUSTNAME FROM CUSTOMER
WHERE CUSTNAME LIKE ’C_t%’

What will this return? You’ll get customer names that have the first letter C, any
character (including a space) in the second character position, the letter t, and
then any other character string. The result would be:
CUSTNAME
City Hardware

When stringing together different operators and keywords to filter your

result, be careful that you don’t limit yourself to the point where you have con-
flicting criteria so that no records would ever be able to qualify. Keep the filter-
ing logic in your search conditions as simple as possible. It will be easier to read
and understand, and often will require less overhead to process.

7.1.3 Managing Your Result Set

One of the main ways you manage your result set is through the column list.
You can include columns from source tables, views, and functions, computed
values as computed columns, and values returned by aggregate functions. You
can specify a column name as part to column list, as well. For example, sup-
pose you want to know how much the PRODUCT inventory is worth. To find
out, you might run a statement like the following:
SELECT PRODNUM, (QOH * UNITPRICE) AS [VALUE]
FROM PRODUCT
230 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

This gives you the following result:

PRODNUM VALUE
16386 647.50
19440 175.00
19441 337.40
21765 329.90
21766 491.35
24013 367.50
26722 34.50

This gives you the calculated value based on the quantity on hand times the unit
price. The resulting column is named VALUE, as specified in the query.
To limit this to returning just the first three rows, you could run the
following:
SELECT TOP 3 PRODNUM, (QOH * UNITPRICE) AS [VALUE]
FROM PRODUCT

Limiting the returned rows usually makes more sense if you are also ordering
the result. You’ll learn how to do that a little later in this chapter.
What if you want a more permanent record of the result? You can use the
INTO keyword to write the result to a table. For example:
SELECT PRODNUM, (QOH * UNITPRICE) AS [VALUE]
INTO PRODVAL FROM PRODUCT

This creates the table PRODVAL in the default database (GeneralHardware).

The table has two columns, PRODNUM and VALUE, and the results you saw
earlier as the table rows. When using INTO, the destination table cannot
already exist. If you attempted to run the same statement again, you’d get the
following error:
Msg 2714, Level 16, State 6, Line 1
There is already an object named ’PRODVAL’ in the
database.

Keep in mind that error text and error message numbers are DBMS-specific.
This is the error that you would see using SQL Server 2005 if you specify a table
name that already exists. If you do want to recreate the same table, you must
drop the table before running the query.
Next, let’s take a quick look at the DISTINCT keyword. Suppose you want
to find out which salespersons currently have one or more customers assigned.
To do so, you might run a statement like the following:
SELECT SPNUM FROM CUSTOMER

Using the data in our sample database, the result you get is:
 7.1.4 SORTING, ORGANIZING, AND GROUPING DATA 231

SPNUM
137
186
137
137
361
361
137
204
186
Notice that most of the salesperson numbers are listed more than once in the
result. Supposed you don’t need to know how many times the salesperson is
listed, but whether or not the number appears in the list. To limit the result to
unique values, you would run the query as:
SELECT DISTINCT SPNUM FROM CUSTOMER
This time, you only get four rows back. Here’s the result:
SPNUM
137
186
204
361
As you can see in this example, use the DISTINCT keyword when you want to
specifically limit the result to unique values only.
Here’s a slightly different pair of examples:
SELECT SPNUM, HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER
SELECT DISTINCT SPNUM, HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER
Now, let’s compare the results side-by-side in Table 7-2.
The entire result must be duplicated for the row to be dropped. In this case,
it means the combination of SPNUM and HQCITY. This time, only two dupli-
cates are removed from the list: one for SPNUM 137 and New York and the
other for 137 and Los Angeles. The rest are all unique.

7.1.4 Sorting, Organizing, and Grouping Data

As mentioned earlier, when using the TOP keyword, it’s likely that you want to
retrieve records in a particular order. By default, rows are returned in table order,
that is, the order in which the records are stored. If the table has a clustered
index, table order is the same as that index order. If not, then table order is usu-
ally the order in which the rows are added to the table.
Sorting Data with ORDER BY
Here’s an example of a situation where you would want rows returned in a
specific order:
232 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

Table 7-2: Comparing Results

Without DISTINCT With DISTINCT
SPNUM HQCITY SPNUM HQCITY
361 Atlanta 361 Atlanta
186 Chicago 186 Chicago
137 Los Angeles 137 Los Angeles
137 Los Angeles 137 New York
137 New York 186 New York
137 New York 204 New York
186 New York 361 Washington
204 New York
361 Washington

List the highest-cost products, based on UNITPRICE.

One way to get this information would be:
SELECT PRODNUM, PRODNAME, UNITPRICE
FROM PRODUCT

This gives you the following result:

PRODNUM PRODUCTNAME UNITPRICE
16386 Wrench 12.95
19440 Hammer 17.50
19441 Hammer 24.10
21765 Drill 32.99
21766 Drill 98.27
24013 Saw 26.25
26722 Pliers 11.50

However, it’s easier to see the highest cost products if you list them that way,
using a query like:
SELECT PRODNUM, PRODNAME, UNITPRICE
FROM PRODUCT ORDER BY UNITPRICE DESC

The result now is:

PRODNUM PRODUCTNAME UNITPRICE
21766 Drill 98.27
21765 Drill 32.99
 7.1.4 SORTING, ORGANIZING, AND GROUPING DATA 233

24013 Saw 26.25

19441 Hammer 24.10
19440 Hammer 17.50
16386 Wrench 12.95
26722 Pliers 11.50

You must include the DESC keyword to sort the results in descending order
(from highest to lowest). The default is to sort the result in ascending order.
You can also use the ASC keyword to explicitly specify an ascending order
sort.
What if you only want the top three items? This is where you would use
the TOP keyword, as in the following:
SELECT TOP 3 PRODNUM, PRODNAME, UNITPRICE
FROM PRODUCT ORDER BY UNITPRICE DESC

The result is still in the same order, but is limited to the first three rows only.
PRODNUM PRODUCTNAME UNITPRICE
21766 Drill 98.27
21765 Drill 32.99
24013 Saw 26.25

You can specify multiple columns in the ORDER BY clause. The result is
sorted by all of the columns, with the first columns listed having the highest
precedence. For example, you might want to do the following:
List the contents of the sales table sorted by PRODNUM. When there are
multiple rows with the same PRODNUM value, sort them by SPNUM.
The query for this might be:
SELECT * FROM SALES
ORDER BY PRODNUM, SPNUM

This gives you the following result:

SPNUM PRODNUM QUANTITY
186 16386 1745
361 16386 3729
137 19440 473
186 19440 2529
186 21765 1962
204 21765 809
361 21765 3110
137 24013 170
186 24013 3071
137 26722 688
204 26722 734
361 26722 2738
234 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

If you change column order in the ORDER BY clause, the result also changes
significantly. For example, the query:
SELECT * FROM SALES
ORDER BY SPNUM, PRODNUM

gives you the following result:

SPNUM PRODNUM QUANTITY
137 19440 473
137 24013 170
137 26722 688
186 16386 1745
186 19440 2529
186 21765 1962
186 24013 3071
204 21765 809
204 26722 734
361 16386 3729
361 21765 3110
361 26722 2738

The query still returns the same rows, but returns them in a different order.
It’s important to note that the column or columns used in the ORDER BY
list don’t necessarily have to be part of the SELECT clause column list. For exam-
ple, the following query would run without generating an error:
SELECT PRODNUM, PRODUCTNAME FROM PRODUCT
WHERE QOO =0 ORDER BY QOH

Let’s break down exactly what this is requesting. The query should return the
PRODNUM and PRODUCTNAME columns, limited to those columns in which
the QOO (quantity on order) column has a value of 0. Sort the result in ascend-
ing order by the value in the QOH (quantity on hand) column. This gives you
the following result:
PRODNUM PRODUCTNAME
26722 Pliers
21765 Drill
24013 Saw
19441 Hammer
16386 Wrench

Notice in the SELECT statement that neither QOO or QOH is included in the
SELECT column list.

Organizing Data with GROUP BY

In addition to ordering the result, you can also group the rows in the result.
Many situations require calculations on several different groups of rows using
 7.1.4 SORTING, ORGANIZING, AND GROUPING DATA 235

the GROUP BY clause. For instance, suppose you wanted to find the total num-
ber of units of all products that each salesperson has sold. That is, you want to
group together the rows of the SALES table that belong to each salesperson and
calculate a value—the sum of the Quantity attribute values in this case—for each
such group. Here is the way such a query might be stated:
Find the total number of units of all products sold by each salesperson.
The SQL statement, using the GROUP BY clause, would look like this:
SELECT SPNUM, SUM(QUANTITY) AS [SUM]
FROM SALES GROUP BY SPNUM

This query produces the following result:

SPNUM SUM
137 1331
186 9307
204 1543
361 9577

Notice that GROUP BY SPNUM specifies that the rows of the table are to
be grouped together based on having the same value in their SPNUM attribute.
All of the rows for Salesperson Number 137 will form one group, all of the rows
for Salesperson Number 186 will form another group, and so on. The Quantity
attribute values in each group will then be summed—SUM(QUANTITY)—
and the results returned to the user. But it is not enough to provide a list of
sums:
1331
9307
1543
9577

These are the sums of the quantities for each salesperson, but because they
don’t identify which salesperson goes with which sum, they are meaningless!
That’s why the SELECT clause includes both SPNUM and SUM(QUANTITY).
Including the attribute(s) specified in the GROUP BY clause in the SELECT
clause allows you to properly identify the sums calculated for each group. A SQL
statement with a GROUP BY clause may also include a WHERE clause. Thus the
query
Find the total number of units of all products sold by each salesperson
whose salesperson number is at least 150.
would look like:
SELECT SPNUM, SUM(QUANTITY) AS [SUM]
FROM SALES WHERE SPNUM> =150 GROUP BY SPNUM
236 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

The results would be:

SPNUM SUM
186 9307
204 1543
361 9577

In addition to the SUM aggregate function, you could use GROUP BY with
other aggregate functions such as AVG and COUNT. You cannot, however, use one
function to evaluate the result of another function. Consider the following query:
Find the average number of units of all products sold by each salesperson.
You might want to use a query like the following:
SELECT SPNUM, AVG(SUM(QUANTITY)) AS [AVG]
FROM SALES GROUP BY SPNUM

However, this query returns the error:

Msg 130, Level 15, State 1, Line 1
Cannot perform an aggregate function on an expression
containing an aggregate or a subquery.

Combining GROUP BY, ORDER BY, and HAVING

When using GROUP BY, you are limited as to what you can include in the
SELECT clause column list. All columns must either be aggregate values or be
called out in the GROUP BY clause. Using the GROUP BY clause also puts an
additional limit on the ORDER BY clause. When using ORDER BY with GROUP
BY, the ORDER BY list is limited to either aggregates or columns included in the
GROUP BY clause. The following would be a valid query:
SELECT SPNUM, SUM(QUANTITY) AS [SUM]
FROM SALES GROUP BY SPNUM ORDER BY SPUM

Or you could run:

SELECT SPNUM, SUM(QUANTITY) AS [SUM]
FROM SALES GROUP BY SPNUM ORDER BY SUM(QUANTITY)

Sometimes there is a need to limit the results of a GROUP BY based on the

values calculated for each group using built-in functions. For example, take the
following query:
Find the total number of units of all products sold by each salesperson
whose salesperson number is at least 150.
You could modify it with an additional sentence so that it reads:
Find the total number of units of all products sold by each salesperson
whose salesperson number is at least 150. Only include salespersons
whose total number of units sold is at least 5000.
 7.1.5 UNDERSTANDING OPERATOR PRECEDENCE 237

The query can accomplish this by adding a HAVING clause to the end of
the SELECT statement, as follows:
SELECT SPNUM, SUM(QUANTITY) AS [SUM]
FROM SALES WHERE SPNUM>=150 GROUP BY SPNUM
HAVING SUM(QUANTITY)>=5000

This gives you the following result:

SPNUM SUM
186 9307
361 9577

Salesperson Number 204, whose total is only 1543 units sold, is dropped from
the results.
Notice that in this last SELECT statement, there are two limits specified. One
limit, that the Salesperson Number must be at least 150, appears in the WHERE
clause as filter logic. The other limit, that the sum of the number of units sold
must be at least 5000, appears in the HAVING clause. It is important to under-
stand why this is so. If the limit is based on individual attribute values that appear
in the database, then the condition goes in the WHERE clause, in this example,
the Salesperson Number value. If the limit is based on the group calculation per-
formed with a built-in function, then the condition goes in the HAVING clause.
In our example, this is the case with the sum of the number of product units sold.
In queries like the one used here, the order in which keywords appear in
the statement is also critical. HAVING can be used only with the GROUP BY
clause. The GROUP BY clause must always precede HAVING. You have the same
restriction when using both GROUP BY and ORDER BY. The GROUP BY clause
must always come before the ORDER BY clause.

7.1.5 Understanding Operator Precedence

Before going much further, we need to take a moment to talk about operator
precedence. Expressions used in SELECT statements and filtering expressions can
become quite complex. You have some control over precedence through the use
of parentheses, but it may help to see commonly used operators, ranked by
precedence. Table 7-3 lists operators from highest to lowest precedence. Opera-
tors at the same precedence level are evaluated from left to right. When the same
symbol is used for two operations (for example the ⫹ symbol, or the ⫽ sym-
bol), the type of operation that is being performed can be determined by the
context in which the symbol is used.
This list is for operators implementing in SQL Server’s Transact-SQL lan-
guage. The term bitwise operator might be one you have not previously encoun-
tered. Bitwise operations are performed at the binary (bit-by-bit) level. The
precedence can vary by DBMS implementation.
238 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

Table 7-3: Operator Precedence

Level Operators
1 ~ (bitwise not, invert bit values)
2 * (multiplication)
/ (division)
% (modulo division)
3 ⫹ (set numeric to positive)
⫺ (negate numeric value)
⫹ (add)
⫺ (subtract)
⫹ (concatenate)
& (bitwise AND comparison)
4 ⫽ (equality comparison)
⬎ (greater than comparison)
⬍ (less than comparison)
⬎⫽ (greater than or equal to comparison)
⬍⫽ (less than or equal to comparison)
⬍⬎ (or !⫽) (not equal to comparison)
!⬎ (not greater than)
!⬍ (not less than)
5 ^ (bitwise exclusive OR comparison)
| (bitwise OR comparison)
6 NOT (negate logical value)
7 AND (logical AND comparison)
8 ALL (compare all values in a set)
ANY (compare for any value instance in a set)
BETWEEN (test for value in a range)
IN (test for value instance in a set)
LIKE (compare similar values based on literal text and wildcards)
SOME (test for one or more instance occurrences in a set)
9 ⫽ (assign value)
 7.1.6 COMBINING STATEMENT RESULTS 239

7.1.6 Combining Statement Results

You can combine the results from different SELECT statements using the
UNION, EXCEPT, and INTERSECT keywords. In each case, both SELECT state-
ments you are trying to combine must have:

▲ The same number of columns.

▲ Columns in the same order.
▲ Columns with compatible (but not necessarily the same) data types.

The UNION operator combines the results of two queries into one. The final
result is a list of unique rows unless you also include the ALL keyword, with
the syntax UNION ALL. UNION ALL returns all rows, including duplicate rows.
First, let’s look at a sample query:
SELECT HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER WHERE SPNUM = 137

This gives you the following result:

HQCITY
New York
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
New York
The next query is:
SELECT HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER WHERE SPNUM = 186
The result is:
HQCITY
Chicago
New York
Finally, combining the two with UNION, as in:
SELECT HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER WHERE SPNUM = 137
UNION
SELECT HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER WHERE SPNUM = 186
gives you, as a final result:
HQCITY
Chicago
Los Angeles
New York
As you can see, the result lists all three unique cities, listing each one only once.
The EXCEPT keyword returns results in the first query that do not appear
in the second. In this case, we’re going to use a different second query to get
some different values for comparison. This time, the query is:
SELECT HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER WHERE SPNUM = 186
240 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

The result is:

HQCITY
Chicago
New York
Now combine the two with the EXCEPT keyword:
SELECT HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER WHERE SPNUM = 137
EXCEPT
SELECT HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER WHERE SPNUM = 186

The result is:

HQCITY
Los Angeles
This is because the second query returned Chicago and New York. New York
was returned by both queries, and therefore is excluded when you combine the
queries with EXCEPT. You get the opposite result when you use the INTERSECT
keyword. It returns the values that appear in both queries. For example:
SELECT HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER WHERE SPNUM = 137
INTERSECT
SELECT HQCITY FROM CUSTOMER WHERE SPNUM = 186
gives you the following result:
HQCITY
New York
This is because New York is the only city that was included in the result set of
both queries.

7.1.7 Using SELECT with Other Commands

You can also use SELECT as the value source with other statements. To see this,
we’ll use a couple of examples using the INSERT and UPDATE statements.
You can use a SELECT statement to replace the values clause when using
INSERT. For example, suppose you have a table named EmpCopy with three
columns: EmployeeNumber, FirstName, and LastName. You want to use values
from SALESPERSON as your source. You might use a statement like the following:
INSERT EmpCopy SELECT SPNUM, SPNAME, SPFIRSTNAME
FROM SALESPERSON
In this example, SELECT is used as a clause of the INSERT statement. Notice
that you do not enclose the SELECT clause in parentheses in this statement. The
only result returned by the command is a message specifying how many rows
are inserted by the operation.
You can also use SELECT in situations where a scalar input value is expected.
Consider the following:
 7.1.7 USING SELECT WITH OTHER COMMANDS 241

Restructure the salesperson commission program as an interim measure

while the new program is finalized. Reset everyone’s commission to an
average of all current commissions.

FOR EXAMPLE
Combining Keywords
One of the real strengths of the SELECT queries lies in what you can do by
combining keywords in different ways to get the exact results that you want.
GROUP BY, for example, is useful in generating all types of summary result
reports. For example, you might want to generate a report that provides a
daily sales report by salesperson over a month. You would use the GROUP
BY clause with two grouping conditions, grouping first by day and then by
salesperson. Suppose you have an ORDER_HEAD table from which you can
get this information. You might use:
SELECT SPNUM, SPNAME, SUM(ORDER_TOT)
FROM ORDER_HEAD
GROUP BY DAY_DATE, SPNUM, SPNAME

This would return a result grouped first by day, and then within that group,
by salesperson. The SPNUM and SPNAME groupings are identical. The rea-
son you need to have both in the GROUP BY clause is so that you can have
both in the SELECT list. Otherwise, either one could be used by itself to
define the grouping. This particular query, however, might not give you the
information in the format in which you need it. It would probably be eas-
ier to review the result if you return the result in SPNUM order, by adding
an ORDER BY clause, as in:
SELECT SPNUM, SPNAME, SUM(ORDER_TOT)
FROM ORDER_HEAD
GROUP BY DAY_DATE, SPNUM, SPNAME
ORDER BY SPNUM

In this situation, you couldn’t order the result by SPNAME. Why not?
Because it isn’t an aggregate and it doesn’t appear in the GROUP BY clause.
If you wanted, to sort by SPNAME, you might change the query to read:
SELECT SPNUM, SPNAME, SUM(ORDER_TOT)
FROM ORDER_HEAD
GROUP BY DAY_DATE, SPNAME, SPNUM
ORDER BY SPNAME
242 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

The statement needed to do this is actually rather simple.

UPDATE SALESPERSON SET COMMPERCT =
(SELECT AVG(COMMPERCT) FROM SALESPERSON)

The result only tells you how many rows are updated. To see the effect of the
change, you would need to retrieve the row data from the SALESPERSON table
and be sure and include the COMMPERCT column.

SELF-CHECK
• Describe the purpose of the TOP, DISTINCT, GROUP BY, ORDER
BY, and HAVING keywords.
• Describe the limits on the ORDER BY clause when used with the
GROUP BY clause.
• Compare and contrast the use of UNION, EXCEPT, and INTERSECT.

7.2 Using Joins and Subqueries

More advanced queries are possible using joins and subqueries. A join is a query
that combines columns from two or more sources. Effectively, you are reversing
the non-loss decomposition process used to normalize the database, pulling the
related data back together in a combined result. Technically, you can only join
two sources, such as two tables. When you need to join more sources, you do
it in twos. You join two tables, then join that result to a third table, and so on.
A subquery is another variation that uses multiple SELECT statements in a sin-
gle query. A subquery is a nested query, and can include several layers of nest-
ings, with the innermost query executed first.
A complete discussion of joins and subqueries is beyond the scope of this
text. Instead of trying to make you a query expert, the goal is to introduce you
to their use. This will give you the tools you need to meet the vast majority of
your data recovery needs.

7.2.1 Understanding Joins

Up to this point, all of the SELECT features that we have looked at have been
shown in the context of retrieving data from a single table. The time has come
to look at how the SELECT command combines (joins) columns from two or
more tables. To make a join work, two specifications must be made in the
SELECT statement. The tables to be joined must be listed in the FROM clause
 7.2.1 UNDERSTANDING JOINS 243

and the join attributes in the tables being joined must be declared and matched
to each other in the WHERE clause. Since two or more tables are involved in a
join, the same column (field) name may appear in more than one of the tables.
When this happens, the column names must be qualified with a table name
when used in the SELECT statement. All of this is best illustrated by an exam-
ple. Consider the following request:
Find the name of the salesperson responsible for Customer Number 1525.
A SELECT statement that will satisfy this query is:
SELECT SPNAME FROM SALESPERSON, CUSTOMER
WHERE SALESPERSON.SPNUM=CUSTOMER.SPNUM
AND CUSTNUM=1525

This returns, as you should expect, a single row:

SPNAME
Carlyle

In brief, the query uses filtering logic to limit the result to customer 1525 in the
CUSTOMER table. The tables are joined on the SPNUM column to locate the
correct salesperson name. We’ll take a closer look at this in a moment.
It’s common to use a table alias, where a different value is used to repre-
sent the table name, to reduce your typing when using joins. For example, you
might rewrite the previous example as:
SELECT SPNAME FROM SALESPERSON s, CUSTOMER c
WHERE s.SPNUM=c.SPNUM AND CUSTNUM=1525

The result would be the same because you haven’t made any changes to what
the SELECT statement is doing. You’ve just changed how you identify the tables
so you don’t have to retype the full table name each time.
Let’s break that SELECT statement down so that we can see exactly what’s
going on. Notice that the two tables involved in the join, SALESPERSON and
CUSTOMER, are listed in the FROM clause. Also notice that the first line of
the WHERE clause links the two join columns: SPNUM in the SALESPERSON
table (SALESPERSON.SPNUM) and SPNUM in the CUSTOMER table (CUS-
TOMER.SPNUM).
SALESPERSON.SPNUM=CUSTOMER.SPNUM

The notational device of having the table name, then a period, and then the
column name is known as qualifying the column name. This qualification is nec-
essary when the same name is used in two or more tables in a SELECT state-
ment, resulting in an ambiguous column reference. SPNAME and CUSTNUM
don’t have to be qualified because each appears in only one of the tables included
in the SELECT statement, so there is no question as to which column you want.
244 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

Here is an example of a join involving three tables, assuming for the moment
that salesperson names are unique:
List the names of the products of which salesperson Adams has sold more
than 2,000 units.
The salesperson name data appears only in the SALESPERSON table, and
the product name data appears only in the PRODUCT table. The SALES table
shows the linkage between the two, including the quantities sold. And so the
SELECT statement is:
SELECT PRODNAME FROM SALESPERSON, PRODUCT, SALES
WHERE SALESPERSON.SPNUM=SALES.SPNUM
AND SALES.PRODNUM=PRODUCT.PRODNUM
AND SPNAME=’Adams’ AND QUANTITY>2000

As described earlier, the SELECT statement joins two tables, SALESPERSON and
SALES, then joins this result to a third table, PRODUCT. The result is:
PRODUCTNAME
Hammer
Saw

Both of these are examples of inner joins. In an inner join, only qualifying
results are returned from the joined tables. There are two other types of joins
you can run: outer joins and cross joins. An outer join returns qualifying rows
from one table and all rows from the other (outer) table. A cross join returns
all possible rows, whether or not they meet the qualifying join logic, in every
possible combination. This is known as a Cartesian product. However, before
we show these, we need to introduce a different join syntax.

7.2.2 Using Different Join Syntaxes

Let’s look at a variation on our first join example.
SELECT SPNAME, CUSTNAME FROM SALESPERSON, CUSTOMER
WHERE SALESPERSON.SPNUM=CUSTOMER.SPNUM

This is an inner join. The result is limited to rows where the SPNUM meets the
qualifying logic in both tables, giving you the following result:
SPNAME CUSTNAME
Baker Main St. Hardware
Adams Jane’s Stores
Baker ABC Home Stores
Baker Acme Hardware Store
Carlyle Fred’s Tool Stores
Carlyle XYZ Stores
Baker City Hardware
 7.2.2 USING DIFFERENT JOIN SYNTAXES 245

Dickens Western Hardware

Adams Central Stores

The syntax used here, though supported by many DBMSs (including SQL
Server), is not the ANSI standard syntax for specifying a join. For that, you
would need to run:
SELECT SPNAME, CUSTNAME
FROM SALESPERSON JOIN CUSTOMER
ON (SALESPERSON.SPNUM=CUSTOMER.SPNUM)

The JOIN keyword identifies the joined table with the joining logic going in
the ON clause. You could have specified INNER JOIN instead of just JOIN, but
the INNER keyword is assumed. If you wanted to include additional qualifying
logic, you would add a WHERE clause and include the search argument there,
such as:
SELECT SPNAME, CUSTNAME
FROM SALESPERSON JOIN CUSTOMER
ON (SALESPERSON.SPNUM=CUSTOMER.SPNUM)
WHERE SALESPERSON.SPNUM=1525

To turn our initial example into an outer join, you might write it as:
SELECT SPNAME, CUSTNAME
FROM SALESPERSON LEFT OUTER JOIN CUSTOMER
ON (SALESPERSON.SPNUM=CUSTOMER.SPNUM)

In this query, rows from the SALESPERSON table are returned whether or not
they qualify. We know this because we specify a LEFT OUTER join. The LEFT
is in reference to the join logic, and as you can see, the SALESPERSON table is
on the left side of the equality operator. These are matched to NULL values for
columns in the right (CUSTOMER) table. This SELECT statement returns:
SPNAME CUSTNAME
Smith NULL
Potter NULL
Baker Main St. Hardware
Baker ABC Home Stores
Baker Acme Hardware Store
Baker City Hardware
Adams Jane’s Stores
Adams Central Stores
Dickens Western Hardware
Carlyle Fred’s Tool Stores
Carlyle XYZ Stores

This returns two additional SPNAME values, Smith and Potter. These salespersons
are not assigned any customers, so they are not included in the CUSTOMER
246 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

table. If you ran this as a RIGHT OUTER JOIN, the difference is that unquali-
fied rows in the RIGHT table (if any) would be returned by the query.
To return all rows and every possible column combination from both tables,
use a cross join. In this case, you would write the SELECT statement as:
SELECT SPNAME, CUSTNAME FROM SALESPERSON CROSS JOIN
CUSTOMER

Notice that there is no qualifying logic when you run a cross join. Rather
than qualifying the rows, you are returning all rows. Because the SALESPERSON
table has 6 rows and the CUSTOMER table has 9 rows, this query’s result set
would return a total of 54 rows, every possible combination. Let’s limit the result
a bit so we can see this a little easier. We’re going to limit our query to the first
three customers and the first three salespersons. The query becomes:
SELECT SPNAME, CUSTNAME
FROM SALESPERSON CROSS JOIN CUSTOMER
WHERE SALESPERSON.SPNUM < 140 AND CUSTNUM < 1000

From what you just learned, you would expect the result to return nine rows,
every combination of three customers with three salespersons. When you check
the result, you find that to be true:
SPNAME CUSTNAME
Smith Main St. Hardware
Smith Jane’s Stores
Smith ABC Home Stores
Potter Main St. Hardware
Potter Jane’s Stores
Potter ABC Home Stores
Baker Main St. Hardware
Baker Jane’s Stores
Baker ABC Home Stores

There are seldom many valid opportunities to use a cross join, especially in
a production database, though it is sometimes used as part of your analysis in
decision support databases.

7.2.3 Using Basic Subqueries

Subqueries, as mentioned earlier, are nested queries. This can occur through sev-
eral levels of SELECT statements, with each successive SELECT statement con-
tained in a pair of parentheses. We’re going to limit ourselves to the easiest type
of subquery to understand, where the nested (inner) query is used to retrieve a
value that is passed up to the outer query and used as input to the SELECT
statement. This is known as a noncorrelated subquery, because the inner query
does not depend on the outer query.
 7.2.3 USING BASIC SUBQUERIES 247

There is another type of query, known as a correlated subquery, where

the inner query depends on values passed to it by the outer query. This is a
more advanced type of subquery and is beyond the scope of this chapter’s
discussion.
In a noncorrelated subquery, the nested query is used in the qualifying logic
in the WHERE clause. When you have multiple layers of nesting, the execution
rule is that the innermost SELECT statement is executed first, and its results are
then provided as input to the SELECT statement at the next level up. This pro-
cedure can be used as an alternative to the join.
Consider the following query:
Find the name of the salesperson responsible for Customer Number
1525.
You’ve already seen how you can do this as a join. When you have the option
of using either a join or a subquery, you should usually use the join because it
typically requires fewer resources to resolve. However, let’s look at resolving this
as a subquery to illustrate how a subquery works.
If you methodically weave through the database tables to solve this query,
you start at the CUSTOMER table, find the record for Customer Number 1525,
and discover in that record that the salesperson responsible for this customer is
Salesperson Number 361. You then take that information to the SALESPERSON
table where you look up the record for Salesperson Number 361 and discover
in it that the salesperson’s name is Carlyle. Writing this as a subquery, you can
build this logic into an SQL statement as:
SELECT SPNAME FROM SALESPERSON
WHERE SPNUM=
(SELECT SPNUM FROM CUSTOMER WHERE CUSTNUM=1525)

Just as when you used a join to retrieve this information, the query returns a
single row, as follows:
SPNAME
Carlyle

Let’s break down this query statement and take a closer look at what it’s
doing. Because the innermost SELECT (the indented one), which constitutes the
subquery, is considered first, the CUSTOMER table is queried first. The record
for Customer Number 1525 is found and 361 is returned as the SPNUM result.
How do you know that only one salesperson number will be found as the result
of the query? Because CUSTNUM contains unique values, Customer Number
1525 can only appear in one record, and that one record only has room for one
salesperson number! Moving along, Salesperson Number 361 is then fed to the
outer SELECT statement, which, in effect, makes the main query, that is, the outer
SELECT, look like:
248 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

SELECT SPNAME
FROM SALESPERSON
WHERE SPNUM=361

The result, as you already know from the previous result, is:
SPNAME
Carlyle

As already stated, the preferred method (when possible) is to use a join to

retrieve data. However, this is not always possible. There is a very interesting
circumstance in which a subquery is required. This situation is best explained
with an example. Consider the following query:
Which salespersons with salesperson numbers greater than 200 have the
lowest commission percentage of any such salesperson, with salespersons
identified by salesperson number?
This appears to be a reasonable request, but turns out to be deceptively difficult
to fill. This is because the query really has two very different parts to it. First,
the system has to determine what the lowest commission percentage is for sales-
persons with a salesperson number greater than 200. Second, it has to see which
of these salespersons is assigned that lowest percentage. It’s really tempting to
try to satisfy this type of query with an SQL SELECT statement like:
SELECT SPNUM, MIN(COMMPERCT)
FROM SALESPERSON WHERE SPNUM>200

Another possibility you might consider is:

SELECT SPNUM FROM SALESPERSON
WHERE SPNUM>200 AND COMMPERCT=MIN(COMMPERCT)

The problem is that neither of these will give you the result you want. It’s
like asking SQL to perform two separate operations and somehow apply one to
the other in the correct sequence. This turns out to be asking too much. But
there is a way to accomplish the query, and it involves subqueries. You need to
ask the system to determine the minimum commission percentage first, in a sub-
query, and then use that information in the main query to determine which sales-
persons have that value in the COMMPERCT column:
SELECT SPNUM FROM SALESPERSON
WHERE SPNUM>200 AND COMMPERCT=
(SELECT MIN(COMMPERCT)
FROM SALESPERSON WHERE SPNUM>200)

This gives you the result:

SPNUM
204
 7.2.3 USING BASIC SUBQUERIES 249

FOR EXAMPLE
Practical Joins
Most database applications make extensive use of joins. In fact, the closer
you come to the 3NF goal, the greater the need for joins when retrieving
data. Sometimes, joins can become quite complicated. Consider this
situation. You structure customer orders so that they use two tables,
ORDER_HEAD and ORDER_DETAIL. When you print a copy of the order
for the customer, you want it to include the order number, customer name,
the employee who wrote the order, the date, and the detail line items with
descriptions. In a properly normalized database, you won’t store the customer
or employee names in the ORDER_HEAD table, just the identifying values
so you can retrieve the information from the appropriate related tables.
Internally, your application would use a SELECT statement to retrieve
the data. Actually, it would probably use two SELECT statements: one to
retrieve the header information and a second to get the detail line times. In
the application, you would probably use a replaceable parameter for the
order number, so we’ll do the same in our example. If you use @ordnum
for the order number, the first SELECT statement might look like:
SELECT C.COMPANYNAME, E.FIRSTNAME + ’ ’ + E.LASTNAME,
O.ORDERNUM, O.ORDERDATE
FROM ORDER_HEAD O, CUSTOMER C, EMPLOYEE E
WHERE C.CUSTID = O.CUSTID AND E.EMPID ⫽ O.EMPID
AND
O.ORDERNUMBER = @ORDNUM

In this statement, you join the ORDER_HEAD table to the CUSTOMER table
on CustID and then join the result to EMPLOYEE on EmpID.
Now, to get the detail line item information, you might use:
SELECT D.ITEMNUM, P.DESCRIPTION, D.QUANTITY,
D.SELLPRICE, (D.QUANTITY*D.SELLPRICE)
FROM ORDER_DETAIL D, PRODUCT P
WHERE P.PRODUCTID = D.SKUNUM AND D.ORDERNUM = @ORDNUM

There are a couple of additional things you should notice about these state-
ments. In each case, the joining column is not part of the result set. It’s used
to retrieve the result, but doesn’t need to appear anywhere in the result.
Also, in the second query, notice that the linking column has different names
in the ORDER_DETAIL and PRODUCT tables. The columns don’t have to
have the same names, just contain the same data. Also, as a final note, you
will typically use all of the join columns as index key columns in the source
tables if performance during data retrieval is a concern.
250 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

The minimum commission percentage across all of the salespersons with

salesperson numbers greater than 200 is determined first in the subquery and
the result is 10. The main query, then, in effect looks like:
SELECT SPNUM FROM SALESPERSON
WHERE SPNUM>200 AND COMMPERCT=10

This yields the result of salesperson number 204. Actually, this is a very inter-
esting example of a required subquery. What makes it really interesting is why
the predicate, SPNUM⬎200, appears in both the main query and the subquery.
Clearly it has to be in the subquery because you must first find the lowest com-
mission percentage among the salespersons with salesperson numbers greater
than 200. But then why does it have to be in the main query, too? The answer
is that the only thing that the subquery returns to the main query is a single
number, specifically a commission percentage. There is no memory passed on
to the main query of how the subquery arrived at that value. If you remove
SPNUM⬎200 from the main query so that it now looks like:
SELECT SPNUM FROM SALESPERSON
WHERE COMMPERCT=
(SELECT MIN(COMMPERCT) FROM SALESPERSON)
WHERE SPNUM>200)

this query returns every salesperson (without regard for salesperson number)
whose commission percentage is equal to the lowest commission percentage of the
salespersons with salesperson numbers greater than 200. Of course, if for some
reason you do want to find all of the salespersons, regardless of their salesperson
number, who have the same commission percentage as the salesperson who has
the lowest commission percentage of the salespersons with salesperson numbers
greater than 200, then this last SELECT statement is exactly what you should write.

SELF-CHECK
• Compare and contrast joins and subqueries.
• Explain why it is typically preferred to use a join instead of a
subquery when either will work.
• Describe the three basic join types.

7.3 Using Batches and Scripts

You can probably already think of several situations where you will need to peri-
odically run the same statements exactly the same way. One way of automating
 7.3.1 WRITING BATCHES AND SCRIPTS 251

this is to use batches and scripts. A batch is a set of SQL commands that run
as a group. A script is one or more batches saved as a file.
Scripts are a commonly used tool for automating periodic procedures. For
example, you might have a script you run each month that uses current sales
information to recalculate stocking levels and order points. A video rental com-
pany could use a script to send remainder emails to customers who have over-
due videos. One drawback is the fact that scripts don’t give you a way to pass
parameters when the script runs, so you can’t control execution through replace-
able parameters. Because of this, scripts are well suited to situations where you
need to run multiple steps the same way each time.

7.3.1 Writing Batches and Scripts

A batch is simply a set of statements that you want to execute and can include
one or more statements. For example, the following is a batch:
SELECT * INTO ECOPY FROM EMPLOYEES

This following is also a batch, but this time a multi-statement batch:

SELECT * INTO ECOPY FROM EMPLOYEES
SELECT * FROM ECOPY

You can write a batch ad hoc in a query window or using any text editor,
such as Windows Notepad. When you save the batch to an operating system
file, it becomes a script. When saving a script for SQL Server, you should use
the extension.sql so that SQL Server will recognize it as a script file. Because the
dividing line between the two is so fine, the terms batch and script are often
used interchangeably.
A script can contain multiple batches. In SQL Server, the keyword GO is
used to identify when one batch ends and the next one starts. For example:
USE GENERALHARDWARE
GO
SELECT * INTO #SALESTEMP FROM SALESPERSON
UPDATE #SALESTEMP SET COMMPERCT = 10
GO

The query processor executes all of the statements up to the GO as one batch.
The query processor parses all of the statements in the batch as a set, checking
for syntax and other errors. The statements are also optimized and compiled
for execution as a group. This is more efficient than running individual state-
ments because they must each be parsed, optimized, compiled, and then executed
individually.
A result is returned when the entire batch (up to the GO) finishes executing.
If an error occurs anywhere in the batch, batch execution stops at that point and
the remaining statements are not executed. Unless running in the context of a
252 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

transaction, any statements completed before the error are not affected. If you
are running a script that contains multiple batches, execution will continue (if
possible) with the start of the next batch.
There are a few things you should keep in mind when using scripts. You
don’t know the context under which the script will run, so you should run a
USE statement as the first statement in the script to set the default database. You
can’t add a column to a table as part of a batch and then reference that column
in the same batch (but you can reference it in the same script). Also, if an object
(such as a table) is dropped in the context of a batch, it cannot be recreated in
the same batch.
Let’s look at a script that creates a table and then adds data to that table:
USE GeneralHardware
GO
CREATE TABLE EmpTest
(SPNUM CHAR(3), SPNAME VARCHAR(20))
GO
INSERT EmpTest SELECT SPNUM, SPNAME
FROM SALESPERSON

This script contains three batches. The first sets the default database. The sec-
ond creates a table with two columns. The third batch inserts rows from the
SALESPERSON table into the newly created EmpTest table.

7.3.2 Understanding Basic Programming Concepts

The ANSI SQL standard includes support for batches and scripts, but at a very
limited level. Something that is supported, and commonly used, is variables. A
variable is a way of temporarily storing a value in memory. Another common
programming feature, although not included in the ANSI standard, is control
statements, also called control-of-flow statements. These are statements that
let your batch make decisions based on values, control the order in which state-
ments are executed, or repeatedly loop through statements. Most DBMSs include
at least some control statements in their proprietary implementation of the SQL
language. However, the statements supported and statement syntax is vendor
specific. We’ll take a brief look at selected control statements that are supported
by Transact-SQL, but a complete discussion of available statements and their use
is beyond the scope of this text.

Using Variables
There are two things common to every variable. Each variable will have an iden-
tifier, which is a name unique within the scope in which is used, and each vari-
able will have a data type. Data types can be standard system data tables or user-
defined database.
 7.3.2 UNDERSTANDING BASIC PROGRAMMING CONCEPTS 253

To create a local variable, which exists only in the context of the batch in
which it is defined, you use a commercial at symbol (@) as the first character
in the variable name. The syntax for defining, or declaring, a local variable is:
DECLARE @name data_type

You can specify a static (constant) value or an expression, as long as the

value is compatible with the data type. Whenever possible, SQL Server will
implicitly convert the value if it is not of the same type, but is of a compatible
type. Use either SET or SELECT to assign a value to a variable. Here’s an exam-
ple of declaring a variable and assigning a value:
DECLARE @num int
SET @num = 5

Here’s the same example, using SELECT:

DECLARE @num int
SELECT @num = 5

For comparison, here’s an example where an expression is used to supply

the value:
DECLARE @right_now datetime
SET @right_now = GETDATE()

Now, let’s take a look at a batch that declares a variable, sets its value, then
uses the variable in a DML statement:
DECLARE @avgpct REAL
SELECT @avgpct = (SELECT AVG(COMMPERCT) FROM SALESPERSON)
UPDATE SALESPERSON SET COMMPERCT = @avgpct

This is functionally the same as an example you saw earlier. You declare a REAL
type variable named @avgpct and set it equal to the average of all commission
percentages. Then, you use the variable in an UPDATE statement to set COMM-
PERCT to that value for all salespersons.

Using Control Statements

We’re going to limit our discussion to some simple control statements. These are
some of the statements that you are most likely to encounter, plus a way of
adding statements that don’t execute so you can document your script. For more
information about control language and its use with SQL Server, refer to the
Books Online that install with SQL Server and the Microsoft MSDN Web site for
“Control-of-flow language” and follow the links provided.
We’ll start with a pair of keywords: BEGIN and END. You use BEGIN and
END to group a set of statements as a block. They are typically used together
with other control statements to set the context for execution. You’ll see how
this is done in a moment.
254 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

There are several situations where your batch might need to make a deci-
sion on what to do next based on current conditions or values. You do this with
IF . . . ELSE. The basic syntax is:
IF boolean_expression
[BEGIN]
statement_block
[END]
[ELSE
[BEGIN]
statement_block
[END]]

This is one of the places where you used statement blocks to identify sets
of SQL statements, so you can identify which statements are associated with IF
and which are associated with ELSE. It’s easiest to understand how this works
by looking at an example. Consider the following:
If there are no items currently on order, run ORDERPROC to generate restock-
ing orders. If there are items shown as on order, first run RECPROC to receive
any pending orders that have been posted and then run ORDERPROC().
There is a decision to be made based on whether or not there are any items
on order. This is the basis of your Boolean expression, which must evaluate as
True or False. Here’s what the batch might look like:
IF (SELECT COUNT() FROM PRODUCT WHERE QOO = 0) = 0
BEGIN
ORDERPROC
END
ELSE
BEGIN
RECPROC
ORDERPROC
END

The statements are indented to make the batch easier to read. The indenta-
tions have no effect on execution. If the count of items with a QOO (quantity
on order column) value of 0 is equal to zero, then there is nothing on order and
you need to run ORDERPROC. If you get any value other than zero, execution
skips to the statements following the ELSE clause and you run RECPROC and
ORDERPROC. Technically, you are not required to use BEGIN and END when
executing a single statement, like the statement after the IF clause, but it’s good
to get in the habit of using them in case you need to go back and make changes
later, such as adding more statements.
It’s a good idea to document everything you do when writing scripts. It acts
as a reminder of what you did and why in case there are problems or a need to
modify the script later. You can embed nonexecuting statements in a batch or
 7.3.2 UNDERSTANDING BASIC PROGRAMMING CONCEPTS 255

scripts as comments as a way of providing in-line documentation. Comments

start with /* and end with */. Everything in between these, even if it runs on
for several lines, is treated as a comment. You can also use -- (a double hyphen)
to create a single line comment.
Let’s add some comments to an earlier script example so you can see how
this is done.
/* This batch gives everyone the
same default percentage
as their commission percentage. This is stored in the
COMMPERCT column*/
DECLARE @avgpct REAL ⫺This declares a variable.
/*The next statement sets the variable value*/
SELECT @avgpct = (
SELECT AVG(COMMPERCT) FROM SALESPERSON)
—This does the real work
UPDATE SALESPERSON SET COMMPERCT = @avgpct

FOR EXAMPLE
Using Scripts
Here’s a common situation. You have several procedures that have to run at
the end of each month to do periodic cleanup and to prepare data for trans-
fer to a decision support database. You want to ensure that it is run the
same way each time, but you also want to minimize the time and effort
required. This is a situation made for scripting.
You can include all of the procedures that you want to run as batches
inside a script. You might want to use multiple batches. Group procedures
that are dependent on each other to run in the same batch so that if one
fails, the other doesn’t try to run. Also, if one part of the process fails because
of an error, it doesn’t prevent procedures that aren’t dependent on that oper-
ation from running. You can use control language if you have any situations
where processing decisions have to be made based on current conditions.
For example, the way that you process records for transfer could depend on
the total number of rows in a table. If they exceed a set threshold level, you
could segment processing to minimize the impact on other activities.
SQL Server also has the ability to create scripts based on any and all
objects in a database. You can automatically generate scripts that can be used
to create duplicate objects in another database or at another location, drop
objects, and (in some cases) modify objects. You can even generate table and
view scripts for running standardized INSERT, UDPATE, and DELETE state-
ments. That way, you let SQL Server do a big part of the work for you and
you then modify the scripts generated to meet your particular needs.
256 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

In the preceding example, you see both syntaxes used for adding comments.
The batch begins with a multi-line comment enclosed in /* */. The DECLARE
statement is followed by a short comment on the same line. Execution stops
before the identifying --. The remaining two comments are both single-line
comments, one using -- and the other using /* */.

SELF-CHECK
• Describe the purpose of batches and scripts.
• Explain the role of variables.
• Explain the basic role of control language.

Summary
In this chapter, you learned about data access and data manipulation. You learned
how to use the SELECT statement to run data retrieval queries and how to build
queries with SELECT statement keywords. You also learned about various methods
for filtering your result set and organizing the data returned by a query. You learned
how to use joins and subqueries to combine the results from multiple tables into a
single result. You also learned the basics of using batches and scripts to execute sets
of statements as a group and to save these so that they can be retrieved and exe-
cuted later, including the use of control statement to enable the command proces-
sor to control execution by making decisions based on current data and conditions.

KEY TERMS
AND Local variable
Bitwise operations Noncorrelated subquery
Boolean expression OR
Cartesian product Outer join
Control statement Subquery
Control-of-flow statement Table alias
Correlated subquery Table order
Cross join User-defined function
Identifier Variable
Inner join XML document fragment
Join
 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 257

ASSESS YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of SQL language
use.
Measure your learning by comparing pre-test and post-test results.

Summary Questions
1. You can only use tables as your data source in the FROM clause of a
SELECT statement. True or False?
2. The HAVING keyword must be used with what other keyword?
(a) GROUP BY
(b) ORDER BY
(c) JOIN
(d) DISTINCT
3. When using UNION to combine the results of two SELECT statements,
the column lists must have columns with identical data types. True or
False?
4. What keyword is used to return only those rows with identical values
from two different SELECT statements?
(a) UNION
(b) EXCEPT
(c) INTERSECT
(d) DISTINCT
5. A SELECT statement includes a GROUP BY clause. In what clause is sort
order for the groups specified?
(a) HAVING
(b) GROUP BY
(c) WHERE
(d) ORDER BY
6. Which statement will return only the first three rows from the
PRODUCT table?
(a) SELECT * FROM PRODUCT WHERE TOP 3
(b) SELECT TOP 3 * FROM PRODUCT
(c) SELECT * FROM PRODUCT TOP 3
(d) SELECT * TOP 3 FROM PRODUCT
7. When would you use the INTO keyword in a SELECT statement?
(a) when creating a view based on the result.
(b) when creating a table based on the result.
258 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

(c) when adding rows to the source table.

(d) when filtering the result by a range
8. Which keyword is used to filter query results by a range of values?
(a) GROUP BY
(b) IN
(c) BETWEEN
(d) INTO
9. By default, a query will return duplicate rows in the result set. True or
False?
10. A WHERE clause includes both AND and OR operators. Which
statement best describes how they are processed?
(a) AND operators are processed first by default.
(b) OR operators are processed first by default.
(c) Operators are processed left to right by default without regard for the
operator type.
(d) Operators are processed right to left by default without regard for the
operator type.
11. A cross join of two tables, each with six rows, would contain how many
rows in the result set?
(a) none
(b) 6
(c) 12
(d) 36
12. An inner join returns only those rows that qualify from both joined
tables. True or False?
13. A SELECT statement used to join tables can include no more than two
tables. True or False?
14. An operation can be performed as a join or subquery. Which typically
makes best use of available resources?
(a) join
(b) subquery
(c) Both make equal use of available resources.
15. Where is the join operator specified when joining two tables?
(a) in the FROM clause, as an ON statement
(b) in the WHERE clause, using a comparative operator
(c) in either a or b
(d) in neither a nor b
 APPLYING THIS CHAPTER 259

16. How is the nested query identified in a subquery?

(a) The nested query is enclosed in square brackets.
(b) The nested query is enclosed in angle brackets.
(c) The nested query is enclosed in quotes.
(d) The nested query is enclosed in parentheses.
17. Which of the following is a valid local variable name?
(a) TempVal
(b) #TempVal
(c) @TempVal
(d) *TempVal
18. Control-of-flow statements are defined as part of the ANSI SQL standard.
True or false?
19. Which must you specify when declaring a local variable?
(a) data type
(b) initial value
(c) default value
(d) related column
20. A Boolean expression is one that evaluates as true or false. True or False?

Applying This Chapter

The questions in this section are all in reference to the tables shown in
Figure 7-2. Assume that the values shown in the sample SALESPERSON,
CUSTOMER, and CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE tables represent the full table
content.
1. How many rows would you expect to be returned by the following query?
SELECT * FROM SALESPERSON WHERE COMMPERCT=10

2. You want a list of cities in the CUSTOMER table and the number of cus-
tomers in each headquarters city (HQCITY). What query should you use?
3. Modify the query in question 2 to order the list by count, lowest to
highest. What query should you use?
4. You want a count of customers assigned to salespersons, by salesperson,
in salesperson number order. The query should return the salesperson
number, name, and customer count.
5. You need a list of customers in the CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE table and
the number of employees on file for each. Label the columns Customer
and Employee Count.
Tip: Enclose the table name in square brackets.
260 DATA ACCESS AND MANIPULATION

Figure 7-2

(a) SALESPERSON table

SPNUM SPNAME COMMPERCT YEARHIRE OFFNUM

137 Baker 10 1995 1284

186 Adams 15 2001 1253
204 Dickens 10 1998 1209
361 Carlyle 20 2001 1227

(b) CUSTOMER table

CUSTNUM CUSTNAME SPNUM HQCITY

0121 Main St. Hardware 137 New York

0839 Jane’s Stores 186 Chicago
0933 ABC Home Stores 137 Los Angeles
1047 Acme Hardware Store 137 Los Angeles
1525 Fred’s Tool Stores 361 Atlanta
1700 XYZ Stores 361 Washington
1826 City Hardware 137 New York
2198 Western Hardware 204 New York
2267 Central Stores 186 New York

(c) CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE table

CUSTNUM EMPNUM EMPNAME TITLE

0121 27498 Smith Co-Owner

0121 30441 Garcia Co-Owner
0933 25270 Chen VP Sales
0933 30441 Levy Sales Manager
0933 48285 Morton President
1525 33779 Baker Sales Manager
2198 27470 Smith President
2198 30441 Jones VP Sales
2198 33779 Garcia VP Personnel
2198 35268 Kaplan Senior Accountant
(Continues)

Sample tables.

6. Return a list of customer names and employee names from the

CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE table. Include the Customer name in the list,
and whether or not the customer has any employees in the CUSTOMER
EMPLOYEE table. Label the columns Customer and Employee. Order the
result so that customers who do not have employees listed are grouped
together in the result.
 APPLYING THIS CHAPTER 261

7. Write a script that creates a table named EmpCount. The table will have
two columns, one with data type CHAR(4) and the other with data type
INT. Name the columns Customer and Count. After creating the table,
insert rows into the table using the query in Question 5 as your source.
Before doing anything, the script should make sure that GeneralHardware
is the default database.
8. How can you verify that the batch in Question 7 worked correctly? What
specific statements should you use?
YOU TRY IT

Using SELECT Statements (a) What tables would be needed?

You design a database for a video rental company. The (b) What values would you use to retrieve the
database is normalized to 3NF. Whenever a customer information you need?
rents a title, a rental invoice is generated. This is stored (c) How would this solution need to be modified
in two tables, RHead and RTail. RHead contains informa- if you start renting games?
tion on the invoice as a whole, including the CustNum
to identify the customer, and RTail contains information Using Batches and Scripts
for each detailed item in the invoice. You have several activities that must be completed at
Three tables are used to track customer informa- the end of each month and at the end of each quarter.
tion. CustInfo contains general information about the These include reporting and data manipulation opera-
customer. CustSec contains more senstive information, tions. You need to automate as many of these opera-
such as telephone number and address. CustRentals tions as possible. You also want to simplify them so
has information about current and past rentals. The that you can delegate some of the periodic require-
table has two rental columns, one for VHS and one for ments to someone else.
DVD. The CustNum column is used to establish the There are two databases involved, both of which
relationship between the tables. are hosted on the SQL Server 2005 database server
There are two tables for videos. One contains OURDATA. The databases are named SalesData and
titles on VHS tape and the other DVDs. You are prepar- OpsData. End-of-period activities include both data-
ing to add a third table for games, which you plan to bases, but all of the activities run separately on each.
call Games. Each title has a unique tracking number There are no requirements for combining data from the
that is generated internally. The data type for the track- databases or transfering data between the databases.
ing number is the same in both tables, NCHAR(10).
Each value is unique, so that none of the numbers are 1. Assuming that the end-of-quarter activites can
duplicated between the VHS table and the DVD table. run sequentally, first for one database and then
for the other, what is the minimum number of
1. Describe how you would generate a list of in- scripts required? Explain your answer.
voices that include the Customer’s name and 2. When you create your scripts, what extension
address? Include tables and specific columns should you use and why?
required by the solution. 3. Some operations must run as a set because
2. You need a fast way of checking to make sure they are dependent on each other. Each set of
that none of the numbers in VHS are dupli- operations is independent of other sets. You
cated in DVD. How can you do this? (Minimize want to minimize the potential impact of errors
the size of the result set needed by your on script execution. How should you do this?
solution and the result that you would expect How does your solution help?
to see.) 4. There are several either/or decisions that must
3. You want to be able to run a monthly rental his- be made while the scripts are running. How
tory report by customer. The report would include can this functionality be implemented? What is
the Customer number and name, but not include the possible restriction on the decision logic
any senstive information about the customer. used?
List videos by both tracking number and title.

262
 8
IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

Starting Point
Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of ways to
improve data access.
Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

▲ Basic procedures for diagnosing performance problems
▲ The use of indexes and views to improve data access
▲ The use of procedures and functions to improve data access

After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To

▲ Identify the most common hardware bottlenecks
▲ Identify common sources of database performance bottlenecks
▲ Identify tools and utilities that measure performance
▲ Design and create indexes to improve data retrieval
▲ Design and create views that filter table data returned to a user by column
and row
▲ Design and create user-stored procedures to automate periodic tasks
▲ Design and create user-defined functions (UDFs) that return scalar or table
values
264 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

INTRODUCTION
Data access is a broad subject, so any discussion of ways to improve data access
performance will range across various topics. This chapter covers some of the
issues that you are most likely to encounter, which includes providing a look at
several database objects and providing general guidelines for their use. You will
learn about performance bottlenecks, including what they are, the types of
symptoms they are likely to cause, and the most likely solutions to correct
performance problems. You will learn how to design indexes and views to support
data access and help improve query response. You will also learn about the
potential role of user-stored procedures and user-defined functions in your data-
base design.

8.1 Understanding Performance Roadblocks

Improving database access includes efforts to make it easier to access the data
and to improve performance during data access. Database performance is often
a critical issue. Users won’t care how well you’ve designed the database if they
have to wait for the information they need. Time, in nearly all business envi-
ronments, is money, and delays have a real-world cost. Performance can make
or break a database application and, in some cases, a business.
Not convinced that performance can be a critical business issue? Think for
a moment about designing a database to support an Internet-based business such
as an audio download site. Users connect to the Web site, search for the music
that they want, enter their payment information and download the songs. Sim-
ple enough, except that to be successful you need a huge library of available
music. Also, you’re not the only business offering this service. Users are going
to rate your business based on whether or not you have the music they want
and on how long it takes to search the music database. Take too long, and they’re
off to another site, one with better performance.
One key to faster performance is identifying and correcting performance bot-
tlenecks. A bottleneck is anything that stands in the way of optimum perfor-
mance. There are three major potential sources of performance bottlenecks:

▲ Hardware platform: primarily the database server, but in some cases, can
also include the network.
▲ Database: performance during data reads and writes directly impacts
application performance.
▲ Application: a poorly written, inefficient application can result in poor
performance even if the hardware and database server are working at
optimum levels.
 8.1.2 UNDERSTANDING HARDWARE PERFORMANCE 265

We’ll keep our look at performance focused on familiar territory. We’re

limiting our discussion of database performance to hardware and database
performance issues. Many application performance issues are specific to the
application framework in which you are working and the programming language
used to create the application and are beyond the scope of this chapter.

8.1.1 Recognizing Potential Bottlenecks

Before you can try to optimize database and server performance, you need to
understand potential sources of performance problems. Most problems are
caused by one or more of a small group of likely suspects. When you suspect a
performance problem, that is where you’ll want to start your investigation and
focus your corrective actions.
All DBMSs, by their nature, are resource-intensive applications. Because of this,
hardware is usually the initial suspect when you have performance problems. Hard-
ware is not the only potential source, however. The problem can be in the database
design. Normalization, while often critical to write performance, can sometimes
impair read performance. Indexes, which can be a great benefit during data reads,
add to the resource requirements when writing data. You must consider the data-
base and its hardware platform as a whole when looking at performance issues.

8.1.2 Understanding Hardware Performance

Most hardware performance issues are caused by either disk performance, sys-
tem memory, or the system processor. It can get especially complicated because
these are closely interrelated. A memory problem, for example, can sometimes
give you symptoms that initially look like a hard disk bottleneck. Let’s take a
look at each of these areas and some types of problems you might see.

Understanding Disk Drive Issues

When considering disk storage, the key performance issues relate to disk access.
These issues include how quickly the hard disk can process read and write
requests and the time required to locate and transfer the data. The disk queue,
the number of requests waiting to be resolved, can tell you whether or not the
hard disk can keep up with requests. Data read and write statistics tell you how
much data is being transferred into and out of the hard disk. If either of these
becomes excessive, you could have a problem.
There are two basic ways to resolve hard disk issues. One is to upgrade the
hardware. The other is to reduce the load. Often, the best solution is a combi-
nation of the two.
Installing more or faster hard disks can sometimes resolve the problem, but
at a cost. Most DBMS manufacturers recommend using RAID (redundant array
of inexpensive, or independent, disks) disk systems, both because most RAID
266 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

Figure 8-1

Hard disk configuration.

systems provide fault-tolerant storage and because many configurations are

optimized for read and write performance. However, this isn’t always the best
corrective action. If there is a fundamental flaw in your design or if the disk
problem is masking another hardware bottleneck, like memory, upgrading the
disk subsystem is a temporary fix at best.
There are different ways that you can reduce the load on disk subsystem. One
way is splitting the load between multiple hard disks when you find that disk
requests are interfering with each other. Keep in mind that you split the load across
multiple physical hard disks. As you can see in Figure 8-1, a physical hard disk
can be partitioned into one or more logical hard disks, so you need to understand
the system configuration. Saving database objects to different logical hard disks lets
you manage disk space use, but does nothing to improve disk performance.
Another way you can reduce the load is by increasing system memory so
that more data can be cached. Most DBMSs cache data. A cache is a data stor-
age area in memory, a common feature in most database systems. Caching
involves storing data and servicing read and write requests through system
memory, reducing the need for immediate disk access.
Finally, you can reduce the load by using a dedicated server. This means
that SQL Server is the only server application running on the server. Some com-
panies will have one server supporting multiple services, such as acting as both
 8.1.2 UNDERSTANDING HARDWARE PERFORMANCE 267

a database and application server. This puts an added load on all resources,
including the hard disk.
Disk fragmentation can impair disk performance, though it usually isn’t con-
sidered a bottleneck in itself and often isn’t a serious issue in database systems.
Fragmentation occurs when files are broken up into smaller pieces to use
available disk space. The more you delete and create files, the faster the drive
fragments. Most computers create and delete more files than you would suspect,
many of them temporary files used by applications and deleted when no longer
needed.
Disk fragmentation is less of an issue for database servers than for comput-
ers operating in other roles. In a well-designed database system, the database
files are kept somewhat segregated from other files, often on their own drive.
Because you are protecting the database files, they are more likely to remain con-
tiguous, minimizing the potential impact if other files become fragmented.
Microsoft Windows ships with Defrag.exe, a disk defragmentation utility,
which physically moves the file segments so that they form contiguous files. You
can also launch the disk defragmenter via the Computer Management console,
as shown in Figure 8-2.

Figure 8-2

Disk defragmenter.
268 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

The best way to avoid problems is to periodically check for fragmentation

and defragment the disk, if necessary. You can configure Windows to do this for
you automatically on a regular schedule.

Understanding Memory Issues

Databases use a lot of memory. Most DBMSs will set aside memory to cache data.
When there is a data read request, the DBMS checks memory first before going
to the physical hard disk. When data is written, it writes to memory first until
the hard disk can be updated (Figure 8-3). Many DBMSs also cache queries and
other executables, depending on available space, in case they are needed again.
These requirements are in addition to the memory needed just to run the oper-
ating system, DBMS, and any other service running on the server.
If memory becomes as issue, you can either reduce the load on system mem-
ory or you can increase the amount of memory installed in the computer. In
most cases, other than reconfiguring the computer as a dedicated server, there

Figure 8-3

System memory

Program
Data cache Read/write request
cache
Read/write request

Database Client

Database

Cache memory.
 8.1.2 UNDERSTANDING HARDWARE PERFORMANCE 269

is little you can do to reduce memory requirements. That leaves increasing mem-
ory, typically installing more system memory.
Before installing memory, however, check the database and operating system
configuration to see how memory is being used. With some DBMSs, such as SQL
Server, you can specify the amount of memory made available to database oper-
ations. This could place an artificial limit on memory, causing a memory bottle-
neck, even though there is more physical memory available.
As mentioned before, memory directly impacts disk use. Modern operating
systems increase available memory through use of a virtual memory paging file.
This is hard disk space that is set aside and used like system memory. Paging is
the process of moving data between system memory and the paging file, as
shown in Figure 8-4. When physical RAM memory doesn’t meet your memory
requirements, paging increases, interfering with other disk operations and mak-
ing the hard disk look like your bottleneck.

Understanding Processor Issues

Every program that runs, every query that is executed, every module called from
your application—all these put an additional load on the system processor. To

Figure 8-4

System memory
Paging read/write

Paging file

Hard disk

Paging.
270 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

determine if the processor is the bottleneck, look at the processor free and busy
time. The higher the percentage of busy time, the greater the load in the proces-
sor. When this averages over 90 percent of total time, then processor perfor-
mance is likely a bottleneck.
The only ways to correct a processor bottleneck are to reduce the processor
load, install a faster processor, or install one or more additional processors. You
need to be aware that there are a couple of possible problems with using a mul-
tiple processor computer. Different DBMSs have different support options, some
limiting the number of processors supported. A few lower-end database products
cannot recognize or use multiple processors, which means that an additional
processor would be a waste of money.
Many DBMSs, including SQL Server, let you configure processor affinity.
This controls how, or even if, the database server makes use of multiple proces-
sors. The problem might not be with the processors, but that the database has
been configured to ignore any additional processors.

8.1.3 Understanding Database Performance

Database performance issues relate to database object design and use. One of the
goals of data normalization is to improve write performance by reducing the
amount of data that must be written during updates. However, normalization
can impact read performance because data retrieval often means having to join
multiple tables to get all of the data you need. In the real world, you typically
work toward a compromise between “perfect” normalization and database read
performance.
Database objects, especially indexes, also impact performance. Indexes are
used to sort and organize data. Well-designed indexes help to optimize data read
performance. The problem is that each time you update the data in a table, the
database server must also update the data in all of the table indexes. The more
indexes you have, the more overhead required to keep them updated.
The problem can be that you don’t have the right indexes to support your
application’s queries. The query processor may not recognize or use poorly
designed indexes, making them a waste of resources. SQL Server 2005 provides
utilities and reporting tools that let you see how, or if, indexes are used by the
query processor and that can even suggest design improvements.

8.1.4 Performance Monitoring

Performance monitoring tools are specific to the operating system and DBMS.
Some DBMSs provide a wide array of tools to help you locate and correct per-
formance problems while others leave you effectively on your own. In every case,
the DBMS relies heavily on the operating system and system resources, so oper-
ating system tools can be vital to detecting and correcting problems.
 8.1.4 PERFORMANCE MONITORING 271

Figure 8-5

System monitor graph view.

The primary tool in Windows operating systems is the Performance Moni-

tor, called System Monitor in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The Sys-
tem Monitor can provide you with real-time performance information and can
also collect and log performance data to give you a performance baseline and
for detailed analysis. A performance baseline is performance data you collect
to use for comparison later when performance problems are suspected. The Win-
dows XP System Monitor graph view is shown in Figure 8-5. The graph view is
the default view for observing real time performance data.
Performance data is collected through performance counters, which are
programs that monitor specific system activity. Performance counters are
organized into related groups, known as performance objects. Performance
counters are designed to let you collect detailed performance information. A
selection of counters available for the PhysicalDisk performance object are
shown in Figure 8-6. You can see the counters for monitoring the disk queue
length and read and write data transfers. Hardware-related performance
counters are installed with Windows by default. When you install SQL Server,
it also installs a large set of SQL Server-specific performance objects and
counters.
272 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

Figure 8-6

Performance counters.

The Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Performance utility also lets
you create alerts. An alert monitors one or more specified performance coun-
ters. When you create an alert, you specify the counters that it monitors and the
threshold value at which the alert is activated, or fires. A threshold value is a
specified minimum or maximum value that, when exceeded, indicates a poten-
tial problem. For example, you might suspect an intermittent processor bottle-
neck. You could create an alert configured to fire when the %Processor Time,
which monitors processor activity, exceeds 95 percent. You can have the alert
notify you each time this threshold is exceeded.
 8.1.4 PERFORMANCE MONITORING 273

SQL Server also provides tools for monitoring database server activity. A
complete discussion of the available tools and utilities is beyond the scope of
this chapter, but it’s worth the time to take a brief look at some examples.
There are two utilities specifically identified by SQL Server 2005 as perfor-
mance tools. These are SQL Server Profiler and Database Engine Tuning Advi-
sor. Profiler lets you capture database activity for analysis. You can even capture
sample activity to use for automated testing and then replay the activity on a
development server to observe the effect of configuration changes. Database
Engine Tuning Advisor, which was introduced with SQL Server 2005, analyzes
system activity and reports on index use. It can suggest improvements to table
indexes and even automatically create the indexes for you.
Another way of monitoring database activity, specifically query activity, is by
reviewing execution plans. SQL Server provides options for both textual and
graphical execution plans. An example of a graphical execution plan is shown
in Figure 8-7.
The execution plan identifies how the query processor resolves the query,
the specific steps involved and resources required. One way that this can help
monitor performance is that it shows you not only what indexes are used by the
query, but how they are used by the query. SQL Server Books Online provides

Figure 8-7

Execution plan.
274 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

detailed documentation about how to collect and read information about query
execution plans.

8.1.5 Knowing What to Use

How do you know which tools you need? It depends on the information that
you need to collect. First, determine whether the problem is related to the oper-
ating system or the DBMS. System hardware is controlled by the operating

FOR EXAMPLE
Database Optimization
Over time, users have started complaining about database performance. You
tried to write it off with the idea that no application is ever fast enough to
please all users, but the complaints become louder and more frequent. You
finally have to face facts—you have a problem.
You go through all the right steps. You monitor performance and com-
pare it against your performance baseline. You identify the most likely causes
of the performance bottleneck and take corrective action. You document
what you did and you’re finished, right?
Wrong! Any time you are trying to correct a performance problem, you
have to test and verify that you’ve corrected it. Otherwise, how can you be
sure that the changes you made had any impact at all, let alone a positive
impact? There’s a possibility that you’ve actually made the problem worse,
especially if your corrective action included changing database or server con-
figuration settings.
Monitoring and evaluation is at least as important during resolution and
correction as it is when diagnosing the problem. Don’t forget that everything
is closely related to everything else. This includes hardware resources, operat-
ing system configuration, and database server configuration. Changes to any
one almost always have some impact on others, and not always for the better.
After you’ve taken your corrective action, run the same tests as you did
before when you were trying to diagnose the problem. Compare these both
to that data and to your baseline data to see where you stand. Only then,
when you have evidence that you’ve corrected the situation, should you ten-
tatively consider the problem solved. But you still are not completely fin-
ished. Spot check performance over time to make sure the problem doesn’t
reappear. Also, go back to the users who originally reported the problem to
see if they think it’s fixed. Only then should you consider yourself to be in
the clear.
Until the next problem, that is.
 8.2 USING INDEXES AND VIEWS 275

system, so you would use operating systems utilities to monitor system hard-
ware and to look for bottlenecks. Database performance monitoring is a func-
tion of the DBMS, so to monitor database performance you would use database
utilities, either supplied with the DBMS or through a third-party developer. Keep
in mind that performance tuning isn’t an either/or proposition. You need to tune
both the database server and the hardware platform (and operating system) on
which it is deployed.
The tools you have available will depend on your operating system and
DBMS. Even though we have used Windows and SQL Server utilities as exam-
ples, the specific utilities we’ve discussed are vendor-specific and apply to these
products only. With any vendor’s products, refer to the documentation provided
with the product or on the manufacturer’s Web site for information about avail-
able utilities. With that in mind, let’s take another quick look at your options.
The primary Windows utilities for anything to do with performance are the
Performance utility and the various hardware property dialog boxes, which are
where the majority of the hardware configuration settings are found. The data-
base tuning process starts with two utilities, SQL Server Profiler and Database
Engine Tuning Advisor. Together, they can point out weak points in your data-
base design. Once located, how you fix them is up to you.

SELF-CHECK
• Explain how server performance relates to improving data access.
• List the most common hardware bottlenecks.
• Describe the potential impact of indexes on both read and write
performance.

8.2 Using Indexes and Views

We’ve already talked about server performance as it relates to data access. Indexes
can and do directly impact performance. Because of this, you need to carefully
consider index design as part of the database design process and be ready to
revise your design as indicated by its impact on live server activity.
Another data access consideration is deciding what information you want to
make available and how you want to make it available to your users. Most often,
this is more directly an issue of what data you are going to make available to
application programmers, who in turn make it available to the users. In many
cases you will want to avoid revealing too much about the internal structure of
276 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

your database because of potential security concerns. Also, nearly any database
is going to have sensitive data that must be protected against unauthorized
access. This is where views come into the picture as one of your primary tools
for managing data access.
We’re going to take a little closer look at both indexes and views in this
chapter. We’ll look at some additional guidelines and options for creating each,
and give you some ideas for how they might fit into your database design.

8.2.1 Working with Indexes

Indexes have a direct impact on query performance. Clustered indexes impose
a physical organization on a table, sorting the table rows in index order. Non-
clustered indexes provide logical organization, organizing data based on key
columns, but not affecting physical table order. Because of this, a DBMS that
supports clustered indexes limits you to one clustered index. After all, data can
only be stored in one order. The number of nonclustered indexes allowed is
DBMS-specific.
Designing Indexes
During database design, you need to consider whether or not an index is needed
and, if so, how many indexes and what columns you should include as key
columns. Index key columns are the columns that set the index sort order.
Indexes are not always appropriate. Smaller tables don’t derive any benefit
from indexing because it’s faster to scan the table than to retrieve rows from the
index. Also, columns with low selectivity, those with few unique values, don’t
benefit from indexing. For example, a column tracking sex as either male or
female wouldn’t benefit from indexing, nor would a column storing state infor-
mation for a customer if most of your customers are located in the same state.
Then what columns do benefit from indexing? Primary key columns are one
candidate. In fact, most DBMSs, including SQL Server, require an index on pri-
mary key columns and create the index automatically when you set the primary
key. SQL Server also creates an index automatically when you apply a unique
constraint on a column. Foreign key columns are another candidate, especially
because they’re the column that you’re most likely to use in queries that join
tables. Finally, columns that are commonly referenced in queries, either in
WHERE clause search logic, or in the GROUP BY or ORDER BY clauses are
usually prime index candidates. Columns used in SELECT column lists are also
good candidates for inclusion as included (nonkey) columns in nonclustered
indexes.
Index design is an area where you will probably need to work closely with
the application designers. Application designers can help you understand the
queries that they are going to need, including the columns used by those queries.
This is your basis for index design.
 8.2.1 WORKING WITH INDEXES 277

Unfortunately, indexes are not something that you can fix once and ignore.
As the table sizes change, so does the effectiveness of some of your indexes.
Application requirements also can change over time, so that some indexes are
seldom used and others that would be used by application queries don’t exist.
You need to periodically monitor index use to determine their effectiveness, espe-
cially if users report degraded performance.
Considering their effect on data retrieval, you might be tempted to just cre-
ate indexes for all table columns. There are two potential problems with this.
One is disk space. Each index row requires space based on its key columns. The
more indexes you create, and the more columns you include, the more space
required. Some DBMSs also limit the number and size of index key columns,
restricting your index design. You might also be limited in the types of columns
you can include in an index. SQL Server, for example, doesn’t let you use large
object (LOB) data types as index key columns.
You also have to consider the effect of indexes on write performance. Each
time you add a row to a table, you add a row to each table index. If you change
a key column value, the same change must be made to all indexes that use that
key. As you add more indexes, you increase write requirements.
There is one thing you can do to help improve performance when work-
ing with very large tables in SQL Server. You should organize your physical
storage so that the table is located on a different physical hard disk than its
nonclustered indexes. This allows the database to split read and write activity
across multiple hard disks, reducing the load on any one. Clustered indexes,
by design, must be stored with the table because they are physically part of the
table structure.

Creating Indexes
The CREATE INDEX command is used to create table indexes. The basic syn-
tax for this command in SQL Server Transact-SQL is as follows:
CREATE [CLUSTERED] | [NONCLUSTERED] [UNIQUE]
INDEX name
ON object (column_list)
INCLUDE (column_list)
As you can see here, you can create an index as clustered or nonclustered,
defaulting to nonclustered indexes. Specify UNIQUE if you want the index to
act as a unique constraint on the key columns. This requires that each row of
combined values for the key columns be unique. For example, take a look at
Figure 8-8.
You could not create a unique index on the CUSTNUM column in CUS-
TOMER EMPLOYEE because the column contains duplicate values. However,
you could create a unique index that includes both CUSTNUM and EMPNUM
as key columns.
278 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

Figure 8-8

CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE table

CUSTNUM EMPNUM EMPNAME TITLE
0121 27498 Smith Co-Owner
0121 30441 Garcia Co-Owner
0933 25270 Chen VP Sales
0933 30441 Levy Sales Manager
0933 48285 Morton President
1525 33779 Baker Sales Manager
2198 27470 Smith President
2198 30441 Jones VP Sales
2198 33779 Garcia VP Personnel
2198 35268 Kaplan Senior Accountant

CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE table.

The object on which the index is based is typically a table. In some DBMSs,
and with some restrictions, you can also create an index on a view. The
INCLUDED keyword is specific to SQL Server 2005. Columns specified as
included columns through the INCLUDED keyword benefit from improved
access through indexes, but do not impact index sort order like the key
columns.
The CREATE INDEX statement supports additional options that are beyond
the scope of this chapter, but are fully documented in SQL Server Books
Online. These include options that let you manage how much free space is left
for inserting new rows when you create an index and whether or not users
will be able to access the table on which the index is based during index creation.
There is also an option that lets you drop and then recreate an index in the
same operation.
To create the index described earlier for the CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE table,
you could run:
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX ix_CE_NUMS
ON [CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE] (CUSTNUM, EMPNUM)

You should try to give your indexes descriptive names. This will be helpful in
identifying the index you want if you need to modify indexes in the future.
Additional commands are also available to manage existing indexes. ALTER
INDEX lets you manage an index and DROP INDEX lets you delete indexes.
However, you cannot use ALTER INDEX to change the index key and nonkey
columns. If you want to change the index columns, you must drop and then
recreate the index.
 8.2.1 WORKING WITH INDEXES 279

Understanding How Queries Use Indexes

When the SQL query optimizer is presented with a new SELECT statement to
evaluate, it seeks out information about the tables named in the FROM clause.
This information includes:

▲ Which columns are used as index keys.

▲ Which columns have unique values.
▲ How many rows each table has.

The query optimizer finds this information in the database metadata. The
query optimizer uses the information about the tables, together with the various
components of the SELECT statement itself, to try to find an efficient way to
retrieve the data required by the query. For example, in the General Hardware
Company SELECT statement:
SELECT SPNUM, SPNAME
FROM SALESPERSON
WHERE COMMPERCT=10

the query optimizer might check on whether the COMMPERCT is used as an

index key. If this attribute does have an index, the query optimizer might decide
to use the index to find the rows with a commission percentage of 10. However,
if the number of rows of the SALESPERSON table is small enough, the query
optimizer might decide to read the entire table into main memory and scan it
for the rows with a commission percentage of 10.
Another important decision that the query optimizer makes is how to sat-
isfy a join. Consider the following General Hardware Company example:
SELECT SPNAME FROM SALESPERSON, CUSTOMER
WHERE SALESPERSON.SPNUM=CUSTOMER.SPNUM
AND CUSTNUM=1525

In this case, the query optimizer should be able to recognize that since CUSTNUM
is the CUSTOMER table primary key and only one customer number is specified
in the SELECT statement, only a single record from the CUSTOMER table, the
one for customer number 1525, will be involved in the join. Once it finds this
CUSTOMER record (in an index), it can match the SPNUM value found in it
against the SPNUM values in the SALESPERSON records. If you’ve identified
SPNUM unique through a unique index, all it has to do is find the single SALES-
PERSON record (preferably through an index) that has that salesperson number
and pull the salesperson name (SPNAME) out of it to satisfy the query. Thus, in
this case, an exhaustive join can be completely avoided.
When a more extensive join operation can’t be avoided, the query optimizer
can choose from one of several join algorithms. The most basic way of resolv-
ing a join, which runs using a Cartesian product of the tables involved, is known
280 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

as a nested-loop join. However, this is a relatively inefficient way of joining tables.

One of the two tables is selected for the outer loop and the other for the inner
loop. Each of the records of the outer loop is chosen in succession, and, for each,
the inner loop table is scanned for matches on the join column. If the query opti-
mizer can determine that only a subset of the rows of the outer or inner tables
is needed, then only those rows need be included in the comparisons.
A more efficient join algorithm than the nested-loop join is called the merge-
scan join, but it can only be used if certain conditions are met. The principle
is that for the merge-scan join to work, each of the two join columns either has
to be in sorted order or has to be indexed (which also makes it a sorted column).
If this condition is met, then comparing every record of one table to every record
of the other table as in a nested-loop join is unnecessary. The system can simply
start at the top of each table or index, as the case may be, and move downward
through the columns.

8.2.2 Working with Views

Views provide access to selected data. A view is based on a SELECT statement and
can have one or more base tables. Though limited, a view can also be based on
other views. This is easy to see when you look at the syntax for creating a view.

Creating Views
The basic syntax for creating a view in SQL Server is:
CREATE VIEW name AS select_statement
SQL Server also supports additional options that control how the view is
created. These options are beyond the scope of this chapter, but are documented
in SQL Server Book Online.
Because the view is based on a SELECT statement, you can join tables
through a view. This provides easy access to denormalized data without chang-
ing the structure of the database. You can also use views to limit access by fil-
tering tables. You can filter the base tables vertically, limiting the columns
included, or horizontally, limiting the rows included. You can also include com-
puted columns in your view to support queries that need values based on val-
ues computed from table columns or function results.
SQL Server does put some limits on the SELECT statement. For example,
you can’t use the INTO keyword. Also, you can’t have an ORDER BY clause in
the statement unless you also include the TOP keyword. You can’t base the
SELECT statement on temporary objects, like a temporary table, because they
might not be there when you try to retrieve data from the view. That’s because
SQL Server, in most cases, doesn’t persist the contents to the view. It generates
the view result set each time you call the view. That way, changes to the view’s
base objects are automatically included.
 8.2.2 WORKING WITH VIEWS 281

You also have the ALTER VIEW and DROP VIEW commands available to
manage existing views. ALTER VIEW lets you modify the view definition, which
includes letting you specify a different SELECT statement for the view. Use DROP
VIEW to delete existing views.

Using Views
Views are most often used to provide restricted access to the underlying base
objects. In SQL Server, views can also simplify security management because you
can give users (or an application) access to a view without granting them access
to the underlying objects. This helps prevent unauthorized access or modifica-
tions to the base data.
Let’s look at an example using the CUSTOMER table in Figure 8-9. There is
a requirement for operations that are performed on a city-by-city basis.
You’ve been asked to create a view based on CUSTOMER with the data fil-
tered by city. Here’s the statement you might use to create the view for New York
customers:
CREATE VIEW v_ny_cust AS SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE HQCITY = ’New York’
To retrieve data from this view, you could use
SELECT * FROM v_ny_cust
Here’s a view based on a join that lets you retrieve customer employee infor-
mation with the customer name rather than CUSTNUM value:
CREATE VIEW v_custemp_name AS
SELECT CUSTNAME, EMPNUM, EMPNAME
FROM CUSTOMER C, [CUSTOMER EMPLOYEE] E
WHERE C.CUSTNUM=E.CUSTNUM

Figure 8-9

CUSTOMER table
CUSTNUM CUSTNAME SPNUM HQCITY
0121 Main St. Hardware 137 New York
0839 Jane’s Stores 186 Chicago
0933 ABC Home Stores 137 Los Angeles
1047 Acme Hardware Store 137 Los Angeles
1525 Fred’s Tool Stores 361 Atlanta
1700 XYZ Stores 361 Washington
1826 City Hardware 137 New York
2198 Western Hardware 204 New York
2267 Central Stores 186 New York

CUSTOMER table.
 FOR EXAMPLE
To View, or Not to View
Any business database is going to contain sensitive data, data to which you
need to limit access. In some cases, you are required by law to protect the
data. The more direct a user’s access is to the data, the greater the possibil-
ity that something can go wrong and that the wrong person will see or even
modify what should be secure data.
One solution is to manage table security at the column level, defining
column by column who can view what data. The biggest potential problem
with this solution is that it is easy to make mistakes. A better solution is to
avoid direct access to the data completely and instead give users indirect
access through views. You can create views as necessary to meet different
users’ access requirements.
Consider the types of data that you might have in employee records and
related tables. Database administrators will likely have access to all of that
data, simply because someone has to have complete access for management
and maintenance purposes. If you can’t trust your database administrators,
you likely have a lot more serious problems than someone taking an unau-
thorized peek at employee records.
What about other departments? Human resource managers would prob-
ably need access to most, if not all, of the employee data. Keeping with our
plan to use indirect access, you would create a view that includes most, or
all, of the employee data. The person doing your payroll, however, needs
much more limited access. You might create a view for them, and your pay-
roll application, that gives access to information needed to create a paycheck,
such as time cards, pay rate, tax ID, and similar information. The benefits
advisor needs to know about things like which health plan the employee
has chosen, but the access needed is limited and easily defined.
What about the employee’s manager? Most of the time, there is very little
information to which the manager needs access, which is the guideline to use
when designing any views. Access is probably limited to things like contact
information, accrued and used vacation, performance reviews, and the infor-
mation you need to write performance reviews. As to the rest of the informa-
tion available, if you can’t justify a need for it, leave it out. Other managers, if
given any access at all, should have even less, which means another view.
Throughout the design process, keep this in mind: if you don’t give peo-
ple the information they need to do their jobs, they will let you know. If
you give them more access than they need, you may not find out until after
the damage has been done.
Does creating all of these views take time and effort? Obviously, but the
benefits in simplifying access and managing data security far outweigh the
costs. Also, most views are objects that you can create once and forget. Unless
access needs change or you have to restructure the objects on which they are
based, there is seldom any reason to modify views after you create them.
 8.2.2 WORKING WITH VIEWS 283

The view returns the customer name, employee number, and employee
name. Keep in mind, however, that by default the database server must execute
the join each time the view is called, with the associated overhead. Access is sim-
plified though, because the user or application programmer only needs to know
what view to specify in the SELECT statement’s FROM clause, not the full syn-
tax for the join. While not that significant in this example, it can make a big
difference with working with complicated joins and subqueries.
You can also specify a view as your destination when running INSERT or
UPDATE, but with restrictions. When inserting rows through a view, any
columns not included in the view must either have default values or be gener-
ated automatically by the database server, or an error will be returned. These
include columns such as identity columns, columns with defined default values,
and columns that allow NULL values.
When modifying tables through a view, the view must either be based on a
single table or you must define a trigger that executes in place of your modifi-
cation statement. In that case, the trigger will take the data passed by your state-
ment and use it to modify the underlying tables.
Before leaving the subject of views, we need to mention one special type of
view supported by SQL Server, the indexed view. An indexed view is a view
for which you have created a clustered index. When you do this, the view result
is persisted through the index structure. The advantages are easy to see. The
view acts like a denormalized table, giving you easier access to the joined table
data. Also, the persisted index improves access performance because SQL Server
doesn’t have to execute the SELECT statement and recreate the result set each
time you access the view.
There are three major disadvantages to using indexed views that tend to limit
their use in database solutions. First is that there are several restrictions on the
SELECT statement and base tables used to define the view, so indexed views
aren’t always a viable solution. Second is that, as part of the process of creating
the view, you bind the schema on the underlying tables. Schema binding pre-
vents you from making any changes to the structure of the base tables, such as
adding columns or changing column data types. Finally, indexed views come
with measurable resource overhead. When you add or modify data in any of the
view’s base tables, SQL Server must also update the view’s index.

SELF-CHECK
• Describe the role of indexes in improving data access.
• Describe the role of views in improving data access.
284 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

8.3 Using Programmable Objects

Programmable objects are just what the name implies, database objects that you
create and program yourself. These are objects based on SQL language com-
mands, variables, and, if supported by your DBMS, control-of-flow statements.
The types of programmable objects supported and the level of support provided
will vary by DBMS. We’re going to use SQL Server 2005 as our example plat-
form for this discussion.
The two most common programmable objects are procedures and functions.
Both are similar in that they are based on a set of executable statements. In some
ways, you can think of them as a named batch that you’ve designed to perform a
specific task. Procedures are sets of executable statements that support input and
output parameters. Input parameters let you provide data to be used by the pro-
cedure. If the procedure needs to return a value, it uses an output parameter for
that purpose. Functions that you can create are similar to system functions in that
they can accept input parameters and return a specific type of value. Depending
on the type of function, it will return either a scalar or table value. Another type
of programmable object, a trigger, is effectively a specialized procedure that is asso-
ciated with specific objects and events. SQL Server also supports a few other types
of programmable objects, but we’re limiting our discussion to procedures and func-
tions. These are the objects you are most likely to encounter and use.
Our goal in this chapter is not to make you an expert is designing and cre-
ating procedures and functions. Instead, the goal is to give you a brief intro-
duction to give you an idea of their roles in your overall design, along with a
few simple examples.

8.3.1 Understanding Procedures

Most DBMSs, including SQL Server, come with an assortment of predefined sys-
tem procedures. In SQL Server, they are called system stored procedures and
are easily identified by their name, which begins with sp_. Their purpose is to
make it easier and faster to perform periodic or complicated procedures, and to
ensure that they are performed consistently. You create procedures for the same
reason, to make the database easier to use and to ensure consistent operations.
Like views, procedures also aid system security by placing a level of isolation
between the users and the database.
With procedures, users might know what they do, but not how they do it.
Let’s start with a system stored procedure as an example. The sp_helpdb system
stored procedure returns information about a specified database or all system
databases. It has one optional input parameter, @dbname, which lets you spec-
ify the database name. Otherwise, it returns information about all of the data-
bases on the server. Figure 8-10 shows a sample result from using sp_helpdb to
get information about all system databases.
 8.3.1 UNDERSTANDING PROCEDURES 285

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Sample database information.

SQL Server documentation tells you how to run the procedure and the infor-
mation it returns. You can see the results. However, you have no idea what SQL
Server went through to collect that information. Users will run procedures you
create the same way. They’ll know the parameters required and what (if any-
thing) it returns, but not the details of how the result is accomplished. This lets
you hide the details of the database and database objects.

Designing Procedures
Most DBMSs let you create custom procedures, sometimes referred to as user
stored procedures. Procedures let you automate periodic or complex activities
and ensure that operations are run consistently. It doesn’t take long to find sev-
eral candidates for procedures. In addition, because of how they are compiled
and run, procedures are more efficient than running ad hoc queries that perform
the same operations. The need for user intervention is reduced and direct access
to database tables is avoided.
One common use of procedures is data entry. Rather than having the user
(or application) run an INSERT command to enter data rows, you create a proce-
dure that runs INSERT for you, passing the column values as input parameters.
286 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

The INSERT is performed the same way each time, and the only information
you’ve revealed about table structure is the column values needed to add a row.
More complicated processes are also good candidates for procedures. Because
you can include control-of-flow commands, the procedure can make decisions
while it is running based on the values and other conditions it finds. However,
you should design your procedures so that each procedure accomplishes a sin-
gle task. You can also include error handling code that will let your procedure
detect and respond appropriately to errors, rather than simply failing and report-
ing the problem.

Creating Procedures
You run CREATE PROCEDURE (or CREATE PROC) to create a user stored pro-
cedure. The basic syntax for this command is as follows:
CREATE PROC[EDURE] procedure name
[parameter_list]
AS
Sql_statements
The parameter list includes input and output parameters, both of which are
optional. When defining a parameter, you must supply a parameter name and
data type. Optionally, you can specify a default value to be used if the user
doesn’t specify a value for the parameter, and you can identify the parameter
as an OUTPUT parameter. The SQL statement list can include most SQL com-
mands and control-of-flow statements. You can also call other procedures as
nested procedures, which is a procedure called and executed by another pro-
cedure. When the nested procedure finishes running, control is returned to the
calling procedure.
Let’s look at a simple example with four input parameters:
CREATE PROC proc_enter_cust
@CUSTNUM CHAR(4), @CUSTNAME VARCHAR(40),
@SPNUM CHAR(3), @HQCITY VARCHAR(20)
AS
INSERT CUSTOMER VALUES (@CUSTNUM, @CUSTNAME,
@SPNUM, @HQCITY)
When you run the procedure, specify values for each of the input parameters.
If you wanted to add Home Town Supply as a new customer, you might run:
proc_enter_cust ’4554’, ’Home Town Supply’, ’361’, ’Chicago’
Notice that the parameters are entered in the same order as they are specified.
If you also include the parameter names, you can pass the parameters in any
order, as in the next example:
proc_enter_cust @CUSTNUM=’4554’, @SPNUM=’361’,
@HQCITY=’Chicago’, @CUSTNAME=’Home Town Supply’
 8.3.2 UNDERSTANDING FUNCTIONS 287

If you want to have the procedure return a value, you need to specify an
output parameter. Here’s an example that returns a count of customers for a spec-
ified salesperson number:
CREATE PROC usp_count_cust
@SPNUM CHAR(3), @CUSTCOUNT INT OUTPUT
AS
SET @CUSTCOUNT = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM CUSTOMER WHERE
SPNUM=@SPNUM)
RETURN @CUSTCOUNT

When you run the stored procedure, you have to first declare a variable
to accept the output parameter value from the stored procedure. When the
stored procedure includes an output parameter, you must use the EXECUTE
command to run the procedure. In the next example, we use two variables,
one for the input parameter and one to receive the value from the output
parameter.
DECLARE @NUM CHAR(3)
DECLARE @RETCOUNT INT
SET @NUM = ‘137’
EXECUTE usp_count_cust @NUM, @RETCOUNT OUTPUT
SELECT ‘The count for salesperson’ + @NUM + ‘is’
+ CAST( @RETCOUNT AS CHAR(2)

Let’s talk through this batch so you can see what’s going on. We start by
declaring to local variables, @NUM, which will hold the salesperson number,
and @RETCOUNT, which will receive the value from the output parameter. The
variable receiving the output parameter variable must be of a compatible type.
We set @NUM equal to 137, then use it to run the procedure. We pass @NUM
as the input parameter and specify @RETCOUNT as the output parameter with
the OUTPUT keyword. Finally, we use SELECT to return the value as a string
result. The CAST function is used to cast the output parameter integer value as
a character type to support concatenation.
The syntax for ALTER PROC, which is used to modify a procedure, is effec-
tively the same as the CREATE PROC statement. You must include all of the
same information, including parameters and the defining SQL statements, when
altering a procedure as you do to create a new procedure. Use DROP PROC to
delete existing procedures.

8.3.2 Understanding Functions

User defined functions (UDFs) are similar to user stored procedures in that they
optimize execution and limit user intervention and direct access to database
tables. When deciding whether to use a user stored procedure or UDF, the gen-
eral rule of thumb is that if you need a return value, use a UDF. Otherwise, use
288 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

a stored procedure. As you saw earlier, you have the option of deciding whether
or not a stored procedure returns a value. A UDF, by design, must return a
value.
SQL Server 2005 supports three types of functions:

▲ Scalar function: returns a scalar value of a specified type.

▲ In-line table-valued function: returns a table generated as the result of a
single SELECT statement, similar to a view.
▲ Multistatement table-valued function: returns a table generated from
multiple Transact-SQL statements.

Scalar functions can be used like system functions in expressions where a

scalar value is expected. Table-valued functions can be used as a data source in
the FROM clause of a SELECT statement and in other operations where a table
value is required.

Designing Functions
Situations where you will use UDFs are similar to those where you would use
stored procedures. You use functions where you need to automate operations,
simplify them, or improve security by providing access to table data indirectly
through a function. You can also use a table-valued function in most of the same
situations where you might use a view. The main difference is that you can con-
trol the table returned through the value pass as an input parameter.
When you create a function, you will use one or more SQL statements to
generate the value returned. Most SQL statements are allowed and can include
both other UDFs and system functions.

Creating Functions
The syntax for creating a function depends on the type of function you want to
create. The Transact-SQL CREATE FUNCTION command supports three slightly
different syntax versions, one for each function type. The basic syntax for creat-
ing a scalar function is:
CREATE FUNCTION name
([parameter_list])
RETURNS data_type
[AS]
BEGIN
Sql_statements
RETURN scalar_value
END

The command also supports a small number of function options. These

options are beyond the scope of this chapter. Functions support input parameters
 8.3.2 UNDERSTANDING FUNCTIONS 289

only. The syntax for specifying an input parameter is the same as for a user
stored procedure. If you don’t need any input parameters, then an empty pair
of parentheses must follow the function name. The return data type is
required. Place the statements used to generate the value in the BEGIN…END
block. The last statement must be a RETURN statement followed by the return
value. Let’s rewrite the earlier procedure used to return a customer count as
a UDF:
CREATE FUNCTION fn_CountCust
(@SPNUM CHAR(3))
RETURNS INT AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @CUST INT
SET @CUST = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM CUSTOMER WHERE
SPNUM=@SPNUM)
RETURN @CUST
END

Whether or not you specify the relational schema when you create a func-
tion, as with any other database object, the relational schema is part of the fully
qualified function name. With most objects, if you don’t specify the schema,
the default schema (typically dbo) is assumed. However, when you call a UDF,
you must specify the schema. So, to use the function we just created, you might
run:
SELECT dbo.fn_CountCust(‘137’)

The results would be an integer value of 4. To get an output like the one you
saw in the earlier example, you could use:
DECLARE @NUM CHAR(3)
DECLARE @CUSTCOUNT INT
SET @NUM = ’137’
SET @CUSTCOUNT = (SELECT dbo.fn_CountCust(@NUM))
SELECT ‘The count for salesperson’ + @NUM + ‘is’
+ CAST( @CUSTCOUNT AS CHAR(2))

The syntax for an in-line table-valued function is similar, except that the
return type is always TABLE. Here’s the basic syntax:
CREATE FUNCTION name
([parameter_list])
RETURNS TABLE
[AS]
RETURN (select_statement)

This time, let’s create a UDF that doesn’t require an input parameter. Func-
tionally, this will be equivalent to a view. We want to join the CUSTOMER and
290 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

SALESPERSON tables to return the customer name, salesperson name, and head-
quarters city. Here’s the statement to create the function:
CREATE FUNCTION fn_GetCust ()
RETURNS TABLE
RETURN (SELECT SPNAME, CUSTNAME, HQCITY
FROM SALESPERSON JOIN CUSTOMER
ON (CUSTOMER.SPNUM = SALESPERSON.SPNUM))

Notice the empty parentheses, identifying that the function does not have any input
parameters. We don’t need to qualify the column names in the SELECT clause
because each of the column names is unique. To use this function, we could use:
SELECT * FROM dbo.fn_GetCust

Finally, the syntax for a multistatement table-valued function is a little more

complicated. As the returned value, you specify a table-type local variable. You
must also include the table definition. At minimum, you must specify the table
columns and data types, but the definition can include other table features such
as identity columns and column constraints. The basic syntax, in this case, is
CREATE FUNCTION name
([parameter_list])
RETURNS @ret_variable TABLE (table_definition)
[AS]
BEGIN
Sql_statements
RETURN
END

Notice, that in this case, the RETURN keyword is specified on a line by itself.
For our example, we’re going to create a function that returns either a list of
customers for a specific salesperson or, if no salesperson is specified, a list of all
customers:
CREATE FUNCTION fn_GetBySP
(@NUM CHAR(3)=NULL)
RETURNS @custcopy TABLE (CustNum CHAR(4),
CustName VARCHAR(40), SPNum CHAR(3), HQCity VARCHAR(20))
BEGIN
If @NUM IS NULL
INSERT @custcopy SELECT custnum, custname, spnum, hqcity
FROM customer
else
INSERT @custcopy SELECT custnum, custname, spnum, hqcity
FROM customer WHERE SPNUM = @NUM
RETURN
END
 8.3.2 UNDERSTANDING FUNCTIONS 291

This time, we better step through the function so you can see what’s going
on inside it. We declare an input parameter named @NUM and set its default
value to NULL. In the RETURNS clause we declare a table variable named @cust-
copy, along with the table definition. If @NUM has a value of NULL, then we
insert all rows from CUSTOMERS into the table variable. Otherwise, we filter

FOR EXAMPLE
Replacing Views?
Remember the “For Example” box in the last section. You want to be able to
retrieve data about employees, but filter the data returned by department and
job requirements. The solution was to create one view for the Human Resources
manager, another for payroll, another for the employee’s manager, and so on.
You might think that another solution would be to create a multistatement
table-valued function to retrieve the data. When calling the function, you pass
the appropriate user type, such as HR or manager, to filter the result.
The problem is that this isn’t really a workable solution in this situa-
tion. Why not? There are two major flaws. One is that a UDF lets you fil-
ter the result by row, but the same columns are always returned. The only
way around this would be to have the function return every column you
might possibly need, but return NULL values for inappropriate or unneces-
sary data. The problem has to do with security. You would need to embed
some type of security check inside the procedure, otherwise what is there
to prevent the employee’s manager from running the function and passing
the parameter to return data for the HR manager?
There are, however, any number of possible situations for which a UDF
would be well-suited. Say, for example, that you need to run sales reports
by customer and salesperson each month so you can calculate commission
payments. As long as the salesperson number is associated with the sales
records, you could create a UDF to simplify this activity. Create a UDF that
lets you pass the salesperson number and then retrieves data for just that
salesperson. You could even take it a step further with a scalar function. You
could have the function use the salesperson number to retrieve the com-
mission percentage for you, calculate the percentage, and return the com-
mission amount as a scalar value.
The same general rule of thumb applies for determining access through
functions as it does for views. If you don’t give people the information they
need to do their jobs, they will let you know. If you give them more than
they need, you may not find out until after the damage has been done.
292 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

the rows we insert into the table variable by the input parameter value. To
retrieve a list of customers for salesperson 137, you could run:
SELECT * FROM dbo.fn_getbysp(‘137’)

If you want to use the default value to retrieve all of the customers from the
table, you would run:
SELECT * FROM dbo.fn_getbysp(DEFAULT)

Notice that if you want to use the default value of an input parameter, you must
pass the keyword DEFAULT as the parameter value.
The syntax for ALTER FUNCTION, which is used to modify a procedure, is
effectively the same as the CREATE FUNCTION statement. You must specify all
parameters, just as if you were creating a new function. Use DROP FUNCTION
to delete existing functions.

SELF-CHECK
• Compare and contrast user stored procedures and UDFs.
• List and describe the types of UDFs supported by SQL Server 2005.

SUMMARY
In this chapter, you learned about improving data access, which included
improving access performance, simplifying access, and protecting table data from
unauthorized access. You were introduced to the concept of bottlenecks and
shown some of the types of bottlenecks you are most likely to encounter. You
learned about the role of indexes in improving read access, as well as their pos-
sible impact on write access. You learned how to design and create views to con-
trol user access to data. You also learned about using procedures and functions
both to automate database operations (including data access queries) and to con-
trol access to database data.

KEY TERMS
Alert Dedicated server
Bottleneck Disk queue
Cache Function
 KEY TERMS 293

Indexed view Performance baseline

Input parameter Performance counter
Key column Performance object
Merged scan join Procedure
Nested loop join Processor affinity
Nested procedures Schema binding
Output parameter System stored procedures
Paging file Threshold value
294 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

ASSESS YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of ways to
improve data access.
Measure your learning by comparing pre-test and post-test results.

Summary Questions
1. A perceived hardware performance problem can sometimes mask a
problem with a different hardware component. True or False?
2. Normalization has no impact on data access or database performance.
True or False?
3. Which of the following would you use to capture SQL Server activity?
(a) SQL Server Profiler
(b) System Monitor
(c) Performance Monitor
(d) Database Engine Tuning Advisor
4. Excessive virtual memory paging is typically caused by which of the
following?
(a) a hard disk that is too slow
(b) an overworked hard disk
(c) too little system memory
(d) too slow of a processor
5. What is usually the best solution for memory bottlenecks?
(a) install a faster hard disk
(b) increase available disk space
(c) install a faster processor
(d) install more RAM memory
6. On a Windows XP computer running SQL Server 2005, which of the fol-
lowing would you use to observe real-time hardware performance?
(a) SQL Profiler
(b) Database Engine Tuning Advisor
(c) System Monitor
(d) alerts
7. When is the best time to collect baseline performance data?
(a) before installing SQL Server
(b) before the database application goes live
 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 295

(c) shortly after the database application goes live

(d) when you suspect a performance issue
8. Running multiple server applications can adversely impact which of the
following?
(a) disk performance
(b) memory performance
(c) processor performance
(d) all of the above
9. Views let you filter table data by column and by row. True or False?
10. Which columns should typically be used as index key columns?
(a) columns that are seldom retrieved by queries
(b) columns containing few unique values
(c) columns that are commonly used as join columns
(d) columns containing a very high percentage of NULL values
11. You are creating a view based on a single table. Which would you use
for vertical filtering?
(a) the SELECT column list
(b) the FROM clause
(c) the WHERE clause
(d) the GROUP BY clause
12. Which statement best describes the results returned by a view?
(a) The results are persisted when the view is first created.
(b) The results are generated each time the view is called.
(c) The results must be immediately updated any time base tables are
updated.
(d) The results are a snapshot of the data when the view as created.
13. Indexing table columns typically improves read and write performance.
True or False?
14. You can use input parameters to vary view results. True or False?
15. You must specify the return data type when creating a scalar function.
True or False?
16. When creating an input parameter for a stored procedure, what, in
addition to the parameter name, must be specified?
(a) data type
(b) default value
(c) INPUT keyword
(d) both a and b
296 IMPROVING DATA ACCESS

17. Which UDF type requires a table definition?

(a) scalar
(b) in-line table-valued
(c) multistatement table-valued
(d) both b and c
18. When calling a UDF, you must include the schema name with the func-
tion name. True or False?
19. When creating procedures or functions, input parameters are optional.
True or False?
20. When are you required to use the EXECUTE command when calling a
UDF?
(a) when passing default values for input parameters
(b) when the function returns a value
(c) when passing input parameters by name
(d) never

Applying This Chapter

You are designing a database solution for Good Reading Bookstores. You are
using SQL Server 2005 as your DBMS running on Windows Server 2003 The
tables you have defined so far are shown in Figure 8-11.
The tables have been loaded with initial data and the application is currently
undergoing beta testing. The following questions refer to the Good Reading
Bookstores database.
1. You are comparing potential hardware platforms. You load the database
on each with sample data. How can you generate a sample load so that
the same load is used on each platform?
2. Referring back to Question 1, how can you observe performance
differences between the two machines?
3. When should you collect baseline performance data?
4. You plan to use functions and procedures to automate some management
activities. What should you use as your general guideline for deciding
whether to use a function or a procedure? How can you decide what
type of function to use?
5. You will frequently need to run reports on the SALE table and include
an extended total by book and customer. What type of database object
can you create to simplify this?
6. During beta testing, how can you determine whether or not the indexes
you’ve created are being used when queries are executed?
 APPLYING THIS CHAPTER 297

Figure 8-11

PUBLISHER table

PUBNAME CITY COUNTRY TELEPHONE YRFOUND

AUTHOR table

AUTHORNUM AUTHORNUM YEARBORN YEARDIED

BOOK table

BOOKNUM BOOKNAME PUBYEAR PAGES PUBNAME

CUSTOMER table

CUSTNUM CUSTNAME STREET CITY STATE COUNTRY

WRITING table

BOOKNUM AUTHORNUM

SALE table

BOOKNUM CUSTNUM DATE PRICE QUANTITY

Good Reading Bookstores tables.

7. How do the table primary keys, indicated by a solid line under the
column name, relate to default table indexes?
8. Several queries needed by regular operations depend on joining multiple
tables. How can you simplify these queries for your users?
YOU TRY IT

Video Rental Company 2. Currently, the only indexes on the database are
You design a database for a video rental company. The those that SQL Server created by default. You
database is normalized to 3NF. Whenever a customer want to optimize reports run on customer
rents a title, a rental invoice is generated. This is stored rentals. The report will include basic customer
in two tables, RHead and RTail. RHead contains infor- information and the titles of current rentals. How
mation on the invoice as a whole, including the CustNum could you retrieve this information (what tables
to identify the customer, and RTail contains information for are required)? What indexes should you create
each detail item in the invoice. to optimize performance (identity by table and
Three tables are used to track customer information. column)? Justify your answer.
CustInfo contains general information about the cus- 3. You want to be able to limit the report generated
tomer. CustSec contains more senstive information, in Question 2 to a single customer. You want to
such as telephone number and address. CustRentals ensure a consistent result, with the same
has information about current and past rentals; the columns returned the same way each time. How
table has two rental columns, one for VHS and one for should you do this and keep the number of ad-
DVD. The CustNum column is used to establish the re- ditional database objects required to a mini-
lationship between the tables. It is also used as the pri- mum? Describe the object or objects that you
mary key in each of the customer tables. would create.
There are two tables for videos. One contains titles on 4. How would the solution change if you wanted to
VHS tape and the other DVDs. You are preparing to add retrieve either one customer or all customers?
a third table for games, which you plan to call Games.
Each title has a unique tracking number that is generated Periodic Activities
internally. The data type for the tracking number is the You have several activities that must be completed at
same in both tables, NCHAR(10). Each value is unique, the end of each month and at the end of each quarter.
so that none of the numbers are duplicated between the These include reporting and data manipulation opera-
VHS table and the DVD table. The tracking number is tions. You need to automate as many of these opera-
used as the primary key in the VHS and DVD tables. tions as possible. You also want to simplify them so
The database is deployed on a computer running Win- that you can delegate some of the periodic require-
dows XP and SQL Server 2005. The computer is also ments to someone else.
running Internet Information Services (IIS). The data- There are two databases involved, both of which are
base application is written as a Web application, which hosted on the SQL Server 2005 database server OUR-
is hosted on the same server, so employees launch a DATA. The databases are named SalesData and Ops-
Web browser on their computers and connect to the Data. End-of-period activities include both databases,
application through the local network. but all of the activities run separately on each. There
are no requirements for combining data from the data-
1. Users complain about poor performance when bases or transfering data between the databases.
posting rentals. This has been an ongoing com- The databases are normalized to 3NF. In some cases,
plaint and you suspect the server hardware. As- you have included denormalized tables to support
sume you suspect memory as the problem. Go read requests. The databases are optimized for read
through the general steps you would use to verify performance. You evaluate index use and update the
and correct a memory problem. Other than SQL indexes twice a year. You document the indexes by
Server, what additional loads are there on system generating creation script files for each of the indexes
resources? How could you reduce these? any time an index changes. These scripts are kept in a

298
 YOU TRY IT 299

directory on the database server to keep them readily 3. You want to be able to return the number of rows
accessible. updated by the monthly update. How could you
Periodic updates are run over weekends to keep them do this? How would this change your require-
from interferring with user activities. ments for running the update?
4. You need to ensure that periodic updates run as
1. You plan to create objects as necessary sepa- quickly as possible so that they are finished over
rately on each database. What type of database one weekend. What change can you make to
object would you create to perform the periodic the databases to optimize write performance
acitivities? Why should you create separate instead of read performance?
objects for each activity? 5. What kind of database object can you create
2. Rather than running monthy updates, you de- that will reverse this change with minimal effort
cide to run them each quarter. When you do, you on your part? Describe what it would need to do.
need to identify the month and year for which 6. What periodic changes might you need to make
each monthly update is being run. How can you to this object?
do this?
300 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

9
DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

Starting Point
Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of database
administration requirements.
Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

▲ The reasons for data and database administration
▲ Data and database administration roles
▲ Database administration management tasks

After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To

▲ Justify the need for data and database administration
▲ Identify the tasks for which data administrators are responsible
▲ Identify the tasks for which database administrators are responsible
▲ Identify where data and database administration responsibilities overlap
▲ Explain guidelines for choosing between manual and automated manage-
ment procedures
 9.1 UNDERSTANDING THE NEED FOR ADMINISTRATION 301

INTRODUCTION
Administration includes a set of critical responsibilities that begin with data-
base planning and continue as long as the database is in use. Considering the
importance of the data contained in corporate databases, administration is def-
initely not an area to shortchange. In this chapter, we’ll look at justifying
administration roles, identify the two basic administration roles and responsi-
bilities related to each, and talk a little about guidelines for performing admin-
istration tasks.

9.1 Understanding the Need for Administration

Administrative tasks touch on every aspect of database implementation and use.
There are administrative requirements throughout the life cycle of a database
application, though the specifics change depending on where you are in the
cycle. To understand the requirements, it helps to understand the basic life cycle
(Figure 9-1).

Figure 9-1

Design
Data analysis, database
design and application
design and testing

Implementation
Database deployment
and baseline monitoring

Production
Day-to-day use and
ongoing maintenance

Retirement
Replacement or migration
and archiving

Database application life cycle.

302 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

Early in the life cycle, during database design, the tasks focus more on data
requirements. As you move through the life cycle, day-to-day activities and the
database server take precedence. Toward the end of the application’s functional
life, the focus turns back to the data, with possible data migration or data archiv-
ing requirements, merging into a new design cycle. It’s important to understand
administration requirements and roles played by administrators.

9.1.1 Identifying Administration Roles

There are two basic administration roles, which constitute the “people side” of
database management, though the boundaries between the roles often become
blurred in the real world. These two administration roles are data administra-
tion and database administration. A data administrator, sometimes called a data
analyst, is responsible for planning and analysis, setting data policy and stan-
dards, promoting the company’s data as a competitive resource, accounting for
the use of data, and providing liaison support to systems analysts during appli-
cation development. Systems analysts, in the simplest sense, are information
services (IS) specialists who identify ways for computers to perform critical tasks.
In a broader sense, much of this work involves analyzing complex systems and
how they interact, analysis that often focuses on data flows within an organiza-
tion and between an organization and outside entities (such as customers and
vendors). Data flow refers to the path taken by data from its producer or owner
to the data consumer, the person using the data. Communication between data
administrators and systems analysts is often aided by the fact that many data
administrators start out as systems analysts before focusing on relational data
requirements.
The database administrator’s function is more operationally oriented and is
responsible for the day-to-day monitoring and management of the company’s var-
ious active databases, as well as providing liaison support to program designers
during application development. Database administrators typically carry out poli-
cies and apply standards set by data administrators.
For our purposes, we are treating data administration and database adminis-
tration as separate entities with separate responsible individuals. In the real world,
these jobs are often combined into a single department, group, or even individual,
depending on the size of the organization and the scope of the management
requirements. There has also been a recent trend toward outsourcing administra-
tion duties to an on-call consultant rather than keeping a database specialist on
staff. This is usually done as a cost-saving measure, often with mixed results.

9.1.2 Justifying the Need for Administration

The initial question that arises is, why do companies need these data and data-
base administration departments? What value do they add? Are they just additional
 9.1.2 JUSTIFYING THE NEED FOR ADMINISTRATION 303

cost centers that don’t produce revenue? At one time or another, most companies
have struggled with these questions, but in today’s heavily data-intensive, infor-
mation-dependent business environment, these functions are recognized as being
more important than ever.
DBMS manufacturers have recognized the need not only for administrators,
but for qualified administrators. Toward this end, most manufacturers offer cer-
tification programs. Certification candidates must take and pass one or more
exams to earn certification. Certifications offered and certification exam objec-
tives vary between different DBMS certification programs. One ongoing problem
with these programs is to design them so that they test for real-world-based
skills and knowledge. A parallel industry has grown up alongside the certifica-
tions, offering certification training with some giving money-back guarantees of
passing.

Justifying Administration
Data as a corporate resource has taken its rightful place alongside other corporate
resources. Virtually all aspects of business have become dependent on their infor-
mation systems and the data flowing through them. Today’s organizations could
not function without their vast stores of personnel data, customer data, product
data, supplier data, and so forth. Indeed, data may well be the most important
corporate resource because it describes all of the others. Furthermore, the effec-
tive use of its data can give a company a significant competitive advantage.
The problem is that available personnel and other resources within a company
tend to be scarce (is there ever enough money to go around?), and there is typ-
ically internal competition for them. Data is no exception. As more and more
corporate functions seek the same data for their work, bottlenecks can form and
the speed of accessing the data can slow. Arguments arise over who “owns” the
data, who should have access to it, and, especially, who is responsible when
problems arise. Without someone clearly responsible for data issues, companies
respond in a variety of ways without completely understanding the problem,
such as bringing in faster computers, but these solutions have their limits and
often come with inherent drawbacks.
Management cannot be left to chance or performance optimization left as an
afterthought. Any shared corporate resource should have a dedicated department
to manage it. It makes little sense to have an important resource either not man-
aged at all or managed part-time and half-heartedly by some group that has other
responsibilities. It also makes little sense to have any one of the groups com-
peting for the shared resource also managing it—the resource manager must
be impartial when a dispute arises. The answer is to have a department, or
personnel within a department, specifically dedicated to data and database man-
agement. These should be personnel whose sole purpose is taking care of cor-
porate data.
304 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

Justifying Job Specialization

Database administration is often organized as a responsibility within the infor-
mation services (or information technology, depending on your organization)
department. However, this does not mean that the tasks should be handed over
to the department as general responsibilities for anyone who happens to have
the time to take care of them. Many of the functions involved in the manage-
ment of data are highly specialized and require specific expertise. They can vary
from long-range data planning to working with the idiosyncrasies of a particu-
lar database management system. This argues for a full-time staff of specialists
who do nothing but manage a company’s data and databases.
A good example of this is database design. To do a really good job of both
logical and physical database design requires considerable education and practice.
The question then becomes one of who among the information systems per-
sonnel should be responsible for designing the company’s main, shared data-
bases. The systems analysts? The application programmers? Which systems ana-
lysts or application programmers? Even though one of these choices is often the
solution, it doesn’t always make a lot of sense to have any of these people design
the databases for at least two reasons. First, it is unreasonable to expect any of
them to be as expert at designing databases unless they specialize in this area of
development. Second, if any one application development group designs the
shared databases, they will tend to optimize them for their own applications and
not take into account the needs of the other applications. The solution is to have
application-independent, full-time database specialists (i.e., data and database
administration personnel), who are experts at database design and who optimize
the database designs for the overall good of the company.

Justifying Operational Management

At the operational level, for the day-to-day management of the company’s pro-
duction databases, an independent department must be responsible for data and
database management, for the reasons already mentioned. Since the data is likely
to be shared among several corporate functions and users, the data should be
managed by an independent group whose loyalty is to the overall company rather
than to any individual function. Also, someone has to make sure that any peri-
odic data updates take place, overseeing the application or personnel responsi-
ble for those updates. Once again, it’s prudent to have an independent data
administration group keep track of who is responsible for updating which tables
and to monitor whether these persons have kept to the expected schedule, for
the benefit of all who use the data.
Working with the databases at the operational level requires an in-depth
knowledge of the DBMS in use, of the databases themselves, and of such spe-
cific skills and tasks as physical database design, database security, and backup
and recovery.
 9.1.2 JUSTIFYING THE NEED FOR ADMINISTRATION 305

Integrating External Data

In today’s information systems environment, some databases are not designed
by a company’s own personnel but are acquired as part of purchased software
packages. A prominent example is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) soft-
ware like the multifunction, integrated software sold by companies such as
SAP and Peoplesoft. These packages consist of application modules that man-
age a variety of corporate functions (personnel, accounting, etc.). They typi-
cally include a central database shared by all of the application modules.
When a company decides to go the ERP route, they are making an important
commitment to having a shared data resource. Once again, the only arrange-
ment that makes sense for the management of this shared resource is to have
an independent group that is tasked with managing it for the overall good of
the company.

Meeting Decentralization Requirements

With the advent of personal computers, local area networks, and new user-
friendly software in the 1980s, many companies decentralized at least some of
their information systems work. These technologies permitted user departments
all over the company to handle some or all of their information systems needs
on their own, without having to rely on the central information systems organi-
zation. Although such developments as ERP software with its centralized database
concept have swung the pendulum back toward the centralized IS environment
to some extent, decentralization is a fact of life to a greater or lesser degree in
virtually all companies.
The question then is, in terms of the advantages of data and database admin-
istration, do we need these functions more or less in the decentralized environ-
ment than we do in the centralized environment? Some people might say that
we don’t need them. In fact, when the move toward decentralization began, one
of the stated reasons was to reduce the overhead of the central IS department,
including database administration. Furthermore, many people are quite content
to develop their own databases on their PCs using low-level PC-based DBMSs.
Despite these trends, there is a very strong argument that data and database
administration are even more important in a decentralized environment than in
a centralized one.
First of all, most large companies do not have a totally decentralized IS.
Most have a hybrid centralized/decentralized environment. And if nothing
else, the centralized portion includes a central, shared database, which cer-
tainly requires a database administration function to manage it. Moreover,
with company data present in a variety of central databases, databases asso-
ciated with local area networks, and even databases on PCs, the coordinating
role of data administration is crucial. This coordinating role is a key respon-
sibility of data administration.
306 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

FOR EXAMPLE
Recognizing the Need for Administration
Lower-level DBMS products, like Microsoft Access, are specifically designed
to let users design and develop their own databases and simple database
applications. One reason for their popularity is that traditional corporate IS
departments are often slow to respond to users’ requests for changes, even
changes that seem as minor as changing report options. Part of the prob-
lem is that “simple” changes often aren’t that simple when dealing with older
mainframe databases and applications.
The result is that you have “pools” of data throughout the company. This
often results in both duplicated data and duplication of efforts, but this isn’t
the only reason for wanting to maintain more centralized control over cor-
porate data. In fact, there are a wide variety of potential issues.
With individual databases, one person is typically responsible for the data
and its administration, such as it is. Data inaccuracies are common, result-
ing in different users generating different results from the “same” data. Data
updates occur in a haphazard manner, if at all, leading to business decisions
being made on out-of-date information. Backups are often an afterthought,
meaning that data loss is common. Also, most users don’t give any thought
to security, opening the door to data theft and other industrial espionage.
One answer to these potential problems is to put all data, both central-
ized and decentralized, under one common management umbrella. This gives
you a way of setting standards for issues such as data backup and data secu-
rity. It lets you identify and consolidate duplicate data, reducing the effort
required to manage and maintain the data. With modern DBMSs like SQL
Server, it’s even possible to integrate public and private databases. You can
keep a master copy of the data on a database server where it is properly man-
aged and maintained. Individuals can still have their own copies in local
Access databases, kept up-to-date from the master copy. This lets them have
the impression that they are in control over their own data and lets them
meet some of their own custom requirements, such as individualized reports.

SELF-CHECK
• Compare and contrast data administration and database adminis-
tration roles.
• List key justifications for dedicated administration personnel.
 9.2 IDENTIFYING ADMINISTRATION RESPONSIBILITIES 307

9.2 Identifying Administration Responsibilities

There are several ways to look at administration responsibilities. One is by role,
identifying and understanding the tasks for which data administrators are
responsible and those for which the database administrators are responsible.
When discussing these responsibilities, always keep in mind that the two
roles are closely tied to each other, will overlap, and may even be performed
by the same person. Guidelines established by the data administrator directly
impact how the database administrator does his or her job. Performance prob-
lems discovered by the database administrator can force the data administra-
tor to rethink and redesign some aspect of the database, as well as work with
application programmers to ensure that any necessary changes are made to the
application.
It can also be easy to lose track of who is responsible for what. When assign-
ing responsibilities, it’s important that they be defined clearly and completely so
that everyone understands what they should be doing. Understand that terms
rely on context, and misunderstandings are easy. For example, say “database” to
a data administrator and the first thing likely to come to mind is the data—
defining entities, how tables are structured, and so forth. Say “database” to a
database administrator and the first thing to come to mind might be the phys-
ical database file, how it’s physically stored on the server hard disks, and rela-
tionships between different distributed databases.
Table 9-1 lists general duties of the data and database administration roles.
However, when discussing these roles you need to keep in mind that these are
not hard and fast divisions. Responsibilities often overlap, with data or database
administrators working together or taking over duties traditionally assigned to
the other role.

Table 9-1: Data and Database Administration Roles

Data Administration Database Administration
Data coordination Performance monitoring
Data planning Security
Data standards Metadata management
Liaison requirements Software management
Training Troubleshooting
Arbitration
Publicity
Competitive advantage
308 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

We’re going to keep our discussion of administrator responsibilities to a very

general level. We’ll focus on the types of things that each role needs to do, not
worry about the specifics of how each is done. Even though the responsibilities
are somewhat common across different DBMS platforms, the tools provided by
the different DBMS products to meet the responsibilities can vary widely.

9.2.1 Understanding Data Administration Responsibilities

As information systems are used in all aspects of a company’s business, data
administrators find themselves playing key roles in the corporate environment.
Those who understand the data a company possesses and how it flows are in
the best position to understand how the company really functions. These data
flows include data moving from department to department within the company,
as well as between the company and its customers, suppliers, and other exter-
nal entities. This is why data administrators often come from the ranks of sys-
tems analysts, but with additional training to understand requirements specific
to relational databases.
But, what exactly, do data administrators do? To say that they manage data
is far too simple of an explanation for our purposes. Instead, we need to take a
look at what we mean by that blanket term managing data. At the same time,
you will begin to see why the data and database administrator roles are often
filled by the same person or persons because of overlapping responsibilities.
Managing Data Coordination
With data playing so prominent a role in the corporate environment, its accu-
racy is of the utmost importance. In the centralized/decentralized environment
of most businesses, data and copies of data can be scattered among mainframe
computers, local area network servers, and PCs. The more fragmented the data
and storage methods, the higher the possibility of inconsistency and error. There
are few things more annoying than two people making important presentations
in a meeting and showing different figures that should be the same. It is up to
the data administrators to keep track of the organization’s data. This includes
download schedules, update schedules and responsibilities, and data interchange
with other companies. This is not to suggest that data administration should try
to control all of the databases on all of the employees’ PCs. That would be impos-
sible. However, in attempts to avoid total data anarchy, data coordination
becomes the job of the data administrators, which means that they maintain a
reasonable amount of control over the company’s data.
Managing Data Planning
Data planning refers to identifying data requirements, analyzing available data,
and designing ways of meeting data needs. Data planning begins with deter-
mining what data will be needed for future company business efforts and the
 9.2.1 UNDERSTANDING DATA ADMINISTRATION RESPONSIBILITIES 309

applications that will support those efforts. Data planning may be limited to data
generated and used internally within the company. However, today it often
means coordinating with other companies in a supply chain or acquiring exter-
nal customer data for use in marketing. In either case, there is the need to plan
for integrating the new data with the company’s existing data. A number of
methodologies have been developed to aid in data planning. These methodolo-
gies take into account the business processes that the company performs as part
of its normal operations and add the data needed to support these operations.
While the methodologies generally operate at a high strategic level and may not
get into the details of individual attributes, they do provide a broad roadmap
from which to work.
Related to strategic data planning, your long-term data plans and require-
ments, is the matter of what hardware and software will be needed to support
the company’s information systems operations in the future. The questions
involved range from such relatively straightforward matters as how many disk
drives will be needed to contain the data to broader issues of how much pro-
cessing power will be needed to support the overall IS environment. While this
is specifically the database administrator’s responsibility, data administration must
be involved so that the database administrator is not working blindly. Informa-
tion like projected growth based on historical requirements or upcoming additional
needs of which the data administrator might be aware provide the database
administrator with critical information for planning hardware requirements.
Another data planning issue is how metadata should be put to use. With some
DBMSs, metadata and the data dictionary is managed separately from the oper-
ational data. This management involves what data should be stored in the data
dictionary, what uses the data dictionary should be put to, who should interact
with the data dictionary and how, and on what kind of schedule all of this should
take place. Yet another data planning issue many companies must face is the
migration of old, pre-database data and applications into the company’s database
environment. Related to this is the problem of migrating data from one DBMS
to another as the company’s software infrastructure changes.

Managing Data Standards

In order to reduce errors, improve performance, and enhance the ability of one
IS worker to understand the work done by another, it is important for the data
administrator to set standards regarding data and its use. One example of data
standards is naming standards, which include attribute names, table names,
and other server and database object names. Names must be meaningful and
consistent.
For example, it could be very confusing if the human resources department uses
the name Serial Number as the attribute name for employee numbers while the man-
ufacturing department uses Serial Number for finished product serial numbers. This
310 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

could be possible, though, because each would be used in a different table and
would result in a unique column name. Similarly, you add unnecessary confusion
if you use Serial Number in some tables and Employee Number in others to refer
to the same value. An even bigger problem arises if you use different identifying
values in different tables, making it difficult (if not impossible) to establish rela-
tionships between tables.
Another issue of data standards relates to data access. It’s important to insist
on consistency in the way that programs access the database. These include
issues such as how connections are established, how data is retrieved, and how
data manipulation commands are passed. Here, the data administrator must
work with application programmers and the database administrator to develop
standards that help minimize problems relating to performance and security.
Also, well-established standards help to make application programs easier to
maintain when it comes time to make changes or add functionality.
Data standards also come into play in the IS interactions between companies
in supply chains, as shown in Figure 9-2. When data is exchanged using elec-
tronic data interchange (EDI) technology, technology used for electronic data
transfer and related data standards, adjustments have to be made to account for
data structure and other differences in the information systems of the two com-
panies involved.
Many companies use non-relational data formats for passing information
such as purchase orders. It’s common to find XML documents based on prede-
fined schemas as the transfer standard. The need to be able to generate messages
in those formats can impact how database data is structured.
In Figure 9-2, you see a retailer sending a purchase order to the warehouse
using EDI technology. The order is received automatically by the computer at

Figure 9-2

Purchase Order

Retailer

Warehouse

Electronic data interchange (EDI).

 9.2.1 UNDERSTANDING DATA ADMINISTRATION RESPONSIBILITIES 311

the warehouse, the order is filled, and the items shipped to the retailer. EDI helps
automate the process, with data administrators on each end managing the data
standards needed.

Handling Liaison Requirements

You’ve already see how liaison activities are a vital part of data administration
When working with application developers, data administrators are responsible
for providing support to the systems analysts and programmers in all matters
concerning the data needed by an application. During the systems analysis phase
of application development, the support may include help in determining what
data is needed for the application and which of the data items needed for the
application already exist in the active database. As already mentioned, jointly
developed access standards are a critical requirement involving not just applica-
tion programmers, but database administrators as well.
Another aspect of such liaison activity is database design. Data analysts are
generally involved in database design at some level, but the decision of what
precise level of involvement is usually dependent on a number of factors. In an
IS environment in which the data administration organization is very strong and
in which there is a significant amount of data sharing among different applica-
tions and different functional areas of the company, the data analysts may do all
of the logical database design work themselves. Here again, they can stand as an
impartial group creating the best design for the overall good of all the sharing
users. The other choice is for the application developers to do the database
design with either active consultation by the data analysts or approval responsi-
bility after the fact by the data analysts. In the active consultation role, the data
analysts lend their expertise to the effort, as well as determine how the new data
should mesh with data in the existing database, if there is to be such a merg-
ing. In the approval role, the application developers (usually the lead programmers
for this activity) design the database, which is then shown to the data analysts
for discussion and approval.
Here again, we see the close relationship between data and database admin-
istration. Database administrators typically have a role in the process as well,
providing an understanding of the physical capabilities and requirements of the
DBMS. A “perfect” database design is useless if your DBMS can’t physically imple-
ment the functionality called for in that design. For example, the database design
might call for native storage of XML documents and for direct retrieval of data
inside the documents using XML queries. The problem with this is that most
DBMSs don’t support XML data types or direct retrieval of XML data.

Managing Training
In some companies, data administrators are responsible for training all those in
the company who have a reason to understand the company’s data. In some cases,
312 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

that training can also include the DBMS environment, though that specific need
is usually better met by database administrators. Management personnel need to
understand why the database approach is good for the company and for their
individual functions specifically. Users must understand why the shared data
must remain secure and private. Application developers must be given substan-
tial training in how to work in the database environment, including training in
database concepts, database standards, and how to write DBMS calls in their pro-
grams. These requirements might also include how to do database design, how
to use the data dictionary to their advantage, and in general, what services they
can expect data and database administrators to provide.

Arbitrating Disputes and Access

To introduce the concept of arbitration, the act of resolving disputes between
disagreeing parties, we should spend a moment on the question of data owner-
ship. Who in a company “owns” a piece of data or a database? To be technical,
since data is a resource of value to the company, the data “belongs” to the com-
pany’s owners or stockholders. In more practical terms, in many companies data
is controlled by its primary user or users. In this case, data and database admin-
istrators act as custodians of the data in the sense of providing security, backup,
performance monitoring, and other such services. Here again the roles overlap,
with it being difficult determine where one set of responsibilities ends and the
other begins. In some companies with an advanced level of data sharing, own-
ership responsibility actually falls to data administration itself.
If ownership has been established in a department other than IS and a new
application requires the use of existing data, it becomes the job of data or data-
base administration to act as an intermediary and approach the owner of the
data with the request for data sharing. Similar issues can arise if one department
in the company simply wants to query another department’s database. If there
is a dispute over such data sharing, then the data administration group acts
(in theory) as an arbitrator between the disagreeing parties.
In some cases the issue isn’t what you can access, but the speed and qual-
ity of access. The data administration group might find itself acting as arbitrator
between two database users or groups of users who are sharing the same data-
base server, each demanding priority access for better performance. The funda-
mental issue becomes determining what is best for the company. For example,
marketing and sales might argue over access to the same customer sales data. In
this case, it is likely that the sales department’s access is more time-critical.
It’s important to understand that this role belongs to data administration in
theory, but not always in fact. It depends on your organization and who ulti-
mately is responsible for decisions about data and its use. Just because the log-
ical department to make the decision is data administration, doesn’t mean it will
always work that way. For example, decisions about data access might fall solely
 9.2.2 UNDERSTANDING DATABASE ADMINISTRATION RESPONSIBILITIES 313

with departmental managements, leaving data administrators with an advisory

role, at most.
Managing Publicity
Often, the data management group performs a publicity function, informing
potential users of what data exists in the database. Knowing what data exists
might encourage employees to think about how they can use the company’s data
to gain competitive advantages that did not previously exist. They may discover
how to automate more of their work and to integrate their work more directly
with related business processes that are already automated.
However, this publicity carries with it critical concerns about security. You
must carefully consider not only what information about the database and its
data you publicize, but also to whom you make this information available. Various
departments might need to be involved in decisions about what to publish,
depending on who is responsible for the data. For example, the amount and
type of data you would make available about employees depends on the data
consumer, the person or department accessing the data.
Ensuring a Competitive Advantage
Data administrators, by virtue of their knowledge of the company’s data and the
way it flows from one company function to another, are in a unique position to
understand how the company works. This is especially true since virtually all
company functions today are dependent on information systems. A very impor-
tant and high-profile responsibility of the data administration function is to
respond to questions about how the company’s business procedures can be
adjusted or modified to improve the company’s efficiency. This can also extend
to data administration taking the initiative and making suggestions for improve-
ment on its own.

9.2.2 Understanding Database Administration Responsibilities

After seeing the responsibilities given data administrators, you might wonder
about what’s left for the database administrators. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of
work to go around. You’ve already seen how the roles overlap, and that some-
times it’s difficult to determine exactly which role is responsible for what. Pay
attention to this overlap as we discuss database administrator responsibilities.
In addition, there are several activities that belong uniquely to the database
administrator.
Database administration is a technical function that is responsible for the
day-to-day operations and maintenance of the DBMS environment, including
such related tools as the data dictionary, if handled as a separate function. This
is quite analogous to the role of the systems programmers who are responsible
for maintaining the mainframe operating systems. Like operating systems, DBMSs
314 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

tend to include many highly product-specific features that require a thoroughly

trained individual to handle.
You might find, depending on the company, that there are responsibilities
that go beyond those listed here. The database administrator’s role tends to
become something of a catchall. When something comes up related to the data-
base, if it isn’t specifically the responsibility of someone else, then it must belong
to the database administrator.

Monitoring Performance
One of the key functions performed by database administration is performance
monitoring. Using utility programs, the database administrators can gauge the per-
formance of the running DBMS environment. This activity has a number of impli-
cations. It is important to know how fast the various applications are executing
as part of ensuring that response time requirements are being met. Also, this type
of performance information is pertinent to future hardware and software acqui-
sition plans. Depending on the characteristics of the DBMS and the operating sys-
tem under which it is running, the performance information may be used to redis-
tribute the database application load among different CPUs or among different
memory regions within a system. Finally, performance information can be used
to ferret out inefficient applications or queries that may be candidates for redesign.
The database administrators must also interface with the IS organization’s
systems programming staff, who maintain the mainframe operating systems
(if present). The systems programmers will also have performance and trou-
bleshooting responsibilities, which may overlap with those of the database
administrators. The net of this is that it greatly facilitates matters if the two
groups get along well with each other and can work together effectively. This is
less an issue than it has been in the past as PC-based databases rival (or exceed)
mainframe performance and mainframe-hosted databases become the exception
rather than the rule.
Keep in mind that performance depends not only on the DBMS and data-
base, but the hardware platform, operating system, and even the network. It may
be necessary to work with network administration or PC administration and help
staff to complete some monitoring tasks. This is especially true if you plan to
run tests that will place a heavy load on network infrastructure that could inter-
fere with the performance of other network applications. These also may be
issues relating to database administration security access. As a database admin-
istrator, you could have unlimited access to the DBMS and any hosted databases,
but still have limited access to operating system resources and utilities.

Monitoring Security
Database administrators keep track of which applications are running in the
database environment. They can track who is accessing the data in the database
 9.2.2 UNDERSTANDING DATABASE ADMINISTRATION RESPONSIBILITIES 315

at any moment, either directly or through an application. Again, there are soft-
ware utilities that enable them to perform these functions.
Monitoring the database users is done from several perspectives. One is the mat-
ter of access security, making sure that only authorized personnel access the data.
This includes managing database users and authorizing user access to the data-
base, as ordered by data administration personnel in conjunction with the data
owners. Another perspective is the need to maintain records on the amount of
use the various users make of the database. This can have implications in future
load balancing and performance optimization work. This information can also
be used in allocating system costs among the various users and applications.
A related concern is database auditing. Even assuming that only authorized
users have accessed the database, reasons involving accounting and error cor-
rection require that a record be kept of who has accessed and who has modi-
fied which data items. This is also critical if you suspect unauthorized access,
someone hacking into the database. This audit trail, the ongoing log of user activ-
ity, is a necessary tool when attempting to detect and hopefully block unautho-
rized access. The level of auditing supported is DBMS-specific. Some DBMSs are
limited to tracking user connections only, or simply to the fact that the user
accessed database data. Others can record detailed activity, including specific data
modifications.

Managing Metadata
There are multiple concerns relating to managing metadata. In most cases, data-
base administrators are the only individuals who should have direct access to
metadata. This means that, except in some specific, limited instances, database
administrators are the only ones who should be making changes to the meta-
data information. When permission to make metadata changes is delegated, it
needs to be both carefully tracked and tightly controlled. You can configure SQL
Server, for example, to not only block metadata changes, but to also log the
attempt, including the user or application trying to make metadata changes.
The database administrator, working with the data administrator, may also
need to publish some of the database structure. Users and application pro-
grammers often need to understand, at some level, how database objects are
structured to enable database access. However, DBMSs give you ways of iso-
lating the database tables from direct access, including views and user stored
procedures.
The database administrator is also responsible for both documenting
and protecting the database metadata. This means backing up the metadata
in case of problems and documenting database and database object structure.
One way of doing this is by scripting the databases, creating scripts that can
be run to recreate database objects or, if necessary, to completely recreate the
database.
316 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

Managing Software
Database administration personnel will be involved with a wide range of data
and software maintenance activities. The degree of involvement depends on how
the IS department is organized. These activities include installing new versions
of the DBMS, installing fixes or patches (corrections) to the DBMS, performing
backup and recovery operations, and performing any other tasks related to
repairing or upgrading the DBMS or the database. One potential concern, which
must be coordinated with network and system administrators, is permissions.
The database administrator might not have sufficient permissions to install fixes.
It may be necessary to either give the database administrator additional permis-
sions or have a network administrator perform the installations.
Operating system patches and service packs are also an issue, but tradition-
ally not a database administration responsibility. Operating system updates are
more often the responsibility of computer support personnel or network admin-
istrators. Network administrators and database administrators usually work
together to determine which updates need to be applied and scheduling the activ-
ities. Current Windows operating system versions are often configured so that
most updates are applied automatically, without any administrator interaction.
One particular data maintenance activity is modifying the database struc-
tures as tables are modified and new tables are inevitably added. This is fun-
damentally an issue of database design, which means it also involves data
administration.

Managing the Physical Database

A database administrator must understand not only how data is organized, but
how the physical database (and database objects) is organized. In the mix of cen-
tralized and decentralized IS environments that exist today, there is a wide range
of database administration responsibilities relating to database design. For the
shared, central databases, database administrators are responsible for physical
database design. They may also either be responsible for or be a participant in
logical database design. Logical design, however, must be coordinated with data
administrators.
Notice that responsibility for physical database design is consistent with per-
sonnel’s expertise in the features (and idiosyncrasies!) of the DBMS in use and
with his or her overall responsibility for the performance of the DBMS environ-
ment. For decentralized databases on LAN servers or even on PCs, the database
administrator’s role in database design might be that of a consultant who is called
in on request.

Managing Troubleshooting
Inevitably, failures will occur for reasons ranging from a bug in the application
code to a hardware or system software failure. The question is, who do the users
 9.2.2 UNDERSTANDING DATABASE ADMINISTRATION RESPONSIBILITIES 317

FOR EXAMPLE
Determining the Bottom Line
One possible point of contention when dividing work between data adminis-
tration and database administration is determining not only who is responsible
for what, but also who has the final word. The responsibilities listed here are
guidelines based on how the roles are typically defined, but each company has
to fill in the details based on its particular situation and administration needs.
The general rule of thumb is that data administrators set the standards,
while database administrators apply the standards. Data administration is more
of a thinking role, analyzing needs and proposing solutions. Database adminis-
tration is more of a doing role, finding ways to apply solutions in the real world.
The assumption is that each is a specialist in his or her area of responsibility.
Disagreements can arise. Each department addresses issues from its own
frame of reference, which can result in competing solutions. Turf battles
erupt, as each group wants what’s best for “their” database. Though they
shouldn’t, the issues can become personal with the final solution becoming
a matter of personal pride.
Sometimes the deciding factor is simple and direct. Can you or can’t
you physically implement the solution in the chosen DBMS? If not, then
you have to find a different solution. If you can, then things become more
complicated. Before you can settle on the best solution, you have to define
best. What are the overriding project goals? Which is more important, read
performance or write performance? Is it more important to optimize server
performance or to minimize space requirements?
Before these issues arise, or at least before bridges are irreparably burned,
it’s important to determine who within in the company is the final arbitrator
between data and database administration. The final decision should go back
at some point to the data consumers, or more likely, the manager responsi-
ble for the data consumers. Early in the design process, you need to think
about design issues that might arise and make decisions then about priori-
ties. Then, identify one person (or a very small group) that both data and
database administration can agree on as having the final say. This makes it
possible to resolve these issues more quickly when they arise (and they will)
and to get back to the job of getting and keeping the database running.

call when a failure occurs? In most organizations, the database administrators are
the direct contact for troubleshooting. The key to the troubleshooting operation
is to make an assessment of what went wrong and to coordinate the appropri-
ate personnel needed to fix it, including systems programmers, application pro-
grammers, and the data administrators themselves.
318 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

It is important to understand that the database administrator’s role is to coor-

dinate troubleshooting and problem correction, but not necessarily to do the
actual troubleshooting and repair. The database administrator typically, but not
always, is responsible for handling problems relating to the database. For exam-
ple, if the problem turns out to be inherent in the data design, it then becomes
primarily the data administrator’s responsibility.
However, database server problems aren’t necessary related to the database or
DBMS. Hardware problems can occur as easily on a database server as on any other
type of computer. Connection problems could result from network failures or prob-
lems with the client computer. Even problems that might, at first glance, appear to
be data related could have a different source, such as the database application.
An important, but often overlooked, part of the troubleshooting process is
complete and accurate documentation. While troubleshooting a problem, you
should document the steps taken and their results, as well as the final resolu-
tion. Documenting the steps taken helps keep you from duplicating your efforts.
Documenting the final resolution provide a handy reference should you see the
same problem again in the future.

SELF-CHECK
• List the responsibilities usually delegated to data administration.
• List the responsibilities usually delegated to database administration.

9.3 Understanding Management Tasks

Up to now we have focused on what administrators must do without any consid-
eration for specific tasks, when they are required, or how they are accomplished.
The closer we focus on specific task details, the more we have to concern our-
selves with DBMS-specific issues. While some tasks are common to all DBMSs,
such as backing up and restoring data, the commands used and features sup-
ported can vary widely between DBMS implementations.
The goal of this chapter is not to make you a data or database administration
expert, but instead to give you an insight into what is involved with each respon-
sibility. You’ve been introduced to the responsibilities of each role, but a look at
some specific management tasks, along with how and when they are performed will
help you have a better understanding. Because of their more directly hands-on
nature, we’ll focus on database administration tasks. We’ll also look at some issues
relating to specific management tasks. Where there are DBMS-specific differences,
we’ll be focusing on the tools and utilities provided with Microsoft SQL Server 2005.
 9.3.2 CONSIDERING “WHEN” AND “HOW” 319

9.3.1 Considering “What” and “When”

In Figure 9-1, you saw the database application life cycle represented as four phases:
design, implementation, production, and retirement. Let’s continue by revisiting that
life cycle and how these phases relate to administrator responsibilities.
The design phase of the life cycle includes database and application design.
The majority of the work falls on the data administrator to perform the data analy-
sis, prepare the database design, and design database objects (including those
needed for data access). The data administrator must also work with application
programmers to ensure they understand the database design and to develop data
access standards. Keep in mind that even though these activities are considered
part of data administration, some of the design activities are handed off to the
programming staff, especially when there are experienced database programmers.
Much of the work might also be done by an outside consultant.
With implementation, responsibilities begin to shift more toward database
administration with the requirements to create the physical database and database
objects, to deploy the database, and to perform baseline monitoring. However,
there is still a significant amount of work for the data administrators. Not only
are you deploying the database, you are also deploying the data. There are going
to be significant requirements for data entry, data migration from other sources,
or (as it is in most cases) both. It may also be necessary to revisit the design phase
to correct problems or performance issues discovered during implementation.
Most of the issues that arise during the production phase, those relating to
day-to-day use and to ongoing maintenance, are database administrator respon-
sibilities. Issues relating to maintaining and securing the database require ongo-
ing monitoring and management. However, there are still issues that might arise
that are traditionally considered data administration issues, such as issues relat-
ing to arbitrating data access, the acquisition and integration of new data, or
requirements to modify the database design as business needs change.
You might be tempted to think that retirement, with its requirements for
archiving and protecting historical data, fall entirely on database administration.
However, as one database application phases out, a new one typically phases in,
and often the existing data is the foundation on which the new database and
application are built. Determining what data needs to be migrated is a data
administration requirement. Of course, determining the actual methodology used
to migrate the data and performing the data migration more often than not puts
the responsibility right back on the database administrator.

9.3.2 Considering “When” and “How”

We need to think about how different activities are performed. There are some
key, and closely related, considerations here. One consideration is the specific
processes required to perform different administration tasks. Another consideration
320 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

is determining whether the tasks should be performed manually or should be

automated. Manual tasks are tasks that require operator intervention. In order
words, you must initiate the task each time it is performed. Automated tasks
run without direct operator intervention, either on a periodic basis or in response
to an alert or other triggering event.
Additionally, there is the issue of what utilities to use. Often, you have the choice
of using either a command-line interface or graphical interface utility. Sometimes,
the choice is simply one of personal preference, but there can be important differ-
ences. The functionality and specific features supported can sometimes vary between
graphical-user-interface (GUI)-based and command-line utilities, with the com-
mand-line utility usually being the more powerful of the two. It may be an issue
of automation, because some GUI-based utilities aren’t designed for automated use.

Picking the Right Utility

When deciding what utility to use to perform a task, you must consider several
factors, including the following:

▲ Available Utilities: sometimes, there’s only one way to perform a task,

so the decision is made for you.
▲ Functionality: you must determine which utility is able to perform all
of the aspects of the task that you require.
▲ Reporting Options: there is often an issue, especially during performance
monitoring and troubleshooting, of how much information is provided
by the utility and in what form.
▲ Interaction and Conflict: some utilities have a more pronounced impact
on database performance while running, meaning that you might want to
either use an alternate utility or run the procedure after hours (hopefully
as an automated process).

In all cases, pick the tool or utility that is able to complete the task you need
done. Take SQL Server for example. You can perform some common tasks, like
backup and restore, using either a command-line command or SQL Server Man-
agement Studio. Other tasks, such as setting up a data protection mechanism
known as database mirroring, are supported through command-line utilities only,
so there’s no choice to make.
After considering your requirements, if you still have multiple options avail-
able, and other factors are more-or-less equally balanced, consider ease of use.
There is no reason to make your job more difficult than necessary. Consider,
again, running a data backup. Most database administrators find it easier to use
SQL Server Management Studio to set up backups, especially when different
types of backups running under different schedules must be included, because
of the graphical scheduling interface.
 9.3.3 CONSIDERING ONGOING MANAGEMENT TASKS 321

Deciding on Automation
How do you determine whether or not you should automate a task? There are
a few simple guidelines you should consider. First, how often do you perform
the task and under what circumstances? If it’s something that you’ll be doing
once, like creating a specific database table or adding a specific user to the data-
base, then you will usually want to do the job and be done with it. The same
is true for procedures that are rarely performed, or performed intermittently with
no set schedule.
The opposite is true for periodic procedures that are performed on a regu-
lar basis. Once again, let’s consider database backups. Backups are an ongoing,
periodic activity, usually occurring on a set schedule. How often you back up
your database depends on factors such as how quickly the data changes, how
much data you can afford to lose (or repost), and what other mechanisms you
have in place to protect your data. At least part of the data in most databases is
backed up at least once a day and, in many cases, even more often than that.
Trying to run those backups manually would be a waste of effort, especially when
you consider that backups are usually run after hours whenever possible.
As is usually the case, there is an important exception to these automation
guidelines. It’s sometimes better to automate the execution of a procedure, even
when setting up the automation takes longer than it would to just run it. This
is most often the case when running procedures that either interfere with user
access to the database or severely degrade server performance while they are run-
ning. Another possibility is that you are supporting multiple locations and you
want to ensure that a change is made to all of the locations, the same way, and
at the same time. If one database is updated and the others are not, you have a
consistency problem. You can avoid this by scheduling the change to happen
the same way and at the same time, in all locations.
As an example, think about table indexes. They can become fragmented over
time. Fragmentation is a condition in which the data is randomly spaced in
small pieces all over the hard disk rather than being located in one place. This
happens over time as data is added to and removed from a table. When frag-
mentation becomes severe enough, performance starts to degrade and you have
to rebuild the indexes to correct the problem. However, rebuilding indexes is a
resource-intensive process and can result in tables becoming temporarily unavail-
able. Often, the best solution is to schedule the rebuild to occur automatically
after hours when the impact on other operations is minimized.

9.3.3 Considering Ongoing Management Tasks

Automating some tasks requires more work than others. When you need to auto-
mate a task that requires multiple steps, you might want to create a script or
even a stored procedure that includes all of the steps. One advantage of creating
322 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

a procedure is that it lets you pass parameters to control the process. With SQL
Server 2005, you can also create maintenance plans that define the tasks to per-
form, task options, and even the execution schedule.

Understanding Maintenance Requirements

An important consideration is what ongoing management tasks must be per-
formed on a periodic basis. These tasks will vary depending on how the data-
base is used, how active it is, and so forth.
One key to meeting maintenance requirements is to clearly identify the
requirements. Once you’ve done this, you can determine the most appropriate
schedule, or even if a periodic schedule is appropriate. Some activities, especially
those that require taking the server offline or otherwise making it unavailable,
might be limited to running on an as-needed basis only.
Regular backups are generally accepted as a periodic requirement for any
database. No matter how well you protect the database, no matter what redun-
dancies you put in place, recovery after a failure often comes down to whether
or not you have a good backup.
Other maintenance requirements will depend on your database. You may need
to defragment tables and indexes each month. You might want to check for data
and file inconsistencies at the same time. You could have special requirements
related specifically to your database application and special procedures that need
to run weekly or monthly to meet those requirements.

Using Maintenance Plans

Every database is different, as are its specific management requirements. That
said, there are several tasks that can and should be performed on a regular
basis. SQL Server lets you define sets of scheduled management tasks as main-
tenance plans. SQL Server Management Studio includes predefined task tem-
plates for common tasks, as well as a task that lets you specify the SQL Server
statements to be executed. An example of a maintenance plan in progress is
shown in Figure 9-3.
The connections between the tasks are known as precedence constraints.
They let SQL Server make decisions about the next step to take (the next tasks
to execute), depending on the success, failure, or completion of the previous
task. You can even have it notify you that the tasks have run and whether or
not any errors occurred.
For the most common tasks, Microsoft simplifies the process ever further
through the Maintenance Plan Wizard. This wizard steps you through the process
of designing a maintenance plan, including the tasks that it should perform, any
task options (such as identifying specific databases), and the execution sched-
ule. The task list from which you make your Maintenance Plan Wizard task selec-
tions is shown in Figure 9-4.
 9.3.3 CONSIDERING ONGOING MANAGEMENT TASKS 323

Figure 9-3

Maintenance plan.

Once created, either manually or through the Maintenance Plan Wizard, you
can modify your maintenance plan. You can change, for example, the tasks to
run, task options, precedence constraints, and the task schedule. You can also
delete a maintenance plan when no longer needed.
This ability to create scheduled maintenance plans is not unique to SQL
Server, but SQL Server has automated the process more than most other DBMSs.
This is also not your only option for automating process execution in SQL Server.
You can also define SQL Server Agent jobs, which can include operating system
commands as well as SQL command statements, with periodic schedules. You
can define alerts, both through SQL Server and through the Windows operating
system, that execute in response to different conditions. However, these options
for automated execution are beyond the scope of this chapter.
324 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

Figure 9-4

Available tasks.

9.3.4 Considering Troubleshooting

The processes and procedures involved in troubleshooting are as varied as the
potential problems you might see. However, there are some general guidelines
we should mention while on the subject of administrator responsibilities.
When problems arise, your primary goal as a data or database administra-
tor is to correct the business problem, which refers to anything that prevents
the business from operating as it should. This means that you do what is nec-
essary to get or keep the business up and running as quickly as possible. Down-
time, when the server is unavailable to database users or applications, is not only
an annoyance, it’s expensive. Depending on the type of business and how heav-
ily it relies on the database, it can be measured in as much as thousands of dol-
lars per minute. The actions you initially take to make the data available do not
always represent a complete correction of the problem, sometimes just a cor-
rection of the immediate symptoms.
Once you have things up and running, it’s your responsibility to either fix
the problem permanently, or ensure that the problem is fixed. Not all problems
are your direct responsibility, but if they impact the database server, the data it
hosts, or the ability to get to that data, making sure that they are corrected is.
This includes going beyond fixing the symptoms and identifying and correcting
the underlying cause. Otherwise, you might leave a problem that’s going to show
 9.3.4 CONSIDERING TROUBLESHOOTING 325

FOR EXAMPLE
Simplifying Your Life
Here’s the situation. A company has just implemented a database that will
contain all of the corporate data. You’ve been hired to fill both the data and
database administration roles. Any time the company is open for business,
you’re on call. How can you possibly do this job and have any hope of
maintaining a life outside of work?
The key is proper use of automation. Identify all of the tasks that need
to be performed on a periodic basis. This includes what tasks you need to
perform, when, and how they should run (what databases, tables, and so
forth are involved). Create and schedule automated procedures to do these
for you, and have the database server log the results. That way, as long as
there aren’t any problems, you just need to check the logs every so often
and make sure that everything ran right.
Want to make your life even easier? Few things are more frustrating than
an unexpected page at an inopportune moment. What if you could head off
some of these in advance? By carefully reviewing the database design and
monitoring database activities, it is often possible to identify potential prob-
lem areas and put an automated solution in place. For example, some mod-
ules within the database application create working tables in the database.
It is supposed to drop those tables when finished, but that part doesn’t
always happen. The application programmer is (supposedly) working on a
solution, but for now, it’s your problem. The tables build up and eventually
you run out of hard disk space. When that happens, no new data can be
entered into the database.
The fix is easy. The tables are named so that they are easy to identify
and isolate, so you just need to drop the tables and shrink the database. In
fact, you’ve even already create a procedure that does that for you. Now you
need to take the next logical step. You can create an alert that monitors avail-
able hard disk space. Before available space reaches a critical point, say when
10 percent remains, you have the alert run the procedure for you.

up again when least expected or convenient. Fixing the underlying problem also
includes verifying the correction. This doesn’t mean that you will always find the
cause, especially when dealing with data errors or corrupted records. These are
sometimes caused by transient problems, by one-time glitches like a momentary
power surge. In that case, it’s unlikely that you will find a root cause, but that
doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.
326 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

Here’s an example. A user complains that the application reports a data error
when trying to access a specific data row. You verify that you can duplicate the
problem, find that the problem is consistently with that one table, and correct
by restoring the data from backups. Problem fixed, right? Not necessarily,
because the underlying cause could be that the hard disk is beginning to fail and
that the data error is an early warning sign. In this example, you need to make
your best effort to try to discover the cause of the error, which in this case might
include running disk utilities or diagnostic programs to check the hard disk.

SELF-CHECK
• Explain, in general terms, how application life cycle phases relate to
administration responsibilities.
• List and describe the factors to consider when choosing a tool or
utility to perform a management task.

SUMMARY
In this chapter, you learned about administration roles and responsibilities. You
learned how you can justify the need for dedicated administrators. Next, you
learned about the responsibilities of data administrators and database adminis-
trators. Finally, you learned about issues relating to administration tasks, such as
choosing the proper utilities and using automation appropriately.

KEY TERMS
Arbitration Electronic data interchange (EDI)
Audit trail Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
Automated tasks software
Business problem Fragmentation
Data administrator Maintenance plan
Data analyst Manual task
Database administrator Precedence constraint
Data consumer Publicity
Data flow Strategic data planning
Data planning Systems analyst
 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 327

ASSESS YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of database
administration requirements.
Measure your learning by comparing pre-test and post-test results.

Summary Questions
1. Which of the following is another term for data administrator?
(a) data analyst
(b) system analyst
(c) database administrator
(d) systems programmer
2. Why is it important to have an administrator dedicated to day-to-day
operational tasks?
(a) to ensure that the tasks are done properly and on time
(b) because of the level of technical expertise required to perform
management tasks
(c) to ensure that decisions are made based on requirements of the busi-
ness as a whole
(d) all of the above
3. Database administration is not needed in a decentralized data environment.
True or false?
4. Data administrators and database administrators perform identical job
functions. True or false?
5. Which of the following is not a phase of the database application life cycle?
(a) design
(b) evaluation
(c) implementation
(d) production
6. Which of the following is primarily a database administrator responsibility?
(a) arbitration
(c) security monitoring
(d) setting data standards
(e) data coordination
7. Which of the following is primarily a data administrator responsibility?
(a) physical database design
(b) performance monitoring
328 DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

(c) publicity
(d) security monitoring
8. The database administrator should be the primary point of contact when
database failures occur. True or False?
9. Which of the following statements best describe data standards
management?
(a) The database administrator has sole responsibility for setting data
standards.
(b) How connections are made for data access should be left up to the
individual application programmers.
(c) Data standards include naming and data access standards.
(d) none of the above
10. Who should have unlimited access to database metadata?
(a) users
(b) application programmers
(c) data administrators
(d) database administrators
11. The database administrator should be the only person involved when
troubleshooting database problems. True or False?
12. Training should be primarily delegated to data administration. True or
False?
13. Automated tasks should be limited only to tasks running on a periodic
schedule. True or False?
14. During which phase of a database application’s life cycle do most of the
responsibilities fall on the data administrator?
(a) design
(b) implementation
(c) production
(d) none of the above
15. A manual task is one that requires operator intervention. True or
False?
16. GUI-based utilities can be used with manual tasks only. True or False?
17. Which of the following would most likely be set up as a recurring task
executing on a set periodic schedule?
(a) database table creation
(b) index rebuild
(c) database backup
(d) adding login accounts
 APPLYING THIS CHAPTER 329

18. In SQL Server, what is a maintenance plan?

(a) a set of maintenance tasks scheduled for execution
(b) a list of required maintenance activities
(c) tasks that execute based on an event threshold
(c) tasks schedules created automatically for you during database
creation

Applying This Chapter

1. You are hired as the database administrator for a mid-sized company that
has recently deployed a centralized database. A data administrator is
already on staff, hired when they first started designing the database. You
will be working with the data administrator on an ongoing basis.
(a) In general, how should you expect your responsibilities to relate to
the data administrator’s responsibilities?
(b) Briefly describe your expected role and responsibilities?
(c) What are your responsibilities in setting and implementing data
access standards?
(d) Who is more likely to have direct contact with database users? Why?
(e) There are rumors about potential downsizing. You have heard that
the data administrator WILL NOT be laid off. Why should you also
be kept on staff, instead of keeping just the data administrator?
2. In each of the following, suggest a way of resolving the situation.
(a) A user has a personal database that is based on analysis of over a
year’s worth of sales records locally stored on a PC. Other users want
access to the data. The data’s owner wants to keep a local copy of
the data. What should you do?
(b) Several maintenance tasks must be completed each weekend. The
tasks do not require operator intervention when they run. How
should you implement this?
(c) You suspect users are gaining access to and changing sensitive data.
You need to document this. What should you do?
(d) You’ve designed procedures that should run when specific
performance thresholds are met or exceeded. How can you do this?
YOU TRY IT

Delegating Responsibilities administrator or database adminstrator. Write “Data”

The left column of Table 9-2 lists specific data and for data administrator tasks and “Database” for data-
database requirements. For each of these, identify base administrator tasks. When the responsibility is
whether the primary responsibility is that of the data shared, identify which role has the greater responsibility.

Table 9-2: Tasks and Responsibilities

Requirements Primary responsibility
Manager wants access to payroll history
in the Human Resources database. The
Human Resources department does not
want to give them access. This needs to
be resolved.
Backups must run nightly and each
weekend.
A hard disk was added to the database
server. The data needs to be split between
the old and new hard disks.
Application programmers need to know
how to retrieve customer information
from the Customers table and what
information is available in the table.
Direct access to the Employees table is
limited to a defined group of users.
All logon and logoff activity must be
recorded and a permanent record
maintained.
Standards must be set for creating new
attribute names as additional data is
added to the database.
330
 YOU TRY IT 331

Table 9-2: (Continued)

Microsoft has released a service pack for
SQL Server 2005 that must be applied
as soon as possible.
Columns must be added to existing
tables to hold additional data now
being tracked.
A vendor has released a new schema
for XML purchase orders. Application
programmers are not sure how the
purchase order data relates to this new
schema.
 10
TRANSACTIONS AND
LOCKING

Starting Point
Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of
transaction and locking support.
Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

▲ Transaction features and properties
▲ Concurrency control methods
▲ SQL Server 2005 transaction processing

After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To

▲ Describe the features of an ACID transaction
▲ Use BEGIN TRAN, COMMIT TRAN, and ROLLBACK TRAN to manage
transaction processing
▲ Compare and contrast implicit and explicit transactions
▲ Identify possible concurrency errors and their causes
▲ Design transactions to minimize concurrency errors
▲ Identify concurrency methods used by various DBMSs
▲ Use transactions to modify SQL Server data
▲ Find and clear blocking transactions
 10.1.1 UNDERSTANDING TRANSACTION PROCESSING 333

INTRODUCTION
Transactions are a key part of nearly any database application. Transactions
provide a means of helping to ensure that you maintain database integrity and
consistency by requiring that either all dependent changes are made to the
database data or none of the changes are made. In this chapter, you will learn
about transaction processing, including transaction properties and transaction
scope. You will also learn about potential concurrency errors that can occur
and methods different DBMSs use to avoid these. You’ll also see how to apply
transactions in a real-world environment, using examples based on SQL Server
2005.

10.1 Understanding Transaction Basics

As you learned in Chapter 2, the term transaction refers to one or more state-
ments that execute as a group. Sound like a batch? The concept is similar, but
there is one key difference when running statements in the context of a trans-
action. All of the statement must either complete as a group, meaning that all
of the updates are made, or must be rolled back, meaning that any changes made
by the statements are reversed as if the statement never ran. The basic purpose
of transactions is to ensure consistency and data integrity during database
updates.

10.1.1 Understanding Transaction Processing

When you think about the database systems that support businesses like airlines,
banking, finance, or retail sales, you can look at them as large transaction pro-
cessing systems. Each business generates transactions in the tens of thousands
that interact in the process of doing business. Even though some of these trans-
actions just read the database and display data, most perform some type of
updating. Such critical database systems must be available at all times and must
provide fast response times for hundreds of concurrent users.
Systems of this type are especially susceptible to two major types of prob-
lems. The first is concurrent transactions attempting to update the same data
item. Concurrent transactions are transactions being processed simultaneously
by the database. The transactions can affect one another adversely, producing
incorrect and inconsistent results. The second problem is hardware or software
malfunctions. These could cause database failures with resulting data loss or cor-
ruption. Concurrency control, which is the process of managing concurrent
transactions, and failure recovery are key to maintaining data integrity. Because
interference between transactions can cause errors during both read and write
operations, concurrency control is critical for both.
334 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

Understanding Key Points

A transaction is a single unit of work for the database. A well-designed transac-
tion should accomplish one thing, and all of the statements in that transaction
should be related to that one thing only. For example, suppose a bank customer
wants to transfer money from a savings account to a checking account. This
requires two actions: extracting the money from savings and adding the money
to checking. Both actions should take place in the context of a single transaction.
With nearly all DBMSs, these changes are initially made to copies of the table
data stored in memory. The changes are written to memory. The transaction
processor also writes “before and after” versions of the data to the transaction
log. If the transaction completes without error, updating both tables, the data-
base is instructed to commit the transaction. This means that the changes can
be written permanently to the hard disk, and the transaction is identified as
committed in the transaction log. If there is an error while the transaction is run-
ning, the DBMS is instructed to roll back the transaction. A rollback is the rever-
sal of the changes made by the transaction. It’s as if the statements in the trans-
action never ran.
Who or what instructs the database to commit or roll back the transac-
tion? The batch, application, or connection that initiated the transaction is
responsible for either committing or rolling back the completed transaction.
Committing or rolling back the transaction are your only options for com-
pleting a transaction. Statements executed in the context of a transaction must
either commit as a group or roll back as a group. Partial updates, when some
of the tables involved in an operation are updated, but not all, are normally
not allowed.
As with most standards, there are exceptions. Some DBMSs give you the abil-
ity to identify groups of statements within the transactions and manage the com-
mit and rollback process by group. This is a more advanced feature of transac-
tion management and beyond the scope of this chapter. Another way to manage
partial transactions is nesting transactions, having a transaction executing inside
another transaction, which is covered later in this chapter.

Understanding the Need for Transactions

Let’s consider a specific example. Your database supports an application that sup-
ports automatic purchase order processing. After the order is filled, final pro-
cessing involves five tables, shown in Figure 10-1.
Inventory quantity on hand is reduced by the items sold and shipped. The
Sales table, which tracks sales history for order point calculations, is increased
by the same amounts. Also, an order is created, which adds rows to the Order-
Head and OrderTail tables. Finally, the CustomerBalance table is increased by
the amount of the order. If any of these updates are not made, not only is the
data inaccurate, it is inconsistent. If either Inventory or Sales don’t get updated,
 10.1.1 UNDERSTANDING TRANSACTION PROCESSING 335

Figure 10-1

Inventory

Sales

OrderHead

OrderTail

CustomerBalance

Order processing.

they’re no longer consistent with each other. Their balances are no longer based
on the same information. The same is true with the order tables and Cus-
tomerBalance. One of the goals of transactions is to prevent such inconsistencies
from happening.

Understanding the Transaction Log Role

For DBMSs that support a transaction log, transaction statements write to
memory and to the log file. At some point, the changes in memory are used
to update the database tables on the hard disk. Typically, this occurs when the
database server issues a checkpoint. The checkpoint writes to the log and is
used to divide the log and manage log processing and recovery. When the
checkpoint is issued, changes relating to committed transactions that are still
buffered in memory are written to the hard disk. With some DBMSs and in
some configurations, committed and completed transactions are deleted from
the transaction log when the checkpoint is issued. This is done to minimize
log file size. However, it’s more common to leave the transactions in the
336 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

transaction log until a backup of the log is run, and then delete the completed
transactions at that time.
What if a hardware error occurs before the changes can be written perma-
nently to the hard disk? That is where the transaction log becomes a critical part
of transaction management, through a process know as recovery. After you
restart the DBMS after a failure, the DBMS checks the transaction log for com-
pleted, which is to say committed, transactions. These transactions are rolled
forward, which means that the database table updates are made from the changes
recorded in the transaction log. Otherwise, the change might be lost. Uncommit-
ted transactions are treated as if they don’t exist, with no changes made to the
database.

10.1.2 Using Transaction Commands

The basic commands defined for controlling transactions are:

▲ BEGIN TRAN[SACTION]: this identifies the starting point of the trans-

action. Statements executed after this command are treated as part of the
transaction.
▲ COMMIT TRAN[SACTION]: this is used to identify successful comple-
tion of the transaction. Run COMMIT TRAN when you are sure that all
updates have been made and that no errors have occurred. This can also
be run as COMMIT WORK.
▲ ROLLBACK TRAN[SACTION]: run this command when an error
occurs. All statements executed since the BEGIN TRAN statement are
rolled back. This can also be run as ROLLBACK WORK.

Some DBMSs support additional statements that let you name a transac-
tion or let you set points within the transaction that let you perform a partial
rollback, which is when changes are reversed back to a specified point within
the transaction, but we’re limiting our discussion to these basic transaction
commands.
Many programming languages provide direct support for transaction man-
agement. For those that don’t, you control transactions by passing the transac-
tion commands to the database server. Either way, it is strongly suggested that
database applications be designed so that all modifications to the database are
performed in the context of a transaction.
When run in a batch or as part of an application, logic must be included to
test for or respond to errors, so that the program can correctly commit or roll
back the transaction. When using transactions from the command line, you
need to manually commit or roll back the transaction. One way of doing this,
demonstrated in Figure 10-2, is having a decision point after each statement is
executed to determine whether or not an error occurred. Figure 10-2 represents
 Figure 10-2

BEGIN TRAN

Update
CUSTOMER

Yes
Error?

No

Update
CUSTOMER

Yes
Error?

No

Update
CUSTOMER

Yes
Error?

No

COMMIT ROLLBACK
TRAN TRAN

Transaction flow.
337
338 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

a transaction that is updating individual rows in the CUSTOMER table, with a

check made after each update.
This is admittedly an inefficient way of testing for and responding to errors.
However, it is the one method that is supported by nearly all DBMSs. Some
DBMSs, including SQL Server, give you a second option. You can identify a block
of statements within a transaction. You also identify a separate block of error
handling code. If an error is detected while the statement block executes, exe-
cution is redirected to the error handling code. This is shown in Figure 10-3,
with the same operations as in Figure 10-2, but managed in a different fashion:
You place the statements necessary to respond to the error in the error hand-
ing code block. Somewhere within that error handling code will be a ROLL-
BACK TRAN statement. The drawing in Figure 10-3 is not a completely accu-
rate depiction of how this works because it implies that the check is made after
all of the statements execute. What actually happens is that as soon as an error
occurs, processing switches immediately from the statement block to the error
handling code block without attempting to execute any additional statements.

Using Transactions
Exactly when, then, do you use transactions? The short answer is that you should
use transactions any time you could need to roll back your changes in case of
an error. This includes all critical or sensitive database activities, or activities that
need to reference multiple data sources.
Think about what happens when a warehouse sale is posted as a customer
order. When the order is posted, it needs to:

▲ Update the inventory records for each of the order line items.
▲ Update the customer’s outstanding balance with the order amount.
▲ Create a customer order record documenting the sale.

The order would then be forwarded to the warehouse for filling and ship-
ment. Now what happens if there is a problem with one of the steps, such as a
problem with creating the customer order record? Both the inventory and cus-
tomer records would be updated, but because the order isn’t created, it doesn’t
go to the warehouse for fulfillment. The items never get pulled and shipped. The
data in the database is inconsistent. The inventory records show fewer items on
hand than are actually there and the customer is charged for items never
received. A problem like this could be very difficult to isolate and correct.
If the order were run in the context of a transaction, when there was an
error creating the customer order, the changes to the customer records and
inventory records would be rolled back. The customer still doesn’t receive the
order, but the inventory and customer records remain consistent. The customer
is never charged for the order.
 Figure 10-3

BEGIN TRAN

Begin
statement
block

Update
CUSTOMER

Update
CUSTOMER

Update
CUSTOMER

End statement
block

Yes
Any error?

No

COMMIT ROLLBACK
TRAN TRAN

Catching transaction errors.

339
340 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

FOR EXAMPLE
Automatic Recovery
Let’s take a moment to consider the importance of the transaction log in
maintaining database consistency and integrity. During normal operations,
at any point, you will likely have several updated data pages in the cache
(in cache memory) waiting to write to the hard disk. This helps improve
overall performance because the writes can be delayed until the disk and
processor are less active. But what happens if you have an unexpected fail-
ure. A UPS fails suddenly, shutting off the server without shutting down.
Someone accidentally (or maliciously) unplugs the server. In short, some-
thing happens.
What does that mean from a data standpoint? It means that you likely
have inconsistencies in the database. Some, but not all, of your updates
have been written to the hard disk. Even worse, you don’t know which
updates have been made, so you don’t even have a starting point for
recovery.
Maybe you don’t have a starting point, but the database server does.
The database server has the transaction log. Remember that when a check-
point is issued, it causes all dirty pages (pages that have been modified
in memory) to write to the hard disk immediately. When the server starts
back up, it knows where to start the recovery process, from the most
recent checkpoint. Starting at that point, it applies all of the committed
changes it finds. The committed change is saved as a data page, so even
if the update had already been made, the server is just overwriting the
page with the same current data. The important point is that any dirty
pages that weren’t written to the hard disk before the failure are written
during the recovery.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing the server can do about recovering
uncommitted transactions because it has no way of knowing whether or not
they completed successfully. Any pages relating to uncommitted transactions
are not written to the hard disk and are, in fact, removed from the transac-
tion log because they are no longer needed.
This doesn’t mean that there isn’t some level of manual recovery
required. You still need to check any data that was recently posted to the
database to make sure that these changes were made. If not, you will have
to repost them manually. Why? Even though you might have completed the
operation, depending on when the error occurred, the application might not
have committed the transaction before the failure.
 10.1.4 UNDERSTANDING TRANSACTION SCOPE 341

10.1.3 Understanding Transaction Properties

An abbreviation that you will commonly see when discussing transactions is
ACID. This stands for atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability. Let’s look
at each of these separately.

▲ Atomicity: either all of the statements in the transaction are executed, or

none of the statements are executed. An atomic transaction represents a
complete unit of work.
▲ Consistency: the transaction preserves database consistency. If a transac-
tion executes successfully and performs its database updates properly, the
database is transformed from one consistent state to another consistent
state.
▲ Isolation: a transaction must appear as though it executed by itself with-
out interference from any other concurrent transaction. In practice, how-
ever, many concurrent database transactions execute simultaneously.
▲ Durability: changes made to the database must be permanent. Even if
and when there are subsequent failures, the effects must persist in the
database. One way this is ensured is through the transaction log and the
recovery process after a failure, as discussed earlier.

Factors relating to isolation deserve a closer look. To ensure complete isola-

tion, the DBMS would not be able to process any other transactions while the
current transaction is running. This could have disastrous effects on performance
while transactions build up in a queue, waiting for other transactions to com-
plete. For this reason, operations of one transaction are interleaved with opera-
tions of other transactions. However, the database system must guarantee the
effects of database updates for every pair of concurrent transactions to be as
though one transaction executed from beginning to end and then the second
started, or vice versa. Transactions must execute independently, and intermedi-
ary or partial results of incomplete transactions must be transparent to other
transactions.

10.1.4 Understanding Transaction Scope

Transaction scope support and scope options are somewhat DBMS-specific. Two
scope options, implicit and explicit transactions, are supported by most DBMSs
to varying degrees. Another scope supported by some SQL management systems,
including SQL Server, is autocommit transactions.

Explicit Transactions
We’ll start with explicit transactions because they’re the easiest to understand.
With an explicit transaction, the entire transaction life cycle is controlled
342 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

through transaction commands. Transactions start when BEGIN TRAN is issued

and complete with either COMMIT TRAN or ROLLBACK TRAN.
Explicit transaction control, where supported, is recommended for new appli-
cation development because you have complete control over the transaction. There
is no question as to when a statement is executing in the context of a transaction,
and the application defines the entry and exit point for all transactions. Applica-
tions written to use the OLE DB or ODBC API support explicit transactions, as do
Microsoft ADO and ADO.NET. Data application programming interfaces, or
data APIs, provide the interface through which the programming language
accesses the database. One consideration when choosing a data API is transaction
support. Another is programming language and development platform support.
Most languages support ODBC and OLE DB. Microsoft languages support ADO
and ADO.NET, with ADO.NET support limited to the.NET Framework.
Data APIs provide an interface by providing the commands necessary to access,
retrieve, and manipulate database data. These include commands that let the appli-
cation establish a connection to the database, pass authentication information if
necessary, and then close the connection (disconnect) when finished. Some APIs
include commands that directly retrieve and manipulate data, but the exact func-
tionality is API-specific. In all cases, and at the very least, the APIs let you pass
SQL commands to the database server and receive data from the database.
Implicit Transactions
Implicit transactions start automatically when a query or modification state-
ment that initiates a transaction is executed. The transaction continues until you
explicitly execute either COMMIT TRAN or ROLLBACK TRAN. After issuing
either command, another transaction starts as soon as another transaction state-
ment is run. Under SQL Server operating in implicit transaction mode, a trans-
action begins when you execute any of the following statements:

▲ ALTER TABLE
▲ Any CREATE statement
▲ DELETE
▲ Any DROP statement
▲ FETCH
▲ GRANT
▲ INSERT
▲ OPEN
▲ REVOKE
▲ SELECT
▲ TRUNCATE TABLE
▲ UPDATE
 10.1.4 UNDERSTANDING TRANSACTION SCOPE 343

Some of these statements might not be familiar to you. The FETCH and
OPEN statements are used with server-side cursors, which provide a way of pro-
cessing individual rows within a result set. GRANT and REVOKE are used with
security management to allow and remove permissions. Cursor use and security
management are beyond the scope of this chapter.
The biggest drawback of using implicit transactions is that you don’t control
the start of the transaction, but you must identify the end of the transaction.
This can lead to very long running transactions which, in turn, can result in
access problems and impair performance.
The main reason for enabling implicit transactions is that they are required
by some legacy applications. You should not develop new applications to use
implicit transactions. The ODBC API even includes commands to place the data-
base in implicit transaction mode. The OLE DB API can be used with implicit
transactions, but does not include a way of putting the database into implicit
transaction mode. It can, however, issue commands that disable implicit trans-
actions. The ADO and ADO.NET APIs do not support implicit transactions.

Autocommit Transactions
With autocommit transactions, which is the default state for SQL Server and
many other DBMSs, each statement is treated as an individual transaction. If you
want a statement to run and, if no errors occur, commit—there’s no need to do
anything special when you execute the statement.
When operating in an autocommit mode, explicit transactions are still sup-
ported. It’s not uncommon to have some statements, like data retrieval queries,
run as stand-alone transactions in autocommit mode, while using explicit trans-
actions when multiple dependent statements are used.

Nested Transactions
Most DBMSs support nested transactions. A nested transaction occurs when
you explicitly start a new transaction while already operating within the scope
of a transaction. Nested transactions can be used with both explicit and implicit
transactions.
Here’s an example. The line numbers are included for reference only. The
indents are included to make the nested transaction easier to see.
1 BEGIN TRAN
2 INSERT CUSTOMER VALUES (’1442’, ’Get it here’, ’137’,’Memphis’)
3 BEGIN TRAN
4 INSERT CUSTOMEREMPLOYEE VALUES
5 (’1442’, ’3221’, ’Thomas’, ’Jane’, ’Owner’)
6 IF @@ERROR = 0
7 COMMIT TRAN
8 ELSE
344 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

9 ROLLBACK TRAN
10 —More processing statements here
11 —Commit or rollback transaction

The BEGIN TRAN in statement 1 is the start of the outer transaction. You add
a row to the CUSTOMER table. The BEGIN TRAN statement in line 3 starts the
inner transaction, which adds a row to the CUSTOMEREMPLOYEE table.
Depending on the value of @@ERROR, which identifies whether or not an error
occurred when the most recent statement executed, you either commit or roll-
back the inner transaction. This does not commit the statement in line 2. The
ROLLBACK TRAN statement acts differently however. If you execute the ROLL-
BACK TRAN in line 9, everything rolls back to the initial BEGIN TRAN statement.
Even though you run the COMMIT TRAN statement in line 7, it doesn’t
mean that the change will write to disk. This change is still controlled in the
context of the outer transaction. If, after the statements shown here, you run
COMMIT TRAN, both added rows would write to their respective tables. If you
run ROLLBACK TRAN, all changes, including those in the inner transaction, are
rolled back.
You should try to avoid the use of explicit nested transactions like the pre-
vious example. That’s because a transaction should represent a single unit of
work, that is, it should accomplish a single task. Also, as you can see in that
example, there really isn’t much benefit to including a nested transaction. So why
even bring them up? Because you might end up using a nested transaction with-
out ever realizing it. You can end up with a nested transaction when calling pro-
cedures that include transactions. For example:
BEGIN TRAN
DECLARE @TestVal int
EXEC p_GenSummary @TestVal OUTPUT
IF @TestVal = 0
COMMIT TRAN
ELSE
ROLLBACK TRAN

If the procedure, p_GenSummary, includes a transaction as part of its steps,

that transaction runs as a nested transaction. Even if you commit the changes
inside the procedure, you still need to commit them in the calling batch. If you
roll the changes back in the calling batch, it rolls back the changes made inside
the procedure.
With nested transactions, it’s possible to lose track of whether or not you have
any open transactions, those that you need to either commit or roll back, at any
point. In SQL Server, you can use @@TRANCOUNT to get a count of open, or
pending, transactions. If @@TRANCOUNT returns zero, then you don’t have any
open transactions. If you do have open transactions, it returns a count of trans-
actions. It’s a good idea to check before closing an open connection, when using
 10.1.5 RECOGNIZING AND RESOLVING POTENTIAL PROBLEMS 345

a query window in SQL Server Management Studio, for example. If you close a
connection that contains open transactions, those transactions are rolled back.

10.1.5 Recognizing and Resolving Potential Problems

We’ve already discussed one potential problem with transactions, an error
occurring during the transaction so that only some of the statements are exe-
cuted. This can lead to inconsistent, incorrect, and invalid data if you commit
the transaction at that point. Another potential problem is that it’s possible that
a transaction is just poorly written and attempts an illegal or inappropriate
action. Integrity functions in the database management system work to preserve
the integrity of the database by performing the following actions:

▲ Monitor and scrutinize all transactions, especially those with database

updates.
▲ Detect any data integrity violations by transactions.
▲ If a violation is detected, take appropriate action such as:
▲ Rejection of the operation.
▲ Reporting of the violation.
▲ Correction of error condition, if possible.
While it would be convenient if the DBMS could handle all of these func-
tions by itself and completely in the background, this isn’t the case. Management
systems include various tools and implement functionality to assist, but some of
the logic involved needs to be built into the application. Consistency and integrity
are insured by having the management system and application work together.
Consider a situation where you have an application that automatically
processes customer orders. It uses a transaction to update the inventory quanti-
ties, generate an order, and update the customer’s outstanding balance. The trans-
action creates an order in the OrderHead and OrderTail tables. Let’s add some
business rule conditions, as follows:

▲ Each order must have a unique order number.

▲ Each detail item must be related to a valid order.
▲ Each order must have at least one detail item.

Okay, so how do you handle these? Let’s take the last item first, because it’s
potentially the trickiest one of the set. This isn’t something that the database can
easily check through table constraints, so it’s an issue better resolved by the appli-
cation. The application needs to verify that there is at least one valid detail item
before committing the transaction. An even better solution would be using that
as a decision point for whether or not it even starts the transaction. If you never
start it, then you don’t have to roll it back because the order doesn’t qualify.
346 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

The other two conditions are easier to enforce because they can be han-
dled by table constraints. You could use a unique constraint to enforce unique-
ness on the order number and a foreign key constraint to enforce the rela-
tionship. If either is violated, the database server generates an error. However,
instead of just having the transaction fail and roll back, you could include logic

FOR EXAMPLE
Transactions from the Command Line
Let’s talk about explicit transactions from the command line. When using SQL
Server 2005, considering that it defaults to autocommit transactions, you might
wonder why you would need, or even want, to use explicit transactions.
One possible reason is simple. We all sometimes make mistakes. When
connected to a database server with administrator permissions and making
direct changes to table data, the consequences of our mistakes could be far-
reaching. Say you’re doing some cleanup work in the database and you’re
deleting some old customer records. You run:
delete customer where custid = ’AJA1244’
delete customer where custid = ’BX54T4’
delete customer
At some point, immediately after you press F5, you realize your mis-
take. You immediately run:
ROLLBACK TRAN
The query window responds with:
Msg 3903, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
The ROLLBACK TRANSACTION request has no corresponding BEGIN
TRANSACTION.
You’ve lost all of the data in the customer table. The situation isn’t hope-
less. You have backups (hopefully) and you can restore the customer table
from the most recent backup. That means an interruption to user opera-
tions, lost time, lost money, and possibly a lost job (yours).
What if you ran the following, instead:
begin tran
delete customer where custid = ’AJA1244’
delete customer where custid = ’BX54T4’
delete customer
This would give you a chance to verify your changes before committing the
transaction and if you do have a mistake, like the typo in the last DELETE
statement, you can roll the changes back and start again. Now, if you still
end up committing the changes without first verifying, you’re on your own.
 10.2 MANAGING CONCURRENCY CONTROL 347

in the application to correct the error and resubmit the rows for insertion into
the appropriate tables.
Another potential problem is concurrent access of the same data. What if
another transaction is updating the same tables at the same time? Here’s what might
happen. Both transactions read the balance from CustomerBalance at the same time.
Each transaction calculates a new balance based on the order being processed. One
transaction updates CustomerBalance, then the other. The change made by the sec-
ond transaction overwrites the change made by the first, so that the first change is
lost. CustomerBalance no longer matches up with the customer orders. This is an
issue of concurrency, which we’ll discuss in more detail later in this chapter.

SELF-CHECK
• Describe the properties of an ACID transaction.
• Compare and contrast implicit and explicit transactions.

10.2 Managing Concurrency Control

The database environment supports processing of transactions, several of which
may interact with the database at the same time. This can lead to problems result-
ing from two or more transactions trying to access and update the same tables
at the same time. You could line the transactions up, one after another, so that
each one is effectively the only thing happening in the database server, but keep
in mind that you could be looking at thousands of transactions.
Remember that a database system, in essence, is a transaction-processing envi-
ronment. Every effort to accelerate transaction processing deserves top priority. Each
transaction consists of central processing unit (CPU) processing and input/output
(I/O) operations. Transaction processing is interleaved so that while one transaction
waits for I/O, the CPU can process another transaction. This is the primary moti-
vation for concurrent transactions. Benefits to concurrent processing include:

▲ Overall increase in system throughput.

▲ Improved response times.
▲ Simultaneous data access.
▲ Shorter transactions finishing quickly without waiting for longer transac-
tions to end.
▲ Unpredictable response delays being minimized.

Put simply, concurrent transaction processing is a functional requirement of

any DBMS. That means you need a way of managing concurrency control.
348 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

Figure 10-4
Transaction Warehouse Database Transaction
T1 T2
Check on hand for item 120 Check on hand for item 120
Check credit for customer 1001 TextBookInventory Check credit for customer 1040
Reduce on hand for 120 by 350 Generate order
100 Chemistry
Generate order Reduce on hand for 120 by 500
120 Physics
Commit transaction Commit transaction
310 Intro. To Literature

Customer
1001 Northgate
1040 Westview
1910 Eastland

Sample transactions.

10.2.1 The Need for Concurrency Management

The easiest way to see the need for concurrency management is with an exam-
ple. Take a look at Figure 10-4.
Textbook 120 (Physics) has a quantity on hand of 1100. Transaction T1 starts
processing first, then T2. T1 reads the quantity on hand from TextBookInven-
tory, goes through the processing steps listed in the figure, sets the remaining
quantity at 750, and commits the transaction. Now, consider what happens if
T2 reads the quantity on hand after T1, but before T1 reduces the amount by
350 books. T2 does processing based on a quantity of 1100. When it makes its
update to TextBookInventory, it overwrites the value assigned by T1, setting the
quantity at 600, and commits the transaction. You’re left with a data error. The
quantity is off, showing 350 more books than are actually there. This is one of
the most common concurrency problems, known as a lost update, which occurs
when one transaction overwrites another transaction’s changes.

10.2.2 Recognizing Concurrency Problems

There are four types of concurrency problems that can result from processing
concurrent transactions. You can end up with lost updates, dirty reads, non-
repeatable reads, and phantom reads. If concurrency has to be allowed in
 10.2.2 RECOGNIZING CONCURRENCY PROBLEMS 349

transaction processing, then these problems must be resolved. Before consid-

ering solution options, you need a clear understanding of the nature of these
problems.
In a lost update, an apparently successful database update by one transac-
tion can be overwritten by another transaction. This is one aspect of the prob-
lem you saw in Figure 10-4. T1 updated the database to show 750 books left
in inventory, then T2 updated the same record, changing the number in inven-
tory to 600. This leaves us with an inaccuracy in the TextBookInventory table.
The other problem is that T2 is working with inaccurate data, because the data
changed after it was read, but more on that problem next.
A dirty read, also called an uncommitted dependency (or dependency on
an uncommitted update), is the result of one transaction reading data that is
being modified by a second transaction. For this example, you need to look at
Figure 10-5.
In Figure 10-5, the transaction is filling a customer order. The general flow
for processing the order is as follows:

▲ Locate the items being ordered.

▲ Reduce the quantity on hand for each item.

Figure 10-5
Transaction Warehouse Database Transaction
T1 T2
Check on hand for item 120 Check on hand for item 120
Reduce on hand for 120 by 1000 Reduce on hand for 120 by 600
Check credit for customer 1001 TextBookInventory Check credit for customer 1040
Generate order 100 Chemistry Generate order
Commit transaction 120 Physics Commit transaction
310 Intro. To Literature

Customer
1001 Northgate
1040 Westview
1910 Eastland

Dirty read example.

350 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

▲ Verify customer credit.

▲ Finalize the order and commit the transaction.

Item 120 has 1100 units on hand before transactions T1 and T2 start pro-
cessing. Textbook quantities are reduced by the amount ordered by customer
1001. For item 120, it is reduced by 1000 copies, leaving 100 on hand. In
T2, the application checks inventory levels for customer 1040’s order and
finds that there are insufficient copies to fill the order. This is a dirty read
because the change made by T1 has not been committed. The line item for
item 120 is canceled out due to insufficient quantity to fill the order. After
this happens, in T1, it is determined that customer 1001 has insufficient
credit, so all of the changes to TextBookInventory made by T1 are rolled back.
However, this happens too late to fill those items for customer 1040. The cus-
tomer doesn’t get the books, and the company possibly loses a sale, because
of a dirty read.
A nonrepeatable read is also referred to as inconsistent analysis. This
occurs when one transaction is reading a table multiple times while another
transaction is modifying the same table. Take a look in Figure 10-6.

Figure 10-6
Transaction Warehouse Database Transaction
T1 T2
Read all TextBookInventory Order more copies of 120
Check processing criteria TextBookInventory Order more copies of 200
Identify qualifying rows 100 Chemistry Commit transaction
Read qualifying rows 120 Physics
Process rows and modify values 131 Physical Science
Commit transaction 200 Social Studies
310 Inro. To Literature

Customer
1001 Northgate
1040 Westview
1910 Eastland

Nonrepeatable read example.

 10.2.2 RECOGNIZING CONCURRENCY PROBLEMS 351

Figure 10-7
Transaction Warehouse Database Transaction
T1 T2
Read TextBookInventory 100–500 Delete 200
Calculate row changes TextBookInventory Commit transaction
Read each row 100 Chemistry
Process row and modify values 120 Physics
Commit transaction 131 Physical Science
200 Social Studies
310 Inro. To Literature

Customer
1001 Northgate
1040 Westview
1910 Eastland

Phantom read example.

In this example, T1 reads selected columns from the TextBookInventory table

to determine if they meet a set of criteria for further processing. In this exam-
ple, the criteria include the suggested order point and the quantity on hand.
When it determines which rows meet the criteria, it goes back and reads selected
rows from the table, this time extracting all columns, before making updates. In
the interim, T2 has made changes to rows in TextBookInventory. When T1 reads
the rows a second time, it might discover that items 120 and 200 no longer
qualify, resulting in an error.
The last error type is the phantom read error. This happens when
a transaction reads a range of rows, but when it goes back to read the same
rows again, either one or more are missing or rows have been added. The
missing rows or added rows are referred to as phantoms. Take a look at
Figure 10-7.
In Figure 10-7, T1 reads a range of rows from TextBookInventory. It calcu-
lates changes to be made to the rows. While it is making those calculations, T2
deletes one of the rows. As a way of helping to ensure data integrity, T1 goes
back and reads each row again before writing the changes. When it does, it will
discover that one of the rows is a phantom—it no longer exists.
352 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

10.2.3 Designing for Concurrency

One way of minimizing concurrency errors is by designing your database appli-
cation with concurrency in mind. Some specific things you can do include the
following:

▲ Minimize transaction size: the smaller a transaction is the less likely it

is to interact with other transactions.
▲ Limit transaction operations: the transaction should accomplish one
task and should include only those statements needed to accomplish that
task.
▲ Access resources in a consistent order: you can minimize the possibil-
ity of two transactions interfering with or mutually blocking each other
if, whenever possible, you write transactions to access resources in the
same order.
▲ Minimize resource access time: keep the time that you hold a resource
open for access to a minimum by going in, doing what you need to do,
and then getting back out as quickly as possible.
▲ Watch when you run resource-intensive operations: whenever possi-
ble, schedule operations that include long-running transactions to run
after hours or during off-peak times.

Database normalization can also impact concurrency management. The nor-

malization process tends to break a table down into smaller, more tightly focused
tables. Because of how the data is split during normalization, a transaction that
updates user address information doesn’t necessarily access the same table as one
that updates user payables information.

10.2.4 Concurrency Methods

Methods for managing concurrency vary by DBMS. Methods include sched-
uling and serialization, locking, timestamp ordering, and optimistic process-
ing. There is some overlap between these methods, and most management
systems allow for optimistic processing in addition to other concurrency
methods. The goal is to allow concurrent processing while ensuring transac-
tion isolation, that is, making sure one transaction doesn’t interfere with
another transaction.
Though not often used, you need to understand transaction scheduling and
serialization first because the concept is important to the other concurrency
methods. Transaction scheduling manages concurrency fundamentally by
avoiding it. Processing is scheduled so that as one transaction begins commit
or rollback, the next transaction in the queue begins processing. Serialization
refers to the transactions running serially, one after the other, rather than
 10.2.4 CONCURRENCY METHODS 353

concurrently. More advanced schedule algorithms base the schedules on serial

use of resources rather than simply on serializing the transactions. This allows
for concurrent transactions, as long at the transactions do not require the same
resources.
There are a couple of problems inherent in transaction scheduling. One is
the performance loss because of the serialized transactions. The other problem
is the overhead required to schedule the transactions and to manage transaction
processing.
Timestamp ordering is another schedule-based concurrency management
method that preserves the transaction order. It uses a timestamp protocol that
manages transaction processing to ensure that the transaction order is preserved.
As each transaction is entered for execution, it is given a timestamp value. This
is typically taken down to the level of the individual statements, with each state-
ment given either a read timestamp or write timestamp, as appropriate. Access
to individual resources is serialized, based on timestamp order.
The potential problems are similar to those described earlier for transaction
scheduling. Delays caused by serialization are less pronounced because serializa-
tion is managed at the statement level rather than the transaction level, but longer
running transactions can still delay completion of shorter transactions. Also, sched-
uling and management carry a significant amount of processor resource overhead.
Locking is the method most commonly used by current DBMS versions.
While one transaction is accessing a resource it places a lock, an access restric-
tion, on the resource, controlling the level of access allowed by another trans-
action. There are two basic types of locks. A shared lock is used to manage read
access. When one transaction places a shared lock on a resource, other transac-
tions can access the same resource, but only for read access. An exclusive lock
is used with write access. When a transaction places an exclusive lock on a
resource, no other transaction is able to access the resource. Many DBMSs set a
default transaction isolation level, which sets the locking level automatically
during transaction processing.
You also have control over the lock scope or locking level. This refers to
the specific resource that is locked. Most DBMSs support different locking lev-
els, letting you lock the database, a table, or even an individual row. The more
granular the locking level, the smaller the scope of the lock, the less interference
with other transactions.
The use of exclusive locks effectively serializes the transactions during write
operations, blocking other transactions’ access until the write operation is com-
plete. This is also the biggest potential drawback to this method, that a trans-
action’s access to resources it needs can be blocked. If the blocking transaction
is also a long-running transaction or is delayed for some reason, it could cause
the blocked transaction to time out, resulting in an error. A blocked transac-
tion is one that cannot continue because it cannot access the resources it needs.
354 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

With optimistic processing techniques, the transaction processor doesn’t

check for potential conflicts, like with scheduling or locking methods. Instead,
it assumes that there is little, or no, possibility of conflict between the transac-
tions. If an error is detected during transaction processing, it’s necessary to abort
and roll back, then restart the transaction. Most database systems let you use
optimistic processing on an ad hoc basis in addition to other concurrency man-
agement methods. The current trend in database management system and data-
base application design is toward more optimistic methods of transaction man-
agement. This is an area that is continuing to evolve as manufacturers release
new versions of the DBMS products.

FOR EXAMPLE
Why Concurrency Matters
Most businesses have the same basic goal, to make money. That means that
they are looking for ways to either make more money, or reduce their
expenses, the cost of making money. Some expenses are obvious, such as
building, inventory, and salaries. Others are hidden and not always noticed.
That leads us to concurrency errors.
Many experts agree that cutting costs pays off better in profits, dollar-
for-dollar, than increasing revenues. Errors cost, including concurrency
errors. Think about the examples in this chapter, and you can start to see
some of the hidden costs, such as the following:

• Lost sales due to inaccurate inventory and dirty reads.

• Data inaccuracies that have to be corrected, such as through a costly,
time-consuming physical inventory.
• Lost time, which costs more in employee wages, for the time
required to repost orders because of errors.
• Lost administrator time troubleshooting problems that might or
might not really exist.

Administrators can lose a lot of time, and possibly have to cause addi-
tional server down time, looking for the source of intermittent problems.
Some of these problems could be caused by transient concurrency errors.
Because of the brief error duration and mixed symptoms, problems like this
can be especially hard to isolate and correct.
The cost of any one of these (except possibly the lost order) is minimal
when taken by itself. Over time, and over multiple occurrences, they can
add up to a measurable expense.
 10.3.1 UNDERSTANDING TRANSACTION PROCESSING 355

SELF-CHECK
• What are the benefits of concurrent processing?
• List design considerations that can help minimize concurrency
errors.
• List methods used by various DBMSs to minimize concurrency
errors.

10.3 SQL Server Transaction Management

So far, most of our discussion has been about DBMS transaction support in gen-
eral. However, databases are not deployed on a general DBMS. They are hosted
by a specific database server, each with its own way of managing transactions
and resolving potential problems. In order to look at transaction processing and
management in any detail, you need to focus on a specific DBMS. For our pur-
poses, we’ll use SQL Server 2005 as our example.

10.3.1 Understanding Transaction Processing

SQL Server 2005 uses lock-based concurrency management as its primary man-
agement method. The transaction isolation setting, which in turn defines lock-
ing defaults, is specified for the connection. Those defaults apply to any trans-
action initiated through that connection. You also have locking hints available.
These are specified at the statement level and let you acquire a specific type of
lock and specify the scope of the lock (the resource locked).
When you execute a transaction, SQL Server determines the resources
needed and the types of locks that should be acquired. It writes the state-
ments to the transaction log, acquires the locks it needs, retrieves the data
into memory, and processes the data. Changes are made to the cached copy
in memory. Changes are made managed at the page level, that is, in 8KB
blocks. As you’ve already learned, a page that has been modified in memory
is referred to as a dirty page. Dirty pages remain in memory only until the
transaction is committed, at which point they can be written to the hard disk.
The term dirty page refers simply to fact that the data has changed, not the
state of the transaction. Both committed and uncommitted pages are referred
to as dirty pages.
SQL Server controls the transaction log through checkpoints, a concept intro-
duced earlier in this chapter. SQL Server uses an internal schedule to periodically
356 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

issue checkpoints. There are also database server events and conditions that will
cause a checkpoint to be issued, including the following:

▲ The active portion of the log is larger than can be efficiently recovered
after an error.
▲ An ALTER DATABASE statement is executed.
▲ The database is backed up.
▲ The server is stopped or shut down.

This is a partial list, but it gives you a good idea of the types of events that
cause a checkpoint to be issued. Transact-SQL also includes a CHECKPOINT
command that manually issues a checkpoint when run. When the checkpoint is
issued, it forces a write of all committed dirty pages to the hard disk.

10.3.2 Managing Locks, Locking, and Transaction Isolation

Lock management through transaction isolation is not unique to SQL Server, but
it is the primary concurrency control method used by SQL Server. SQL Server
2005 supports the four transaction isolation levels defined by the SQL-99 stan-
dard. These are, from least to most restrictive:

▲ Read uncommitted
▲ Read committed
▲ Repeatable read
▲ Serializable

SQL Server supports one additional level that is not part of the SQL-99 stan-
dard, snapshot isolation. The level is set for a connection using the SET TRANS-
ACTION ISOLATION LEVEL statement.
The read uncommitted isolation level is the least restrictive, but also pro-
vides the least protection against possible concurrency errors. When running
under this isolation level, transactions do not acquire a shared lock when read-
ing data. Transactions also ignore exclusive locks, meaning that they can read
data that has been locked for modification. Because of this, your transactions can
be affected by dirty reads, nonrepeatable reads, and phantoms.
The read committed transaction isolation level is the default database level.
This level prevents a transaction from reading uncommitted changes made by other
transactions. This means that dirty reads are prevented, but nonrepeatable reads
and phantoms are both still possible. That is because it is possible for another
transaction to make changes to the data and commit the changes between reads.
The repeatable read transaction isolation level prevents both dirty reads and
nonrepeatable reads. This is because it prevents the current transaction from
reading uncommitted data and also prevents other transactions from modifying
data being read by the current transaction until after the transaction completes.
 10.3.2 MANAGING LOCKS, LOCKING, AND TRANSACTION ISOLATION 357

It doesn’t completely protect you against concurrency errors, however, because

phantoms can still occur. Even though another transaction can’t modify table rows,
it could insert new rows to a table. This isolation level is not commonly used.
Snapshot is a special transaction isolation level, specific to SQL Server 2005.
Data used by the transaction is cached in memory at the start of the transaction.
The transaction uses this snapshot, rather than the table data, so it is not affected
by changes made by other transactions. You need to exercise caution, however,
because the transaction results will be based on this snapshot and the state of
the data at the beginning of the transaction. That means that the results might
not be consistent with the current data. Snapshot isolation is useful in several
situations, though, such as when generating data for a long running report. It
ensures that the report remains internally consistent and consistent with the
point in time on which it is based.
The serializable transaction isolation level is the most restrictive and gives
the highest level of protection against concurrency errors. When running under
this level of isolation, a transaction cannot read uncommitted data, other trans-
actions cannot modify data read by this transaction, and other transactions can-
not insert rows or key values into a range read by this transaction. Because of
this, dirty reads, nonrepeatable reads, and phantoms are prevented.
The potential problem is that all other transactions are blocked from modi-
fying any resources that this transaction needs to access. In most cases, the delay
is minimal and likely to go unnoticed. However, it can become a problem when
dealing with long-running transactions or in a very active system. One potential
consequence is that two transactions could deadlock. This is a condition that
results when each transaction is blocking the other, like in Figure 10-8.

Figure 10-8
Transaction Warehouse Database Transaction
T1 T2
Open TextBookInventory

Open Customer Blocked

Blocked OrderHead Open

OrderTail Open

Deadlocked transactions.
358 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

FOR EXAMPLE
Lower Level—Better Performance?
SQL Server 2005 defaults to the read committed transaction isolation level,
but is that always the best choice? The fact that SQL Server offers choices
for setting the transaction isolation level in itself tells you that this is not
always the case. Not only can you set the transaction isolation level when
you open a command line connection, like a query window, but you can
also specify the transaction isolation level when establishing a connection
from a database application. But how do you choose?
Choosing the right transaction isolation level depends on several factors.
The time you take to make the right choices can pay off, though, in better
data integrity and possibly in better performance. The data integrity is easy
to see. The higher the isolation level, the better protected the transaction
from interference from other transactions. Performance issues might not be
as obvious.
In the simplest terms, the less restrictive the isolation level, the less likely
that your application might need to wait for resources. Does this mean that
a lower level always means better performance, though? Not necessarily. Per-
formance includes both database and application performance. Any perfor-
mance gains from lowering the transaction isolation level could be lost if the
application has to do additional verification testing or has to correct errors
that it has detected.

T1 accesses the TextBookInventory, Customer, OrderHead and OrderTail

tables, in that order. T2 accesses OrderHead, OrderTail, and then Customer. Each
transaction acquires a lock on each table it accesses. In this situation, T1 is hold-
ing Customer open and trying to access OrderHead. T2 is holding OrderHead
and OrderTail open and trying to access Customer. Neither one can continue
because its access is blocked by the other. This situation will continue until one
of the transactions times out.

10.3.3 Recognizing, Clearing, and Preventing Deadlocks

Blocked transactions and deadlocks are perhaps your biggest potential concerns
in a transaction processing environment. These conditions can cause perfor-
mance to grind to a halt and lead to transaction processing errors and time-outs,
resulting in critical data updates not being made.
The first thing you have to do is accept that in almost any transaction pro-
cessing environment, intermittent occurrences of blocked transactions are going
to be a fact of life. Your database application must be able to account for these
 10.3.3 RECOGNIZING, CLEARING, AND PREVENTING DEADLOCKS 359

and respond appropriately. The most common error, as with the situation in Fig-
ure 10-8, is that one transaction eventually times out. As a response, this means
recognizing that an update has timed out, rolling back the transaction, and then
resubmitting the changes in the context of a new transaction.

Avoiding Blocked Transactions

The best solution, whenever possible, is to avoid blocked transactions and dead-
locks in the first place. Earlier in the chapter you were given guidelines for
designing transactions that minimize concurrency errors. These same guidelines
apply to avoiding blocks and deadlocks.
Two key considerations are the transaction length and the order in which
transactions access resources. In Figure 10-8, if both transactions accessed
resources in the same order you would have had one temporarily blocking the
other, but could have avoided the deadlock. Of course, this would depend on
an ideal development environment where developers, even those working on dif-
ferent applications, keep in close contact with each other to ensure that this stan-
dard is met. Each developer will probably have his or her idea as to the best
order. The order will also be influenced by the application’s specific require-
ments. In the real word, the best you can usually hope for is to have the trans-
actions within a single application access resources in a consistent order.
You can also minimize the occurrence of blocked transactions and deadlocks
by using appropriate locking levels. You might have avoided the deadlock if the
transactions acquired locks at the row level instead of the table level. As long as
the transactions don’t need access to the same rows within a table, neither is
blocked by the other.
You need to avoid holding a transaction open any longer than necessary. As
soon as the transaction completes its processing, you should either commit or
roll back as appropriate. Either action will cause the transaction to release any
locks it has acquired. Leaving a transaction open is sometimes an unexpected
consequence of nested transactions.
One way that database management systems detect blocked transactions is
through time-outs. A time-out occurs when a transaction is unable to complete pro-
cessing within a specified time. You can configure the maximum time allowed, typ-
ically in milliseconds, or configure the DBMS to allow the transaction to run indef-
initely until it finishes (usually not recommended because of the potential adverse
affect on performance).
The most common reason for a transaction to time-out is that it can’t access
the resources it needs and waits for those resources until they either become avail-
able or the transaction times out. Time-outs can sometimes result because there is
an excessive load on the database server, especially if the time-out periods are set
too short for the operational environment. They can also occur as the result of an
error.
360 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

Figure 10-9

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Last Refresh; Refresh f FilrtJj... |ÿ| Help
9/6/2006 2:00:10 AM
Next Refresh: Displayed 6 items from a total of 27 items.
Process ID *ÿ System Process User Database Status Open Transact
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Suspended transaction.

Detecting and Clearing Blocks

Sometimes it becomes necessary to clear a blocking transaction. The steps
involved in doing this programmatically are somewhat advanced and beyond the
scope of this chapter, but we’ll take a look at the manual procedure for clearing
a blocking transaction. To see this, you need to go back to SQL Server Man-
agement Studio, specifically, the Activity Monitor, shown in Figure 10-9.
Process ID 55 is shown as suspended. This means that it is in a wait state
and something is preventing it from continuing. To see what that something is,
scroll across, as shown in Figure 10-10, until the blocking column is visible. You
see that Process ID 54 is blocking Process ID 55 from continuing.
To clear the block, you need to do one of the following:

▲ Complete the transaction running in the connection for Process ID 54.

▲ Close the connection.
▲ Kill the process.

When you kill a process, you exit it without completing any open transac-
tions. You can do this by running the KILL command followed by the process
 10.3.3 RECOGNIZING, CLEARING, AND PREVENTING DEADLOCKS 361

FOR EXAMPLE
Could It Be—Deadlocks?
One area where many database applications fall short is in error reporting.
The application receives errors from the database server, but either isn’t
designed to evaluate the error’s cause or it doesn’t pass the errors along to
the user. Instead the applications just report some type of generic database
error.
If database activity increases with time, it’s not unusual that database
errors will also increase. It’s not that the rate of errors is increasing, but
as the overall work volume increases, the number of errors increase. In
some cases it could be that you’re pushing the limits of the hardware, or
that there is some inherent flaw in the database design that doesn’t
become significant until activity reaches a threshold point. However, a
likely culprit for increased errors as database activity increases is dead-
locks. Because deadlocks are caused by competition for database
resources, as you have more requests for those same resources, deadlocks
will also increase, even in a well-designed database. The problem is, if
your application isn’t telling you that deadlocks are occurring, how will
you know?
If you start experiencing increased problems with time-outs or with
applications hanging without good reason, especially if the server load has
increased at the same time, you should suspect deadlocks as a potential sus-
pect. SQL Server gives you the tools you need to verify whether or not they
are the problem. Start with the SQL Server error logs. Deadlocks and trans-
action time-outs are reported to the error log, and you can easily view the
error log through SQL Server Management Studio. Once you know that
deadlocks are occurring, you can use SQL Server Profiler to help you pin-
point the transactions that are the most common culprits.
Your next step from there depends on what you find. If the problem
is poorly designed transactions, then your first step is setting them right.
Use the tips already recommended in this chapter, like keeping the trans-
actions short, making the transaction locks more granular, and accessing
resources in a consistent order. You might also consider lowering the trans-
action isolation level. Most transactions don’t need to be run under the
serializable, or even repeatable read, isolation levels. However, you prob-
ably don’t want to drop to read uncommitted or use an optimistic isola-
tion method. Why not? You already know that transactions are interfering
with each other. Why take a chance on replacing errors that you know are
occurring with the possibility of introducing data errors that are even
harder to detect and resolve?
362 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

Figure 10-10

Blocked and blocking transaction.

ID number or through Activity Monitor. To kill the process in Activity Monitor,

right-click the blocking process and run Kill process. You will be prompted to
verify your action.

SELF-CHECK
• Describe when SQL Server issues a checkpoint.
• List the transaction isolation levels supported by SQL Server.
• Describe the circumstances under which a deadlock occurs.

SUMMARY
Transactions are a key part of nearly all database applications. During this chap-
ter, you learned about transaction basics, including ACID properties and trans-
action commands. You also learned the differences between implicit and explicit
 KEY TERMS 363

transactions. You learned about possible concurrency problems and methods

used by various DBMSs to avoid the problems. You also learned about SQL
Server transaction support, including isolation level support and methods for
detecting and clearing deadlocks.

KEY TERMS
ACID Nested transaction
Atomicity Nonrepeatable read
Autocommit transaction Open transaction
Blocked transaction Optimistic processing
Checkpoint Partial rollback
Commit Partial update
Concurrent transactions Phantom
Consistency Phantom read
Cursor Read committed
Data API Read uncommitted
Deadlock Recovery
Dirty page Repeatable read
Dirty read Rollback
Durability Roll forward
Exclusive lock Serializable
Explicit transaction Serialization
Implicit transaction Shared lock
Inconsistent analysis Snapshot
Isolation Time-out
Kill Timestamp ordering
Lock Transaction isolation
Lock level Transaction isolation level
Lock scope Transaction scheduling
Lost update Uncommitted dependency
364 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

ASSESS YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to evaluate your knowledge of transac-
tion and locking support.
Measure your learning by comparing pre-test and post-test results.

Summary Questions

1. Rolling back a transaction reverses all changes made by that transaction.

True or False?
2. What does the acronym ACID stand for?
(a) atomicity, concurrency, isolation, and durability
(b) atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability
(c) automation, concurrency, isolation, and durability
(d) automation, consistency, isolation, and durability
3. When SQL Server 2005 is operating in implicit transaction mode, which
statement will initiate a new transaction?
(a) INSERT
(b) CREATE TABLE
(c) SELECT
(d) All of the above
4. When a database server is configured for autocommit transactions, you
must run either COMMIT TRAN or ROLLBACK TRAN after each
statement. True or False?
5. Which function returns a list of open transactions?
(a) @@TRANCOUNT
(b) @@COUNT
(c) @@TRANSACTIONS
(d) none of the above
6. What happens when you close a connection that has an open
transaction?
(a) A checkpoint is immediately issued.
(b) The transaction is committed.
(c) The transaction is rolled back.
(d) There is no way to know in advance what will happen.
7. A dirty page is one that has been updated in memory, but not written to
the hard disk. True or False?
 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 365

8. An uncommitted read is also known as which of the following?

(a) dirty read
(b) phantom read
(c) nonrepeatable read
(d) inconsistent analysis
9. What is a phantom read?
(a) reading data that is changed, but not committed
(b) reading data that is committed, but not written to the hard disk
(c) reading a range of rows, with one or more rows missing on a subse-
quent read
(d) data that is changed after it is read by a transaction
10. Which of the following is NOT a method for minimizing the occurrence
of concurrency errors?
(a) Keep transaction size to a minimum.
(b) Segregate additional operations as nested transactions.
(c) Have all transactions access resources in the same order.
(d) Keep resources open for as short a time as possible.
11. Which concurrency method assumes that transaction interaction is
unlikely, so the transaction processor does not check for potential
conflicts?
(a) locking
(b) timestamp ordering
(c) Optimistic processing
(d) transaction scheduling
12. Which locking level is less likely to cause a blocked transaction?
(a) server
(b) database
(c) table
(d) row
13. A transaction will acquire a shared locked before modifying data to pre-
vent other transactions from accessing the same data. True or False?
14. Database servers use concurrent transaction processing to improve perfor-
mance and optimize processor use. True or False?
15. SQL Server 2005 transaction isolation support is limited to isolation lev-
els specified in the SQL-99 standard. True or False?
16. Which transaction isolation level is the least restrictive?
(a) read uncommitted
366 TRANSACTIONS AND LOCKING

(b) read committed

(c) repeatable read
(d) serializable
17. The read committed transaction isolation level ignores exclusive locks
during read operations. True or False?
18. A deadlock occurs when two transactions mutually block each other’s
access to resources. True or False?

Applying This Chapter

1. An application is designed to process queries by passing individual query
statements to the server for execution. You want to modify the application
to use transactions to group related statements. The database used is
hosted on a SQL Server 2005 database server.
(a) What logic should you include when completing the transactions?
(b) How can you ensure that the statements are executed in the context
of a transaction?
(c) You want to ensure that you avoid lost updates and direct reads.
What is the minimum transaction isolation level you should use?
What types of concurrency errors are NOT prevented?
(d) Should a transaction become blocked, how can you use SQL Server
Management Studio to identify the blocking transaction? How can
you removing the blocking processes through SQL Server
Management Studio?
2. You determine that many of the problems that users are reporting are
related to application transactions. The application is written with many
of the statements specifying locking hints to control the type of lock
acquired and locking level. The application includes three long
transactions. You cannot rewrite the queries, so you have to learn to live
with them.
(a) When would you want to acquire an exclusive lock? Why?
(b) When updating individual rows, what locking level is most appropri-
ate? Why?
(c) Changes made by transactions should not be able to change relation-
ships between tables. What is the easiest way to enforce this?
(d) What should you check about the long-running transactions to mini-
mize the chance of deadlocks? How does this help you prevent
deadlocks?
YOU TRY IT

Transaction Management use a third-party account application that uses SQL

You are a database administrator for a company whose Server as its data store. It also has a custom Web ap-
core busiess is retail sales. Users access the database plication that enables customers to access account in-
through various, relatively small, database applica- formation, transfer account balances, and make loan
tions. There are also times when you or another admin- payments online.
istrator need to run ad hoc statements and queries A procedure runs each morning and checks pay-
from a command line. The database supports hun- ment due dates for loans. For customers who have
dreds of users, most of whom are working and poten- opted to do so, it will deduct the payment amount from
tially accessing the database at the same time. The a savings or checking account and make the cus-
number of users is expected to increase significantly tomer’s payment automatically. Information about the
over the next year. payment is written to a tracking table for verification.

1. Explain the potential impact of the usage 1. Why are transactions necessary when transfer-
changes to blocked transactions. ring money between accounts?
2. How does having the transactions used by ap- 2. You need to ensure maximum transaction isola-
plications access resources in the same order tion during automated loan payments. How can
help to prevent deadlocks? What is the possible you do this? Under what conditions might auto-
impact on blocked transactions? matic payments become blocked?
3. Why is concurrent transaction processing im- 3. Some of the savings and loan’s reporting re-
portant in this environment? quirements built into the Web application are
4. What one action can you take to increase the summary reports based on the specific moment
relative isolation between transactions? What in time when the report is run. How can you en-
are the potential benefits of this, if any? Potential sure this?
disadvantages? 4. The reporting module of the third-party account-
ing application defaults to the read committed
Concurrent Transactions transaction isolation level. Reporting is consid-
A small Midwestern savings and loan provides three ered a low-priority function. Some reports must
basic types of services to its customers—various types make multiple reads of the source tables to col-
of savings accounts, various checking account op- lect the information needed. How can you justify
tions, and loans. Most of the internal account functions not using a higher isolation level?

367
 11
DATA ACCESS
AND SECURITY

Starting Point
Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of data
access and security.
Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

▲ Database connectivity concepts and requirements
▲ Server and database access control
▲ How to protect data against unauthorized access and modification or data
loss

After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To

▲ Design a database solution that meets connectivity requirements
▲ Select appropriate client and application interface options
▲ Design a database solution that includes multitier connectivity
▲ Create and manage server and database security principals
▲ Control server and database access
▲ Manage and monitor the connection process and active connections
▲ Incorporate access permissions into a database design
▲ Select appropriate physical data storage options
▲ Design a backup plan that addresses the what, when, where, and how of
data backups
 11.1.1 UNDERSTANDING CONNECTIVITY CONCEPTS 369

INTRODUCTION
Data access is critical to any database design. This means ensuring that users can
get to the data they need and that the data is protected against mistakes, malicious
actions, and equipment failures. This chapter begins by introducing data server and
database connectivity concepts and requirements. From there, it moves on to includ-
ing server and database access requirements in your database design and imple-
mentation. Finally, it introduces access permissions and data protection methods.
It is important to note that you cannot guarantee a completely secure data-
base or server. No matter what safeguards you implement, given enough time,
patience, and technical expertise, someone can eventually find a way to com-
promise your database server and data. Because of this, it is important that your
security plans focus not just on protection, but also on detecting and recover-
ing from security breaches.

11.1 Understanding Database Connections

Data is useless if your users can’t access it. There are two basic access methods,
direct access like you have with a Sqlcmd prompt or query window, and indi-
rect access through a database application. There is one common factor with
either access method—you must make a connection to the database server before
you can access any data.
You can see this when you launch SQL Server Management Studio. Before
you are allowed to do anything else, you are prompted for connection informa-
tion so you can establish a connection with the server. Each time you launch
Management Studio, you are prompted with a dialog box like the one shown in
Figure 11-1, requesting the server name and login credentials. The login cre-
dentials are used to identify you to the server and set your level of access. The
server uses the information provided to validate your access permissions and
establish the connection.
Even though you never see a connection dialog box, the process is similar
when an application connects to a database server. The application passes its
connection criteria to the database server and the server allows (or denies,
depending on the credentials), the connection.

11.1.1 Understanding Connectivity Concepts

The client/server model is the most basic connectivity model. Most advanced,
multitier connection models still have, somewhere at their core, an aspect of the
client/server model. Let’s begin our look at connectivity and connectivity issues
with a look at the classic client/server model as a way of introducing connec-
tivity concepts.
370 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

Figure 11-1

Connect to server dialog box.

A connection, in the simplest terms, is a communication path. Whenever

you use the telephone you establish a connection, a communication path
between you and another person that enables you to talk. You also establish a
connection when you use your browser to visit a Web site, or when you talk to
someone through instant messaging (IM), which is a type of communication
application enabling conversations between users over the Internet. The same is
true when you connect to a database server; you establish a communication path
between the client and the server.
In the classic client/server model, like the one shown in Figure 11-2, end-
user PCs are the clients connecting to a database server. The server contains the
application programs, the DBMS, and the database, which all of the clients share.
When an end user wants to run an application or retrieve data from the shared
database, the client computers handle the initial processing of the request. The
request is sent on to the server for processing by the application code, includ-
ing data retrieval from the shared database, as necessary. The server returns the
results to the client PC where the client is responsible for formatting the screen
display.
 11.1.1 UNDERSTANDING CONNECTIVITY CONCEPTS 371

Figure 11-2

PC

PC
Application
Programs
DBMS

Database
PC

Server

PC

PC

Local area network (LAN) client/server model.

Although the term client/server system is usually associated with a system

built on a local area network, in a broad sense the World Wide Web (the Web)
can be considered to be a massive client/server system built on the Internet.
As shown in Figure 11-3, the clients are PCs used to connect to the Internet.
The browser software running on the PCs handles the client side screen pre-
sentation duties. The servers are the Web servers with which the PCs com-
municate. With this expansion of the idea of a client/server system, the World
Wide Web, built on the Internet, qualifies as the world’s largest client/server
system!
Direct connections to a database server over the Internet, though possible,
are rarely used. A primary reason for this is the potential security risk of directly
exposing a database server to the Internet. The Internet is full of individuals
who make it their life’s work to steal or wreak havoc upon other peoples’ data.
A more realistic configuration is shown in Figure 11-4, which you could con-
sider as a multitier configuration made up of two overlapping client/server models.
PCs, the end-user client computers, connect to the Web server. The Web server,
though acting as a server, can also be considered a client. It connects to the data-
base server, passing end-user client requests to the database and returning its
responses to the clients’ PCs.
372 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

Figure 11-3

PC Browser

PC Browser

PC Browser

PC Browser
“The Internet”

PC Browser Company
Web Server

PC Browser

PC Browser

Internet client/server model.

Now that you see what a connection is, and how it relates to the client/server
model, we can now focus on the components that make up that connection.

Investigating the “Hard” Components

Common to each of these illustrations is the connection path, which is the
physical pathway through which the data travels. In Figure 11-2, the connec-
tion path is the network cable. In Figure 11-3, the connection path is the Inter-
net. In Figure 11-4 you have both, the Internet between PCs and the Web
server, and the LAN cable between the Web server and database server. Of
course, the connection path doesn’t have to be a physical cable. Ever been to
a coffee shop that offers WiFi connectivity for your laptop? WiFi is a term used
to refer to the most commonly used wireless communication technologies for PCs.
 11.1.1 UNDERSTANDING CONNECTIVITY CONCEPTS 373

Figure 11-4

PC

Web Server

PC

PC

Database
PC “The Internet” Server

PC

PC

Database

PC

Internet connection with separate Web server.

With WiFi, the connection path is the radio frequency transmissions between
the computers.
The other part of this hardware connection is the physical network adapter
your computer uses to communicate. For traditional wired networks, this
means a network interface card (NIC), sometimes called a network adapter.
This provides the computer’s physical connection to the network and handles
the low-level communication functions. Wireless networks use a network
adapter that is functionally a wireless transmitter/receiver that supports WiFi
connectivity.
The connection could also be made through a dial-up modem, cable modem,
or other connection device for remote connectivity. A modem is a device that con-
verts digital data to an analog signal for transmission and then back to digital
374 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

before passing the data to the computer. Currently, the most commonly used
path for remote connectivity is the Internet. Many companies support connec-
tions over the Internet through a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN
provides a secure, reliable communication path. VPNs can be used over the
Internet, or over a private LAN or WAN. In either implementation, the VPN
acts as a network inside a network, with a protected communication path
deployed through a public pathway. Other than the details of how it is imple-
mented, a VPN is operationally like any other network. Technically, a VPN is a
network built out of “soft” components. It uses special software at each of the
nodes (connection points) and special protocols known as tunneling protocols.
The name of the protocols comes from the fact that the VPN “tunnels” through
the public media pathway, effectively isolating VPN traffic from the rest of the
network traffic.

Investigating the “Soft” Components

Connectivity requires more than just the physical path. Each end of the con-
nection needs communication software that manages the process. Today’s oper-
ating systems come with multiple types of communication software embedded,
each for a specific use. The computers also need a protocol in common, which
is effectively the language that the computers use to communicate. A protocol
defines the rules the computers use for data format and transmission. It deter-
mines, among other things, how the data is packaged for transmission and the
maximum size of data packets.
There are still more requirements. Look at the instant message (IM) com-
munication session shown in Figure 11-5. You need to have a way of identify-
ing the person (and/or computer) at the other end. There also has to be a way
of making sure that the message gets routed to the appropriate person, or more
accurately the appropriate computer, and their response gets routed back to
you.
The requirements are similar for database connectivity. There’s a lot going on
in the background that you probably aren’t aware of when you connect to a data-
base server. Your computer and the database server need:

▲ A way to identify each other.

▲ A common language.
▲ A way of ensuring that the information gets to the correct destination.

Think about that last point. It’s more complicated than you might think.
A database might have hundreds, even thousands, of concurrent connections
it must manage and maintain. It has to keep track of each of these, including
the client computer, user, and any data associated with the connection. Even
at the client end there’s a lot happening. Not only does the data have to arrive
 11.1.1 UNDERSTANDING CONNECTIVITY CONCEPTS 375

Figure 11-5

Sample IM conversation.

at the correct PC, once there, it must be routed to the right application inside
the PC.
A detailed discussion of all of the ins and outs of PC communications would
be a course in itself and is far beyond the scope of this chapter. It’s enough that
you know the basics of what’s going on and what needs to be managed at the PC
and server ends. We do, however, need to talk a little about the high-level soft-
ware components required and the database and server objects you need to design,
create, and manage in order to enable communication with the database server.
376 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

11.1.2 Understanding Client/Server Connectivity

In the traditional client/server model, you have two computer types involved.
These are the client that provides the interface with the user and the server that
stores and maintains the database. Though the traditional model puts the appli-
cation on the database server, realistically it can reside just as easily on the client
computers. In fact, that’s the model used in most small-scale database applica-
tions. A copy of the application runs on each client PC and the client PCs share
the database stored on a central database server.
The basic foundation for connectivity, including the communication path,
physical connection, and the basic communication protocol, are provided by the
network. These are primarily the responsibility of network administrators (or a
similar role) within your company. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have your
own responsibilities as well. You might have protocol options available and have
to configure protocol use at the server.
Most discussions about database design focus almost exclusively (at least ini-
tially) on the data. However, the data is useless if you don’t have a way to access it.
Database connectivity, built on the foundation provided by the network, is a
necessary part of your final design and a required component during imple-
mentation. The requirements for designing and configuring connectivity require-
ments are somewhat DBMS-specific, but there are some common factors that
should be discussed. When looking at requirements specific to DBMS imple-
mentations, we’ll use SQL Server 2005 as our example. Though the implemen-
tation details may be different with other DBMSs, the general concepts and
requirements will be similar.

Understanding Connectivity Interfaces

During database design and implementation, you will make final decisions about
the communication path. Even though this is a function of the network on which
the clients and server are deployed, there are DBMS-specific options that con-
trol communication flow. After making these decisions, you have to determine
which data application programming interface (API) you will use.
To understand the role of the data API, imagine yourself as a bicycle courier.
You’ve been called by one of General Hardware Company’s customers. You need
to pick up a package and deliver it to the customer. You arrive at General Hardware
Company, identify yourself, identify the customer, and request the package.
Package in hand, you ride across town and deliver it to the customer.
That’s not unlike what happens in a communication session between a client
and a server. The requirements for that session are also similar to the physical
transfer. The client needs to identify itself to the server. In some configurations,
the server must also identify itself to the client through a process known as
mutual authentication. The client needs to pass commands to the server and
receive a response. Your first thought might be that this is all handled by the
 11.1.2 UNDERSTANDING CLIENT/SERVER CONNECTIVITY 377

application software, or maybe at the command prompt, but we need to take

things down a level. This functionality is provided by the data API. This deci-
sion lies more with the application developer in most cases, but it’s likely that
you might be called on to make recommendations.
There are several options available, depending on your database server,
whether you plan to connect directly or through an application, and the appli-
cation programming language that you select. You may already be familiar with
two APIs: Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) and OLE DB. ODBC is an indus-
try standard API that provides connectivity with a wide variety of data sources.
OLE DB is a Microsoft data access API that also supports a wide variety of
sources. One advantage of OLE DB is that Microsoft has provided versions that
are optimized for specific DBMSs, including OLE DB for Oracle and OLE DB for
SQL Server. Microsoft has also released a new data access technology that is OLE
DB-based and is specific to SQL Server 2005, called SQL Native Client.
Each of these options provides the same basic functionality. They let a client
(or client application) identify itself to the server and establish a connection.
They let the client prepare commands and pass them to the server for execu-
tion. They also provide various means for receiving a response back from the
server. The differences are in the details.
If you are writing an application and aren’t sure as to the final database plat-
form, or perhaps want to leave a level of flexibility built in, it’s likely that you
would want to use ODBC or a generic version of OLE DB. If you are using a
Microsoft programming language and want to provide better performance and
more options, then a product-specific version of OLE DB might be more appro-
priate. If you are working with SQL Server 2005 and want to use newly released
features like XML data types, then you need SQL Native Client or the .NET
Framework SQL Client object library.

Meeting Client Interface Requirements

Let’s step away from database applications for a moment. Data and database
administrators often find it necessary to access a server directly through man-
agement utilities to make changes or fix problems. However, sitting down at the
server isn’t always an option, or even a good idea. You need a way to set up a
client with the necessary connectivity software and management tools.
Luckily, most manufacturers have provided a way to do just that. In the case of
SQL Server, the Setup program gives you the option of installing just the client tools,
which includes all of the necessary drivers, data APIs, and management utilities. You
might be worried that this could be a security risk, but it’s not if you’ve set up secu-
rity properly on your database server and as long as you log off or lock your com-
puter when you leave your desk. Someone trying to hack into the database through
your PC, assuming they could get access to it, would still need login credentials that
provide a high enough level of access to enable them to do any damage.
378 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

Meeting Application Interface Requirements

Administrators have more of an advisory and assistance role in meeting appli-
cation interface requirements. Connection requirements are met through func-
tionality built into or added on to the programming environment and language.
The interface choice will depend on the specifics of the project requirements,
DBMS support requirements, and the capabilities of the development platform.

FOR EXAMPLE
What about ADO.NET?
You may be familiar with ADO.NET, objects providing the functionality that
lets you connect to a data source and manipulate data in the .NET Frame-
work. If so, you might be wondering where it fits in as part of the access
model we’ve been discussing.
ADO.NET is a collection of data object libraries that let you connect to
various data sources, send requests, and receive and manipulate data. For
example, there are object libraries that contain objects designed for work-
ing directly with operating systems files, such as XML document files. More
closely related to our discussion are the object libraries that let you work
with database servers. These include generic libraries based on ODBC and
OLE DB, as well as product-specific libraries designed for use with prod-
ucts such as Oracle and SQL Server.
When using a .NET Framework language, the question becomes not
what technology to use in your database application, but which data object
library to use. The choices are somewhat language dependent, but the most
commonly used languages (Visual Basic and C#) support the same object
libraries. The differences between the two are in details such as command
syntax, but other than that, the choices are essentially the same.
The choice comes down to picking the object library best suited to your
requirements. When writing a custom application for a specific DBMS, the best
choice is usually to pick a server-specific interface option, like OLE DB for
Oracle or the SQL Client library. This is only possible if the decision has been
made about the database server platform, but realistically, that decision should
be made relatively early in the design process. That’s because several data design
decisions, such as data types, are also somewhat DBMS-specific. Along with
your data object recommendation, you might have other responsibilities in the
application development process. You could, and probably will, be called on to
provide information about the database and connection requirements, such as
the minimum requirements for connecting to the server, the database object
structure, and the availability of custom functions and procedures.
 11.1.3 UNDERSTANDING MULTITIER CONNECTIVITY 379

Current development environments provide interface options, letting the

developer choose the option best suited to the database server. The database
designer/implementer may be asked to make recommendations, but not the final
decision.

11.1.3 Understanding Multitier Connectivity

As you move into a multitier environment, the difference is one of scale and dis-
tribution rather than basic functionality. Different functions are delegated to dif-
ferent specialized servers. Typically, the database server becomes more focused
on that single task.
Let’s take a look at an example of this type of environment so you can see
something of the delegation involved between the servers. In this example, there
is a multi-tiered Web application; however this is not the only type of configu-
ration you might see. Most Web applications are multi-tier applications, but
multi-tiered applications are not necessarily Web applications.
Suppose that Good Reading Bookstores develops a Web site to sell books
to consumers online and that you are about to become one of its customers.
The browser software in your PC sends a message to Good Reading’s Web
server and establishes a connection with it. The Web server sends your browser
Good Reading’s home page which your browser displays. From here, you can
make requests of the application running on Good Reading’s Web server. This
application sends commands to the relational DBMS on Good Reading’s data-
base server, ordering it to perform requested operations and returning the
information to your browser. This continues with other requests as necessary.
Every time the database must be accessed, the application in the Web server
passes a command to the database server, which queries the database and
returns the result.
Figure 11-6 shows this process in some detail, introducing some of the spe-
cialized software involved. When your browser sends a message to the Web
server (and vice versa), the message follows the rules of the Transmission Con-
trol Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), the protocol on which the Internet
and most other networks are based, and the Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP), which is an additional protocol layer supporting World Wide Web traf-
fic on the Internet.
There is a potential problem in that there can be different kinds of hardware
between the Web server and the database server, different kinds of application
software languages, different browsers on the client side, and a variety of different
kinds of data. These are tied together using specialized interfaces and specialized
software known as middleware. Because of the importance of connecting the
applications in the Web server with the databases in the database server, various
companies have developed specialized middleware with a variety of broad
features, capabilities, and connectivity options. Among the products of this type
380 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

Figure 11-6

TCP/IP and HTTP

PC Browser

Web Server

PC Browser

CGI or API
PC Browser

Middleware

PC Browser
“The Internet” ODBC

PC Browser
Database
Server

PC Browser

PC Browser
Database

Accessing a database via the Web.

on the market are Cold Fusion, Oracle Application Server, Microsoft Active Server
Pages (ASP), ASP .NET, and others.
In order for the application software running on the Web server to con-
nect with software outside of the Web server, there must be agreed upon inter-
faces. Web applications use Common Gateway Interface (CGI) or various
APIs. CGI is a standard way for passing requests and data between a Web
server and an application. These interfaces have software scripts associated with
them that allow them to exchange data between the application and the data-
base server. The connection to the database server could be made directly at
this point, but more likely the connection is made using a standard interface,
such as ODBC.
 11.1.3 UNDERSTANDING MULTITIER CONNECTIVITY 381

FOR EXAMPLE
Multitier Application Design
Designing a multitier database application doesn’t necessarily mean designing
a Web application for use on the Internet. Larger companies often find it appro-
priate to design enterprise applications that use a multi-tier design, but the con-
cepts involved are similar to those already discussed for a Web application.
Suppose you have completed the database design and implemented a
preliminary version on a development server. Several applications will use
this database, including the one in this example, a data entry application.
Let’s start with a little background and a few requirements. The database will
be used in a nationwide medical study. Study candidates fill out a ten-page
questionnaire. The answers are entered into a tracking database that will also
track other medical information.
The application you’re designing is a data entry application that will enter
the survey results. Because of security requirements, end-user client comput-
ers cannot connect directly with the database server. The client computer will
do initial data validation, with more advanced checks handled by a server appli-
cation and, where appropriate, table and row constraints used as a final line
of defense. After normalization, you have four tables involved, each holding
part of the data. To understand your responsibilities, look at the application as
having three distinct, but related components. These components are the client
running on end-user computers, a middle component running on an applica-
tion server, and a server component on the database server.
The client component performs initial validation before sending the data
to the middle component and receives results or error information back from
the middle component. You need to provide data requirements such as the
types of data needed by the database and any limits such as field length or
maximum and minimum values.
The middle component accepts data from the client and uses it to pass
commands to the database server. In this example, assume that you’ve cre-
ated user stored procedures on the server to perform the data entry, one pro-
cedure for each of the four tables. The middle component connects to the
database server and calls these procedures, passing the data from the client
as input parameters. It will receive back any response, such as possible errors,
from the database server. As you get closer to the server, your responsibili-
ties increase. You probably need to provide guidelines for connecting to the
database server, connection parameters, the procedure names, and procedure
syntax which is probably limited to the order in which you must pass the
input parameters. You may also need to provide assistance and guidelines
relating to decoding and responding to server errors.
Continued
382 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

The server component is primarily the application data but also includes
other database objects you create to support the application. The responsibili-
ties at this level fall almost exclusively on you and include providing an appro-
priate data design and database tables. You’ll design, create, and (hopefully)
document the procedures used for data entry. You’ll also configure other
requirements such as primary key constraints, foreign key constraints used to
relate the four tables, and constraints enforcing value limits.

SELF-CHECK
• What does the term mutual authentication refer to?
• When do you need to use SQL Native Client?
• How does a multitier database application design differ from a
client/server database application design?

11.2 Managing Access Control

An important issue that we have not yet addressed is security. Different DBMSs have
different ways of managing security and data access, most of them based on login
names and passwords to prove the identity of security principals. A security prin-
cipal is an entity, a server object in this case, that can be identified through a process
known as authentication, The security principal sets the connection’s security con-
text, the default security base for the connection determining default permissions.
Authentication is the process by which the principal is identified and allowed access.
Many management systems, including SQL Server, take a multitiered approach
to security, with server access managed separately from database access. Access
is based on two security objects: logins and users. As a brief introduction, logins
are used to manage server-level security and users are used to manage database-
level security. Some manufacturers have a single-tiered security structure that
does not make this distinction and uses the terms interchangeably.
In a two-tier security system like the one used by SQL Server, logins typically
have the following in common across manufacturers:

▲ Login name
▲ Password
▲ Default database
▲ Server-level permissions
 11.2.1 CONTROLLING SERVER ACCESS 383

Because validation is based on the login, two-tier systems typically do not

associate passwords with users. Common features of users typically include:

▲ User name
▲ Associated login
▲ Database access permissions
▲ Object-level permissions

It’s common to have several data users associated with a single login, one
user for each database to which you want to give the login access. Be careful to
create only those logins and users you actually need in order to help minimize
the possibility of unauthorized access.
In a single-tier system, you have one account acting as the security principal
for both server and database access. In this type of system, the account will have
an associated password, server-level permissions, and database-level permissions,
including permissions assigned at the database object level.
Because of the differences you will find between the various manufactur-
ers’ solutions to security requirements, we will focus on SQL Server 2005 as
a representative example of one manufacturer’s choices. Throughout this dis-
cussion, keep in mind that SQL Server security is based on both logins and
users, and that logins and users are distinctly different security objects with
different security management roles.

11.2.1 Controlling Server Access

One of the decisions you make during SQL Server installation is the authenti-
cation type, choosing either Windows authentication (with Windows user
accounts used for authentication) or mixed authentication (supporting SQL
Server authentication and Windows authentication). SQL Server authentication
is based on logins and passwords stored with the database server and authenti-
cated by the database server. What you are choosing is the type of logins that
your server will support. You can change your selection at any time through the
server properties, as shown in Figure 11-7.
Windows authentication support is not unique to SQL Server. Windows
authentication integrates database server security (or other server application
security) with Windows and Active Directory domain security. Active Directory
is a Microsoft directory service that supports a full-featured network security envi-
ronment organized around security boundaries known as domains. Login to the
server is granted to Windows and domain user accounts and groups. Authoriza-
tion is based on the user account you used when you logged in at your computer.
In order to log in at the database server, either your Windows user account must
be authorized as a login account or the account must belong to a Windows group
that is authorized as a login account. When creating the account, you specify the
384 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

Figure 11-7

Authentication options.

account name, default database, and server access permissions. User accounts,
passwords, and group membership are managed through Windows and Active
Directory management utilities.
In SQL Server, members of the Administrators group as the default admin-
istrator account are granted login privileges during installation. Any additional
login accounts must be configured manually. When you attempt to connect
using Windows authentication, the user is passed to Windows for authentica-
tion and the status (whether or not you are authenticated as a valid user) and
group membership are passed back to SQL Server.
If you choose mixed authentication, you can also create SQL Server logins.
These are managed separately from Windows, with the accounts and passwords
authenticated by the database server. The only SQL Server login account cre-
ated by default is the sa account, which is a system administrator account with
 11.2.1 CONTROLLING SERVER ACCESS 385

Figure 11-8

Management Studio Logins folder.

unlimited access permissions to the server and its databases. It should go with-
out saying that you want to protect access to the sa account with a strong pass-
word, one that includes mixed letters, numbers, and characters that would be
difficult to guess.
SQL Server provides command-line commands for login management, as well
as lets you create, manage, and delete logins through the SQL Server Management
Studio Logins folder, shown in Figure 11-8.
What you can do after logging in depends on the permissions assigned to
your login account. SQL Server primarily assigns permissions through roles,
which are roughly analogous to groups and are assigned different rights and
permissions. Other DBMSs use a similar management concept, but use different
terms to refer to groups of logins. You assign permissions to a login by grant-
ing the login membership in the role containing the permissions you want
that login to have. There is also a limited set of permissions that can be man-
aged explicitly by user and server object. Most DBMSs have similar methods
for managing permissions. As you will see later in this chapter, database per-
missions are handled in a similar manner, but with users instead of logins as
the security principal.
386 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

11.2.2 Controlling Database Access

In a multitiered system, database access is managed through database users. Each
database’s users are managed separately from those associated with other data-
bases. That means that after logging in you might have access to some databases
on the server, but not others. SQL Server also includes a Guest account that
allows for anonymous access. The Guest account is disabled by default and
Microsoft recommends that you leave the account disabled unless you have a
specific need for supporting anonymous access.
SQL Server lets you manage users through command-line commands and
the SQL Server Management Studio. Each database has a Users folder like the
one shown in Figure 11-9, for user management. When you create a user you
will typically associate it with a login, though SQL Server does support other
creation options. These additional options are beyond the scope of this chapter,
but are explained in SQL Server’s online documentation.
The recommended method for managing permissions is again through roles,
this time groups of users rather than logins, which have assigned permissions. In
SQL Server, all database users are members of the Public role for that database,
so any permissions you want to assign everyone would be given to this role.

Figure 11-9

Database Users folder.

 11.2.3 UNDERSTANDING THE CONNECTION PROCESS 387

You can also manage permissions through explicit assignments to individual users,
but this is discouraged because of the added management overhead involved in
handling permissions at that level. Permission management is discussed in more
detail later in this chapter.

11.2.3 Understanding the Connection Process

Now that you have an understanding of the security objects involved, we can take
a closer look at the connection process from the context of SQL Server. The process
for most other high-level DBMS products is similar. We’ll start with the connec-
tion dialog box, only this time we’ll look at advanced connection properties.
In Figure 11-10, you’re logging in to the database engine, the database server,
using Windows authentication. This is also referred to as connecting with inte-
grated security, referring to SQL Server security integrated with Windows secu-
rity, or a trusted connection, meaning that the user is trusted to connect to SQL
Server. If you choose SQL Server authentication, you must provide a valid SQL
Server login name and password.
The Connection Properties tab in the Connect to Server dialog box is shown
in Figure 11-11. Here, you can specify the database for the connection, over-
riding the login’s default database. You can specify network communication
parameters, in this case the network protocol to use for communication and the
network packet size. The packet size controls how much data is sent at a time.
Additional connection properties let you set the connection and command exe-
cution time-outs, with a value of 0 used for no time-out, meaning that the client
will wait indefinitely for the server’s response.
When you connect, the login criteria are either passed to Windows for
authentication or authenticated by SQL Server. The connection to the server is
established and a process ID value assigned for the connection. The login’s
default database is set as the connection’s current database, unless a different
database is specified.
When connecting with a connection that opens a command-line prompt, like
the Sqlcmd command, connection parameters are passed as command options.
For example, the following command line connects to a server named Datadev
using the login sa, a password of P*ssword, and sets GeneralHardware as the
current database:
sqlcmd -sDatadev -Usa -PP*ssword -dGeneralHardware

Command options are case-sensitive, so you have to be careful when typing

the command. For example, the capital –U option is used to specify the login,
but the lower case -u option specifies the command to output Unicode charac-
ters instead of ASCII characters.
If you wanted to connect as a trusted connection, you would use the following:
sqlcmd -sDatadev -E -dGeneralHardware
388 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

Figure 11-10

The Login tab in the Connect to Server dialog box.

Notice that when connecting as a trusted connection you don’t need a pass-
word. SQL Server 2005 also supports other commands that open a command-
line interface, but Sqlcmd is the only one that supports SQL Server 2005-specific
features. All of these commands have the same potential shortcoming though,
in that passwords are passed in clear text. That makes it easy for someone to
 11.2.3 UNDERSTANDING THE CONNECTION PROCESS 389

Figure 11-11

The Connection Properties tab in the Connect to Server dialog box.

intercept them or, if run from a batch, read the passwords from the batch file.
The process for establishing the connection is the same as discussed earlier for
the connection dialog box.
The same connection information is needed when using a data API to connect
to a database server from an application. For example, Microsoft Visual Studio
390 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

supports a SQL Client command library based on a SQL Server-specific

OLE DB provider. The command library contains a set of objects built around the
OLE DB provider, making the functionality of the provider API available for
easier use to the programmer. Because the command library is based on a SQL
Server-specific version of the provider, it is optimized for working with SQL
Server and supports SQL Server-specific features and functionality.
An object known as a SqlConnection object is used to connect to the server.
When connecting, the application must pass a connection string, which specifies
the server, login criteria, initial database, and, if you want, connection options.
The connection can be established as a trusted connection or using SQL Server
authentication, once again passing the password in clear text. As before, the con-
nection process is the same. Once opened, the connection remains opened unless
closed by the application, you exit the application, or the connection is closed by
the server by killing its process ID.
The Activity Monitor in Figure 11-12 shows active connections as
processes. Notice not only that there are several connections active, but that
various connection methods are used. Process IDs 56 and 59 are both con-
nections established through SQL Server Management Studio. Process IDs 57
and 58 are both Sqlcmd connections. Process ID 60 is a connection made using
the .Net SqlClient Data Provider, a connection made from a .NET Framework
application.

Figure 11-12

Activity Monitor.
 11.2.3 UNDERSTANDING THE CONNECTION PROCESS 391

FOR EXAMPLE
Implementing SQL Server Authentication
Microsoft recommends using Windows authentication with SQL Server
whenever possible. From an administration standpoint, it’s typically easier
to set up and manage. From a database administrator’s standpoint, it means
you get to pass part of the management duties off to a network adminis-
trator. All this brings us to the question, why ever use SQL Server authen-
tication? The answer, quite simply, is that it depends.
Like so many other design decisions, you have to consider your network
environment and application requirements as a whole when deciding on an
authentication method. If all of the database users are part of the same net-
work, then Windows authentication probably is the only authentication method
that you need. However, there are other possibilities that must be considered.
The biggest advantage to Windows authentication is also its biggest
weakness, that users are authenticated based on the currently logged on user.
This assumes that the client computer is running some version of Windows
and that it is part of your network. These aren’t always good assumptions.
Many established networks, and even some newer networks, are het-
erogeneous network environments supporting a mix of operating systems.
That means you have computers running operating systems other than Win-
dows and possibly not fully compatible with a Windows networking envi-
ronment. This is especially true if you are migrating from a legacy database
to SQL Server. Those unsupported clients may still need access to the data
hosted on the SQL Server database, which often means providing access
through SQL Server authentication.
In a world where electronic communication is often the key to a suc-
cessful business and where an immeasurable amount of buying and selling
occurs across the Internet, some clients who need access to your data aren’t
necessarily members of your network, nor do you want them to be, even if
they’re accessing your servers. A concern in this interconnected environment
is the potential theft or destruction of data. Companies spend a lot of time,
effort, and money isolating their networks from the internet. Though some
exposure is often necessary, the less exposure, the better.
Consider a situation where you’re deploying Web servers running an e-
commerce application so you can sell on the Internet. The Web servers need
access to the data stored on your network database servers, but you don’t
want to expose anything more about your internal network than absolutely
necessary. Because of this, the Web servers are not members of your Active
Directory domain, but they still need access to the data. In many cases, the
easiest way to configure that access is to configure the database servers to
support SQL Server authentication.
Continued
392 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

One final point on that last example: you will rarely, if ever, want to directly
expose your database servers (and data) to the internet. That means burying
the servers, along with the rest of the network, behind a firewall, and maybe
even behind multiple layers of firewalls. Then, you configure the firewalls to
support the minimum possible amount of traffic into and out of the network.
One trick that some network and database administrators use is to configure
SQL Server, which is inside the firewall, and its clients outside of the firewall
so that they use nonstandard configuration settings. This makes it harder for
someone to slip in through the hole you’ve opened for that purpose.

SELF-CHECK
• Are the terms login and user interchangeable in a multitier access
configuration?
• When using SQL Server configured for Windows authentication,
how do you create and manage users and passwords?
• Are database users managed separately for each database?
• When connecting to a database server using a data API, what does
the connection string specify?
• Does SQL Server authentication give you a way of configuring
connectivity for non-Windows client computers?
• Can you monitor active connections to a SQL Server database
through SQL Server Management Studio?

Activity Monitor provides useful information about connections, such as the

login name used to connect, when the connection was made, the current database,
active command (if any), the client’s network address, and information about
blocked and blocking processes. The client network address can be helpful when
trying to identify a database client or troubleshoot a connection problem. Auditing
can also be helpful. If you enable auditing on the server, you create a record of who
logs into the server, when, and from what client.

11.3 Protecting Your Data

Protecting data is a broad subject. It includes wide-ranging issues relating to data
access, data security, and data integrity. A detailed discussion of data protection
issues and methods for protecting your data is beyond the scope of this chapter.
 11.3.1 IMPLEMENTING DATA PERMISSIONS 393

Instead, we’ll discuss a few key topics relating to data. We’re focusing on two
areas: securing data against unauthorized access and protecting data against loss.
You’ve already learned something about access security and a little about
permission management, at least management through roles on SQL Server.
Why is this important when learning about databases and database design?
You might think that security is a more advanced topic, as aspects of it are, but
security concerns must be considered during database design and implementa-
tion. Basic security needs directly impact database design and database design
impacts how you can meet security needs.
One reason for concern about data security is simple: it’s your data, and you
want to protect it. Data loss or corruption could interfere with business opera-
tions. Errors resulting from corrupted data and the time and effort required to
correct the data result in real-world costs to your business. Less obvious, but just
as damaging, is the possibility that you could lose credibility with your customers.
There are also potential legal concerns about data security. If your database
contains sensitive data, such as personal identifying information (PII), credit card
numbers, medical records, and so forth, you may be required by law to protect
that data. Accidental or malicious disclosure of the data could result in fines and
other penalties. You could also be found responsible for collateral problems. For
example, if data stolen from your database is used for identity theft, you could
be held at least partially responsible for the results of that theft if it is found that
you didn’t do everything you could to protect the data.
Your legal responsibilities relating to security vary with your geographic loca-
tion, the industry in which your business operates, and the type of data involved.
If you do maintain sensitive data in your database, it is well worth investigating
the legal requirements to protect that data, and the actions you are required to
take by law if you discover that security has been compromised, such as noti-
fying the persons to whom the data relates.

11.3.1 Implementing Data Permissions

Most PC-based DBMSs are designed to give you granular control over database
security. You can control what database users can access, down to specific access
permissions. This means you can control security for the database and individ-
ual database objects, such as:

▲ Tables
▲ Views
▲ Functions
▲ Stored procedures
▲ Users
▲ Roles
394 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

The complete list of securables, the server and database objects over which
you have control of permissions, depends on the DBMS and the types of data-
base objects it supports. The types of permissions depend on the type of object.
For example, at the database level, you can control whether or not a user can
manage database properties or create, modify, and delete database objects. With
tables, you can determine if a user is limited to retrieving data from a table or
if the user can also insert and modify table data.
The detail of control varies by DBMS. The requirements vary by database
and by user. Even with all of these possibilities, there are some general guide-
lines about security that you should keep in mind in all instances, including:

▲ Minimize the number of objects managed.

▲ Grant the least possible permissions.
▲ Audit changes whenever possible.

Let’s take a closer look at these guidelines.

Minimizing Managed Objects

The greater the number of objects that you are managing, the greater the chance
that you will lose track of permission assignments and make mistakes. Let’s start
with database users. While it is possible to manage permissions individually for
each user, most DBMSs let you organize users into groups or roles. The preferred
management method is to assign permissions to the group or role, and then con-
trol user permission by controlling the user’s membership to these groups of
users. You need to change a user’s permissions? Instead of having to change the
assignments made to the user, you simply change the user’s memberships.
Let’s look at how SQL Server handles this. Each database has a set of pre-
defined roles. If the permissions you need are granted through one of these roles,
simply add the user as a role member and the permissions are passed through
to the user. Any permissions you want to grant to all users you simply grant to
the Public role because all users are and must remain members of this role. A
user can belong to any number of roles.
If you need custom permissions, SQL Server lets you create custom roles. Take
a look at Figure 11-13. There are three custom roles. We’re going to keep the per-
missions in general terms. The Managers role assigns permission to view and mod-
ify the CUSTOMER, CUSTOMEREMPLOYEE, and SALESPERSON tables. The
Sales role grants permission to view CUSTOMER and modify ORDERHEAD and
ORDERDETAIL. The SalesManagers role can view and modify CUSTOMER,
ODERHEAD, ORDERDETAIL, and SALES. Sam is a member of both Managers
and SalesManagers, so he can view and modify any of the tables listed in either
role. If you want to take away his permissions to view and modify ORDERHEAD,
ORDERDETAIL, and SALES, you would remove him from the SalesManager role.
 11.3.1 IMPLEMENTING DATA PERMISSIONS 395

Figure 11-13

Managers can view and modify:

CUSTOMER
CUSTOMEREMPLOYEE
SALESPERSON

Sam
Alice
George

SalesManagers can view and modify:

CUSTOMER
ORDERHEAD
ORDERDETAIL
SALES

Sam
Ed
Marta

Sales can view:

CUSTOMER
Sales can modify:
ORDERHEAD
ORDERDETAIL

Marta
Jack
Andy

Sample roles.

Notice that Marta is a member of the Sales and SalesManagers roles. The
permissions granted through roles are additive, so that means she can view and
modify CUSTOMER, ORDERHEAD, ORDERDETAIL, and SALES. She would
have the same permission if she belonged to SalesManagers only.
396 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

Not only can you allow access, you can block access by explicitly denying
permissions to a user or role. This overrides any permissions allowed. The use
of denied permissions should be limited because they can make it difficult to
identify and correct access problems. When possible, simply do not allow access
as a way of preventing access to a resource.
When setting object permissions, you can set the permissions by individual
object or by object type. Whenever possible, keep assignments as general as pos-
sible. For example, if a role needs to be able to view the contents of all tables,
assign the permission through the type (table) rather than individually for each
table. SQL Server 2005 also organizes objects as belonging to an organizational
schema. Each object belongs to one and only one schema. However, a schema
can contain any number of objects. You have the option of assigning permissions
at the schema level and having the permissions apply to all objects contained in
that schema.

Minimizing Permissions
This guideline’s relatively easy to understand. Don’t give users a greater level of
permission than they need to do their jobs. Users who need to only view data
should be allowed to run SELECT statements, and only SELECT statements,
against data sources. Data entry personnel will need to be able to insert, and
possibly modify, as well as view data.
You need to identify database users and their access permission requirements
during the design phase. Use this to make permission assignments during imple-
mentation. If you don’t give the users, or applications, the permission they need
you will find out almost immediately. If you give them more permission than
they need, it’s likely that someone will eventually figure that out. You, however,
might not find out until after the user has done damage to the data.

Auditing Changes
It’s a good idea to log changes made to users and permissions through auditing.
This gives you a trail to follow should you have problems in the future. It also gives
you a way of finding out if someone is granting permissions without authorization.
Consider this possibility. A worker in the warehouse slips items out the back
without anyone knowing and sells them. In order to hide this activity, the worker
needs to be able to directly change inventory quantities so the thefts are less
likely to be noticed during a physical inventory. The worker finds an administrator
willing to work with him or her for a percentage of the profits. The administrator,
looking to cover his or her own tracks, gives the worker permission to make the
changes. The administrator is trying to keep as far out of the direct loop as pos-
sible. If you are auditing permission changes, you’re more likely to discover the
scheme through the permission change, or at least discover it more quickly, than
through the unexplained changes in inventory quantities.
 11.3.4 UNDERSTANDING RAID CONFIGURATIONS 397

11.3.2 Minimizing Table Access

Some database administrators will tell you that their jobs would be a lot easier if
they didn’t have to let the users into the database. Unfortunately, that’s not real-
istic, but it’s not without a grain of truth. Each access point you open into the
database is a potential security hole. The greater the access, the greater the risk.
You can’t lock the users out of the database, but you can isolate them from
the data tables. You don’t have to give your users access rights to the data tables.
Instead, you can create views and user defined functions (UDFs) to support user
access requirements and not allow permissions to the tables themselves. It may
seem like a minor point, but the key is not granting direct access to the tables
rather than denying access to the tables. Blocking table access by explicitly deny-
ing permissions can have unexpected consequences and can prevent users from
getting to the data they need.
Most access requirements and, likely, many of your data modification
requirements can be met through views. UDFs are an option when views don’t
quite meet your needs. You can design UDFs to let users pass parameters that
can in turn be used as selection or filtering criteria.

11.3.3 Keeping Data Safe

You have two fundamental goals related to protecting database data. One is keep-
ing the data safe. The other is having a way to recover the data in case of prob-
lems. The first is a key part of many database designs, but the second is critical
to all database systems.
The most common method for keeping data safe is to use fault-tolerant stor-
age. Fault-tolerant storage means that your data is protected against loss in case
of a disk failure. Most database service manufacturers recommend keeping data
files on fault-tolerant RAID (redundant array of inexpensive, or independent, disks)
subsystems that support variations of either disk mirroring or striping with parity.
You provide a means of recovery through backups. Data backups should
never be considered an option, but must be included as a necessary part of any
database design.
Protecting your data includes protecting the hardware platform on which it
is hosted. For instance, unexpected power outages that shut off the computer
without following proper shutdown procedures, can result in data errors and
inconsistencies. Hardware failures can sometimes cause data corruption. That is
one of the reasons why hardware platform design and selection is considered an
important part of database system design.

11.3.4 Understanding RAID Configurations

Windows Server operating systems support RAID configurations imple-
mented through software. You can also buy hardware-based RAID disk subsystems.
398 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

Figure 11-14

Disk 0

Disk 1

Disk mirroring.

Hardware RAID is more expensive than configuring RAID through the oper-
ating system, but can provide better disk read and write performance. Hard-
ware RAID systems, depending on their design, can either connect as a local
hard disk or can be accessed as network storage through a high-speed, high-
bandwidth network connection.

Disk Mirroring
Figure 11-14 shows two hard disks configured for disk mirroring. Disk 0 and
Disk 1 contain the same data. During each write, the same data is written to
Disk 0 and Disk 1. If either hard disk fails, you still have a full set of the data
on the other hard disk. Write performance can suffer slightly because of the
duplicate writes, but read performance improves because the configuration sup-
ports split reads, reading from either hard disk.
A variation of disk mirroring is disk duplexing, which uses hard disks con-
nected to different disk controllers. In this configuration, you are protected
against failure of either hard disk or disk controller.

Disk Striping with Parity

Figure 11-15 shows three hard disks configured for disk striping with parity,
three being the minimum number of drives required for this configuration. The
maximum number of disks varies depending on whether you are using hard-
ware or software RAID and, for software RAID configurations, the operating sys-

Figure 11-15

Disk 0

Disk 1

Disk 2

Disk striping with parity.

 11.3.4 UNDERSTANDING RAID CONFIGURATIONS 399

tem. In this configuration data is spread across the hard disks along with parity
information. Because read and write operations split across multiple drives, you
will typically see a performance improvement in both, though some of this
improvement is lost in software configurations because of the overhead required
to generate parity information. This isn’t a problem with hardware RAID systems.
If any one hard disk is lost, the parity information is used to reg enerate the
missing data. If more than one hard disk is lost, then the data is lost. In a soft-
ware RAID configuration, read performance falls off sharply when one of the
hard disks fails. Hardware-based systems don’t suffer from this performance loss
because the hardware is optimized for data recovery.

Using Backup Servers

Some management systems take data protection one step further with the option
of having backup, standby, or mirrored servers. The methods supported by dif-
ferent manufacturers vary widely, with some manufacturers supporting multiple
mirroring solutions. The basic idea is the same in each configuration: you have
a complete copy of the server (software and data) standing by in case of failure,
as shown in Figure 11-16.
Variations include options for both manual and automatic failover. With
automatic failover, the backup server takes over automatically without any inter-
vention. With manual failover, as the name implies, administrator intervention
is required to complete the changeover between the servers. Some configurations

Figure 11-16

Client computers

Updates

Primary Backup
server server

Sample backup server configuration.

400 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

include support for duplicate live servers so that operations can be split between
the servers, improving performance.
Why not use server mirroring all the time? After all, it protects against a wider
range of potential problems. There are two potential problems with server mirror-
ing. The first is that not all DBMSs support a backup server or failover option. The
other is that these solutions are relatively expensive, requiring duplicate hardware
and, in many configurations, multiple software licenses (one for each server).
If the solutions are so expensive, what’s the justification for using them?
Backup servers, especially configurations that provide for automatic failover, give
you a way of designing a database system with a guarantee of near-zero down
time. Imagine, for a moment, a database system that supports a stock broker-
age. Clients need the ability to post trades and have them recorded and executed
immediately any time, day or night. Any outage, no matter how brief, means
delayed or lost trades. Not only does this mean lost revenue, it would probably
mean losing any customers that were affected. If word gets out, it could means
losing even more customers, and possibly your business.

11.3.5 Using Data Backups

The surest way to recover from a failure is to have reliable backups. Data back-
ups let you recover from the most catastrophic failures, even the loss of the entire
server. Backup features vary by DBMS, but in every case, regular backups are a
critical requirement, not an option.
Backup design must be part of your overall database design solution. You
should be ready to implement your backup plan as you implement the database.
You can judge how complete your backup plan is by whether or not it answers
four key questions: “what,” “when,” “where,” and “how.” “Who” would also be
a question, except that the “who” ultimately falls on the database administrator,
who either runs the backups, or makes sure that they are run on a regular basis.

Answering the “What” of Backups

What do you back up? That’s the easiest question. You back up everything at
least once. You need to have a backup copy of all of your data, including lookup
and reference data that doesn’t change, to facilitate recovery in case of data loss.
The more critical the data is to your business, the more important that it be
backed up, and all data is important. If not, then why is it taking up space on
your server? Of course, more volatile data needs to be backed up more fre-
quently, but make sure you have a copy of everything.
Everything literally means everything, including database metadata. The need
to back up production data is easy to see, but that’s not the only data in your
database. If your DBMS includes system databases that store information about
databases and their contents, you need to back these up also. The same is true
of the data dictionary, if maintained as a separate component in your DBMS.
 11.3.5 USING DATA BACKUPS 401

Answering the “When” of Backups

Answering the “when” is a little more difficult. The easy answer is that you need
to back up the data after it changes. Configurations that constantly back up the
production databases throughout the day are possible, but are expensive and
often difficult to implement.
The important question here is, “How much data can you afford to reenter
after a failure?” The answer tells you the maximum interval between backups.
For some companies, once a day is often enough. For others, you might need
to run backups at a much shorter interval, such as once an hour. The potential
impact on other operations can influence your decision, possibly forcing you to
run backups during off-peak times. Scheduling can be a definite problem if your
DBMS makes the database unavailable during backups. However, most current
management systems, including SQL Server, allow user access and support most
database operations while a backup is running.
Consider the earlier example of a stock brokerage. Data changes rapidly in
this type of environment. If data is lost, it can be difficult (if not impossible) to
accurately repost or re-create the data. In this environment you need to back up
the data as often as possible, but with minimal impact to database operations.
One way of doing this is to run backups that back up large amounts of data
infrequently, probably no more than once a week. You would then supplement
this by backing up changes only. These could run as often as every minute, back-
ing up just the changes that were committed during that period.
Backup frequency, as well as the amount of overhead you can allow for back-
ups, will also help determine the “How” part of the question.

Answering the “How” of Backups

With that lead-in, let’s go ahead and talk about “how” before we talk about “where.”
Most database systems support multiple backup options. All systems include some
method for a full backup of all database data. This can be through a special backup
utility, or in some cases, can be done by backing up the database and object files
through the operating system. Some systems require you to back up the entire data-
base when you run a full backup, but others let you back up the full content of sep-
arate database files individually. It is strongly recommended that you run a periodic
full backup as a base for recovery with most companies running one at least once
a week. Most manufacturers recommend an interval of no longer than once a month.
Most DBMSs provide an option for backing up changed data only between
full backups so that the backups run faster. These can be run as incremental or
differential backups. An incremental backup backs up only those changes made
since the last backup. This means that the backups take very little time to run,
but when recovering data, you must restore each of the incremental backups in
the order in which they were made. Differential backups back up all changes
since the last base or full backup. That means that each successive differential
402 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

backup takes longer to run, but after restoring the base backup, you only need
to restore from the most recent differential backup.
DBMSs that use a transaction log for tracking changes to the backup support
transaction log backups. When you back up the transaction log, you back up the
inactive portion of the log only. That means that you back up only those transac-
tions that have been completed, either committed or rolled back. The inactive por-
tion is then deleted, freeing up the space and helping to keep the transaction log
a manageable size. Because of their small size and because they usually run quickly
and with minimal interference to user operations, transaction log backups are typ-
ically used to support backup plans that require frequent (such as hourly) back-
ups. During recovery, you first restore the base data and any change (incremental
and differential) backups. Then, you restore all transaction log backups, starting at
that point, in the order in which they were taken.
Usually, if your DBMS supports multiple backup options, it also lets you mix
and match those options to meet your needs. Let’s say that General Hardware
Supply, a fictitious company, determines that they can run backups after hours
only. This means running backups between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Monday
through Saturday and any time on Sunday. Because there are other automated
operations occurring at night, they want the backups run during the week to
run as quickly as possible. They also want a full backup to run at least once a
week. You could meet this requirement by configuring the backups to run auto-
matically, scheduling a full backup to run on Sunday and incremental backups
to run each of the remaining evenings.
Looking back at the brokerage example again, you would run infrequent full
backups, no more than once a week and possibly once a month or less. If you
were to cut full backups back to once a month, you would probably want to
run differential or incremental backups at least once a week, and more often if
your schedule and server activity allows. For the very frequent backups, such as
those that run as often as every minute, you would probably use transaction log
backups. Where this solution becomes a problem is in recovery after a failure.
You could find yourself having to recover from the full backup, the most recent
differential backup, and potentially thousands of transaction log backups. This
is one situation where you might strongly consider the added expensive of a
duplicate server as an appropriate investment.

Answering the “Where” of Backups

Now, to our last question. “Where” refers to the backup destination, with most
backups running to one of two places: to a shared network drive or to remov-
able media. Let’s look at each of these options.
Figure 11-17 illustrates one option for backing up to a shared network drive.
The backup runs on the database server and is written to a shared folder on another
computer, typically a secure file server dedicated to this purpose somewhere on the
network.
 11.3.5 USING DATA BACKUPS 403

Figure 11-17

Database Server File Server

Backup Data

Shared network destination.

One of the biggest advantages of this method is its ease of use. Backups can
run fully automated, as long as the network remains available and the destina-
tion server doesn’t run out of space. Backups can run very fast, depending on
your network bandwidth. It also leaves the data readily available for recovery
should there be a problem. Some companies, after moving most of their pro-
duction data to PC-based platforms now use some of the extra storage space on
mainframe or minicomputers as a backup destination.
The disadvantage is that the destination computer is a potential point of fail-
ure. Some events, such as fire or flood, could take out both the database server and
the backup file server unless they are kept well separated in different locations.
There is also a potential security concern. You need to ensure that the destination
server is protected against unauthorized access.
The other option used to be more common, backing up to removable
media, which is storage media that can be physically removed from the hard
disk. Most often, this means backing up to some kind of magnetic tape, but can
sometimes include optical media such as DVD. One problem with this method
is that the media capacity is often relatively less than the size of the database,
meaning that you need a backup device with a data carousel, or someone has
to physically change the media. This is also why media selections are usually
limited to magnetic tape or DVD. The storage capacity of diskettes and even
writeable CDs is too small for them to be considered for use except in some very
limited situations requiring selected backup of a subset of the database data. A
data carousel is a backup device that has multiple live media bays, which writes
to several tapes at once, for example, or changes the media for you automati-
cally. Another concern is that magnetic media has a limited lifespan and must
404 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

be replaced after a set number of uses. Magnetic tapes are also susceptible to
magnetic fields that can degrade or even erase the data.
The biggest advantage of using removable media is that is makes it easy to keep
a copy off-site and protected. Companies that use removable media often have mul-
tiple sets, rotating one set off-site on a regular schedule, such as once a week.
You can also combine methods. You might have some data backed up to a
network server and other data backed up to removable media. Another option
is to run most backups to a network location, but periodically back up to remov-
able media to create a copy for off-site storage. Some companies combine the
methods by running all backups to a network server and periodically backing
up the network server to removable media. Because these backups don’t impact
the database in any way, they can be run at a convenient time without worry-
ing about the impact on performance.
Taking a final look at our brokerage example, it’s likely that you would run
all of the backups to a network location because this would be the easiest config-
uration to fully automate. With as many backups as are required, automation
would be a critical concern. Then, as added security, you would back up the server
used as the backup destination on a regular basis. A daily backup schedule would
probably be appropriate, backing up all of the database backup files each time.

11.3.6 Protecting Your Server

One of the ways that database servers optimize performance is by keeping recently
accessed and changed data in memory. Even though servers are designed to recover
after hardware failures, a sudden power loss often means that recent changes are
lost and can result in data inconsistencies. Also, sudden power loss and power fluc-
tuations can cause hardware to act in an unexpected manner. For example, loss of
power might cause the hard disk to perform a random write, corrupting disk data.
The best way of protecting against hardware failures is to insist on high-quality
hardware designed for use as a server, preferably for use specifically as a data-
base server. You also need to ensure that preventative maintenance is performed
on the computer hardware on a regular schedule based on the manufacturer’s
recommendations.
However, just because you select high-quality hardware, that doesn’t mean that
it’s necessarily appropriate for use as a database server. One example is caching disk
controllers. The disk controller is the interface between the computer and the hard
disk drive. A caching control has onboard memory that enables it to cache data
during read and write operations, helping to optimize disk performance. However,
if the disk controller is not designed to be database-aware, the additional cache can
result in data errors if power is lost. Unless the disk controller is designed for use
with your DBMS, it’s recommended that you disable the onboard caching.
The issue of power keeps coming up when discussing possible hardware prob-
lems. The best way of protecting against power problems is to use an uninterruptible
 11.3.6 PROTECTING YOUR SERVER 405

power supply (UPS). A UPS has an internal battery. AC power is used to charge
the battery, and electricity from the battery is then converted back to AC to
power the computer. This isolates the computer from the incoming AC power,
protecting it from power surges and sags (high and low power events). It also
powers the computer is case AC power is lost. Most UPS systems are designed
to work with the operating system to initiate a proper shutdown before its bat-
tery completely discharges, helping prevent data loss or corruption.

FOR EXAMPLE
The Need for Backups
The importance of backups cannot be overemphasized. Good, reliable back-
ups can mean the difference between an annoying interruption and a cata-
strophic and unrecoverable loss. Backups are your best, last line of defense
against problems that threaten your data.
When making your design decisions, keep in mind that recovery after a
hardware or software failure isn’t the only possible use of database backups.
They may also be needed to recover from other possible problems. Consider
this situation. Everyone is gone and you’re working late, cleaning up some
problems that resulted from using some inexperienced temporary employees
to do data entry. You know what you’re doing, so you work directly from a
command line in a query window. A few minutes into your cleanup, you acci-
dentally delete the ORDERS table, six months’ worth of customer orders that
include all of the open orders waiting to be filled and shipped. Rather than
writing up your letter of resignation and leaving quietly through a side door,
you can recover the lost table, and just the lost table, from backups.

SELF-CHECK
• How many hard disks does a disk mirroring configuration require?
• What guideline should you use when assigning user permissions in
SQL Server 2005?
• What is the preferred method for limiting user access to database
tables?
• You want to minimize the time required to run daily backups and
have backups run completely unattended. Which is the best solution?
• What is a benefit of running backups to removable media?
406 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

SUMMARY
This chapter looked at concepts and activities relating to data access and data
access security. The chapter first looked at server connectivity and designing to
meet connectivity requirements. It then looked at security principals, focusing on
a two-tier security system with separate server-level and database-level principals,
including their role in the connection process. Finally, the chapter discussed man-
aging data access through access security and methods for protecting against and
recovering from data loss.

KEY TERMS
Active Directory Mixed authentication
ADO.NET Modem
Authentication Mutual authentication
Automatic failover Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)
Common gateway interface (CGI) OLE DB
Connection Packet size
Connection path Protocol
Data carousel Public
Differential backup Removable media
Disk duplexing Role
Disk mirroring Sa account
Disk striping with parity Securable
Domain Security context
Fault-tolerant storage Security principal
Full backup Split read
Guest SQL Native Client
Hypertext Transfer Protocol SQL Server authentication
(HTTP) Strong password
Instant messaging (IM) Transmission Control Protocol/
Inactive portion Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
Incremental backup Transaction log backup
Integrated security Trusted connection
Login User
Login credentials Virtual private network (VPN)
Manual failover WiFi
Middleware Windows authentication
 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 407

ASSESS YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to evaluate your knowledge of data access
and security.
Measure your learning by comparing pre-test and post-test results.

Summary Questions
1. You are designing a client/server database application that will run on
your local network. The network is a heterogeneous environment that
includes Windows and non-Windows client computers that will require
direct access to the database server. The network is not configured as
an Active Directory domain. How should you configure authentication?
(a) Windows Windows authentication only.
(b) SQL Server authentication only
(c) mixed Windows and SQL Server authentication
(d) none of the above
2. Your company’s programmers are developing a point-of-sale application.
The customer will have the option of choosing from various data platform
options. What is the most appropriate data interface to use in this situation?
(a) ODBC
(b) SQL Native Client
(c) OLE DB for SQL Server
(d) you don’t have enough information to choose
3. During database design and implementation, the database administrator
is directly responsible for which of the following?
(a) client and server communication path
(b) server security principals
(c) application data interface API
(d) All all of the above
4. In a multitier application environment, middleware refers to the special-
ized software used to integrate the various application components. True
or False?
5. You deploy a database server running SQL Server 2005. Which of the
following client configurations would require SQL Native Client?
(a) a multitier application client that needs to access a web application
through a PC browser
(b) a client/server application client that needs to access the server
through a local Windows application that performs data retrieval and
modification
408 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

(c) a client computer used to update data after hours that runs scripts that
call user stored procedures to modify data through a Sqlcmd interface
(d) a client computer that is used by the database administrator to
remotely manage the server
6. You are configuring logins on a database server configured for Windows
authentication. What information do you provide?
(a) account name
(b) password
(c) default database
(d) both a and b
(e) both a and c
7. When using mixed authentication in SQL Server, after creating a SQL
Server login, what must you do to enable access to databases hosted
on the server other than the login’s default database?
(a) configure login access permissions
(b) configure database access permissions
(c) add the login to the Public role
(d) Create create database users associated with the login.
8. What is the biggest potential security concern when using Sqlcmd to
connect to a database with a SQL Server login?
(a) The login name might be compromised.
(b) The password might be compromised.
(c) The server name might be compromised.
(d) The initial database name might be compromised.
9. You run the following to open a connection from a Windows client
computer:
sqlcmd -sDataSrc -E

What will be used as the initial database?

(a) the default database associated with the logged in Windows user
(b) the default database associated with the sa account
(c) DataSrc
(d) there is no way to know from the information provided
10. When connecting to a database server from a Windows client using
integrated security, you create a trusted connection. True or false?
11. Under what circumstance would it be possible to use the terms login
and user interchangeably when discussing database server security?
(a) when the database server is configured to use an integrated security
configuration
 APPLYING THIS CHAPTER 409

(b) when database server security is based on a single-tier security prin-

cipal design
(c) when the server hosts only one user database
(d) when using SQL Server 2005
12. What is the justification for using a fault-tolerant disk subsystem for
server data storage?
(a) to ensure data integrity during transaction processing
(b) to protect against malicious acts
(c) to guard against the failure of a single physical hard disk
(d) to facilitate data recovery after a catastrophic failure
13. You want your database design to facilitate recovery after malicious acts
that destroy data. What action should you take?
(a) Use table constraints to define data integrity requirements.
(b) Run regular backups.
(c) Use RAID storage systems configured for disk mirroring.
(d) Deny user access to base tables.
14. You are designing a database solution that uses SQL Server 2005. The
solution requirements call for all users to have permission to run
SELECT on any database table. What is the best way to configure this?
(a) Grant the permission on each table explicitly to each database user.
(b) Grant the permission on each table to a custom role and add all
database users as role members.
(c) Grant the permission on the table object type to a custom role and
add all database users as role members.
(d) Grant the permission on the table object type to the Public role.
15. How can views be used to enhance database security?
(a) by filtering the columns to which users have access
(b) by filtering the rows to which users have access
(c) by avoiding granting direct access to tables
(d) all of the above

Applying This Chapter

1. You are designing the access requirements for a database application. The
application will use a client/server configuration with the application soft-
ware running individually on each client computer. The network is con-
figured as an Active Directory domain with the database server and all
clients configured as domain members.
410 DATA ACCESS AND SECURITY

(a) Who has responsibility for maintaining the connection path and
physical connection components?
(b) Describe the software requirements on the client side for connectivity.
(c) Explain how security principals for connecting to the database server
should be configured and managed. Include specific requirements
and responsible administrative roles.
(d) Describe the role of database users in this configuration.
(e) You want to keep the configuration for data backup and recovery as
simple as possible and allow for quick recovery after a failure. Full
backups can be run no more than once a week. Periodic backups
should run no more than twice a day. Describe and justify the
configuration including backup types and destinations.
2. You are designing a multi-tier database application that provides its user
interface through a Web application. The Web server connects to the
database server through a separate application server. Clients connect to
the Web server using any current Web browser. The Web server allows
for public access. The SQL Server database server used as the data source
is configured for Windows authentication. The network on which the
database server is deployed is configured as an Active Directory domain
with the database server configured as a domain member.
(a) Except for the database server, identify which computers, if any, must
be domain members. For each computer type, explain why or why not.
(b) Briefly describe how the application server would connect to the
database server.
(c) Summarize the database access permission requirements to support
the application.
3. A database server is deployed in a highly secure environment. Data
access must be tightly controlled. Data must be protected against loss
or accidental disclosure through unauthorized access.
(a) Explain at least two ways your design could allow for off-site storage
of backups.
(b) Describe hard disk configuration options that would meet the data
security requirements.
(c) Assuming that the database server uses a two-tier security system,
briefly compare and contrast the roles of the different security
principals.
YOU TRY IT

Planning a Client/Server Data Environment 3. Develop a plan that minimizes downtime and the
You are planning the database server for a client/server features required for DBMS support. Explain how
database solution. The solution includes two produc- the backup storage requirements will be met.
tion databases and one decision support database, all
running on the same database server host. The data- Planning a Secure Multitier Environment
bases will support multiple client applications, each You are desiging the database solution portion of a mul-
running on the appropriate client machine, as well as titier application. The solution must support both direct
direct access through scripts, procedures, and ad hoc client access through the local network and indirect ac-
queries run from command line interfaces. The data- cess through an application server. There will be two
base server and all clients are members of an Active Di- management clients that need server access only. The
rectory domain. Server and database access must be application server requires encrypted communications
managed separately. with both the database server and its clients. You need
The design should be as easy to maintain as possible to know who has been connected to the database
with minimal database administrator requirements for server, and when, at any time.
managing access and security. Data access require- Backups must be designed to minimize the amount
ments are determined by users’ job requirements. of time required to back up data during the day for
Users often make lateral shifts, changing jobs within backups run between 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., when
the company based on seasonal requirements. the last of these periodic backups are run. An addi-
The design must minimize downtime and ensure that tional backup should run each night at midnight and
you have the server back up and running as soon as a full backup run each weekend. All backups must
possible after a failure. The wording in the requirements run without any operator interaction. The backup sys-
document calls for “near zero downtime” for the data- tem must be set up so that no more than 30 minutes’
base server. A copy of all data must be physically worth of work is at risk at any time and based around
stored in a secure location, specifically a safe deposit full, differential, and transaction log backups. Recov-
box leased for that purpose, with the copy refreshed on ery should not require transaction log backups taken
a weekly basis. At any time, there must be at least one over multiple days. Backups should be immediately
copy at that location. available for recovery.
In planning the client connection requirements, you need
1. Develop a plan to meet the access requirements.
to identify the features that the DBMS must support and
Identify security principals involved for direct ac-
design the server side of the access requirements. Be as
cess to data and software requirements to facili-
specific as possible.
tate connectivity. Compare and contrast how the
1. Plan the data access requirements and how they data access design will vary depending on
will be met, including server features necessary whether the database server supports a one-tier
to meet the specifications. or two-tier security system.
2. Also, develop a plan for managing database ac- 2. Design a backup system that meets all of the
cess security, based on user access require- specified requirements. Describe what backups
ments, that minimizes management overhead. will run, when, and to what destination(s). Com-
Database security can allow for direct access of pare design requirements when using permanent
database tables. or removable storage media.

411
 12
SUPPORTING DATABASE
APPLICATIONS

Starting Point
Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to assess your knowledge of data
application support.
Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

▲ Centralized database support
▲ Distributed database support
▲ Internet-based application support

After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To

▲ Include LAN configuration requirements in database planning
▲ Design two-tier and three-tier data configurations
▲ Design multi-purposed server and consolidated data configurations
▲ Design distributed data configurations.
▲ Identify replication and table partitioning design requirements.
▲ Develop solutions to meet distributed transaction, distributed query, and
distributed management requirements.
▲ Manage Internet performance issues.
▲ Manage Internet availability and scalability issues.
▲ Manage Internet security and privacy issues
 12.1.1 UNDERSTANDING LOCAL AREA NETWORKS (LANS) 413

INTRODUCTION
One of the strengths of PC-based database management systems (DBMSs) is
their flexibility. You can deploy them in various configurations, supporting all
sorts of applications, as part of a small network or to be published on the Inter-
net. This chapter looks at the three most common database configurations for
application support. We start with a look at centralized database configurations
and variations on the traditional client/server model. Then, we’ll look at distrib-
uted database configurations that you might use to support enterprise applica-
tions. We finish with a quick look at issues related to supporting Internet-based
applications.

12.1 Supporting a Centralized Database

When PC-based DBMS products were first introduced they were considered an
option for small or specialty database applications. PC hardware capabilities and
the ability of DBMSs to take advantage of that hardware have grown rapidly over
the years to where PC-based DBMSs are usually the first choice when deploying
mission-critical applications.
One important design decision in many database applications is the number
and placement of database servers. Over the years, two basic arrangements for
locating data hosted in database servers have been developed. One, known as a
client/server database, is for personal computers connected together on a local
area network, and is our current focus. This centralized data environment is a
configuration based on a single, centralized database. The other, known as a dis-
tributed database, is for larger, geographically dispersed computers located on a
wide area network and using multiple physical databases.

12.1.1 Understanding Local Area Networks (LANs)

A local area network (LAN) is an arrangement of personal computers connected
together by communications lines. It is local in the sense that the PCs must be
located fairly close to each other, within a building or within several nearby
buildings. Additional components of the LAN that can be utilized or shared by
the PCs can be other, often more powerful server computers and peripheral
devices such as printers. The PCs on a LAN can certainly operate independently,
but they can also communicate with each other. Finally, a gateway computer
on the LAN can link the LAN and its PCs to other LANs, to one or more main-
frame computers, or to the Internet.
One of the primary justifications for a LAN is the ability to share resources.
One of the most important resources in any business is information. A key part
of nearly any LAN is one or more file servers that provide central file storage
414 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

and let users share data files. Another component that you will commonly see
is a database server.

12.1.2 Understanding Data Configurations

The configuration that first comes to mind when discussing database applications
is the traditional client/server configuration. Data is located on the database server
supporting applications running on the client or, in a multitier application, an
application server. However, this is not the only data configuration you might
encounter, and even in a client/server configuration, you may have data in loca-
tions other than the database server.
In a client/server configuration, there are two computer types involved, the
client and the server. Processing requirements are split between the computers,
and components of the database application are often running on each. Data
flow is easy to track. Say that someone at a client computer wants to query the
database at the server. The query is entered at the client, and the client com-
puter performs the initial keyboard and screen interaction processing, as well as
initial syntax checking of the query. The system then ships the query over the
LAN to the server where the query is actually run against the database. Only the
results are shipped back to the client.
This becomes a two-tier approach when you not only have applications at
the client but also locally stored data, as shown in Figure 12-1. Software has
been developed that makes the location of the data transparent to the user at
the client. In fact, this functionality can be built into your database applications.
In this configuration, the user issues a query at the client, and the software first
checks to see if the required data is on the PC’s own hard drive. If it is, it is
retrieved from the hard drive, and that is the end of the story. If it is not there,
then the software automatically looks for the data on the database server.
This two-tiered model is typically discouraged for several reasons. Data
located on the local hard disk is often difficult to share in an environment likely
implemented to promote data sharing. The data is also more difficult to secure,
maintain, and recover in case of errors. Administration and maintenance falls on
the user and often never gets done. You might use this model as an interim solu-
tion while migrating to a centralized database, but it should not be considered
a long term solution.
In an even more sophisticated three-tier approach, shown in Figure 12-2,
if the software doesn’t find the data on the client PC’s hard drive or on the LAN
server, it can leave the LAN through a gateway computer and look for the data
on, for example, a large, mainframe computer that may be reachable from many
LANs. As with the two-tier approach, this is often considered a transitional con-
figuration. It could also be used as a way of justifying the continued existence
and support of a mainframe computer as a very large, very fast (and very expen-
sive) data store supporting the PC database.
 12.1.2 UNDERSTANDING DATA CONFIGURATIONS 415

Figure 12-1

PC PC

Database
Server

PC
Database

Query
Issued Printer
Here
PC

PC PC

Two-tier data.

How these multiple data sources are handled depends on your DBMS and
client application. Some DBMSs support a flexible data dictionary that can make
the process transparent to the database application. With other DBMSs, includ-
ing SQL Server, the DBMS tracks data hosted in its own databases only. Multi-
tiered data environments like those discussed here are treated as distributed
data environments because of the heterogeneous data sources, even though all
data sources are physically located on the local network.
As is often the case, you must be careful how you use terms relating to data-
base applications and make sure that you understand the context in which they
are used. When discussing a three-tier configuration, you need to specify whether
you are talking about the data locations or the database application configuration.
The same term, three-tier, is sometimes used when discussing a multitiered appli-
cation, referring to the database server, application servers, and client computers
as the three application tiers. The middle tier could involve multiple computers,
such as an application server and a Web server. You can easily have a single-tiered
approach to data storage, with all of the data stored on the database server, sup-
porting a multi-tier (or three-tier) database application.
416 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

Figure 12-2

Database
PC PC

Database
Server/ Mainframe
Gateway Computer

PC
Database

Query
Printer
Issued
Here
PC

PC PC

Three-tier data.

12.1.3 Understanding Server Configurations

There is a potential configuration concern when you look closely at the PC data-
base server in Figure 12-2. Notice that it is identified as a server/gateway, which
means that the computer is serving double duty and running two different server
applications. While this is possible, it must be carefully monitored. SQL Server
is a resource-intensive application, relying heavily on the physical server’s hard
disk(s), memory, and processor(s). Any other server applications running on the
same computer must share those same resources. If there is contention between
the applications for resources, the performance of one, or even both, can suffer.
However, careful planning and ongoing management can overcome these
potential problems. There is often a tendency to “over buy” when purchasing a
database server, getting more hardware than you actually need. This has become
even more common as the cost of computer hardware has dropped, with pro-
cessing power and storage capacity increasing at the same time. If you do deploy
a multi-purposed server, one server running multiple server applications, you need
to monitor resource use by each of the applications and total resource use. You
may reach a point where it becomes necessary to either scale up the hardware plat-
form or scale out, putting the different server applications on different computers.
Another server configuration you might see is having different copies of your
database server, or separate server instances, running on the same computer.
 12.1.4 CONSOLIDATING DATA SOURCES 417

These can be different instances of the same DBMS, or could even be different
DBMSs, such as having SQL Server and My SQL running on the same computer.
Each instance, though running on the same hardware, is treated as a completely
separate database server. Each is managed separately, with separate configura-
tions, and using computer resources separately.
Using separate server instances should almost always be limited to a devel-
opment environment as a way of minimizing hardware when testing different
database servers or different server configuration parameters. However, there are
rare instances when you might use this configuration in a production environ-
ment. For example, you might need multiple database servers that need different
security configurations, but the resources requirements are such that they can
share a hardware platform without interfering with each other. As with running
different server applications, this configuration needs to be carefully monitored.

12.1.4 Consolidating Data Sources

Most database management systems are designed to support multiple user data-
bases. There are usually a specified maximum number of supported databases,
but this is usually large enough not to be a concern, allowing for hundreds,
thousands, or even more databases. The realistic limiting factors are available
disk space and memory. Each database will require a minimum amount of space,
and, even if the database is not currently being used, the DBMS will typically
set aside a portion of its dedicated memory for database support.
It’s common to see a database server hosting multiple databases. It might be
that different databases are required for different divisions or departments within
a company. Your company’s security guidelines may require that sensitive or con-
fidential data be stored on a database separate from other data. When supporting
a decision support system (DSS) based on a data warehouse, you will often keep
the DSS data and the production data on which it is based on the same database
server. As you’ve already learned, the term data warehouse refers to a shared data-
base containing accumulated data that is used to support management decisions.
In a strictly centralized data environment, one where all of an application’s
data resides on a single database, the assumption is that each database is essen-
tially a stand-alone data store supporting its own unique application or set of
applications. At most, you need to support periodic data transfers, such as load-
ing a decision support data warehouse with data from a production database.
However, there is little or no direct interaction between the databases, at least
between the data in the databases, during normal operations.
When you do have interaction between the databases, you move into a dis-
tributed data environment. Because the data is spread across multiple databases,
even though they are located on the same physical server, you have many of the
same data support issues you would have if using distributed database servers
(a multiple server configuration supporting related data).
418 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

FOR EXAMPLE
Data in Transition
You might wonder about the justification for two- and three-tier data when
a centralized environment with a single database and a single server is obvi-
ously easier to manage and maintain. The decision to use a multitiered data
environment is usually one made more out of necessity than out of choice.
It’s easy to think of the transition from PCs hosting their own data, data
stashed away in different applications such as spreadsheets, or from a tra-
ditional mainframe, to a PC-based DBMS as something almost surgical in
nature. One day, you’re operating with all of these different sources and man-
ually compiling the results, and the next, everything is sitting in the data-
base server ready for use. The reality is often very different. The transition
is often more of a gradual migration than a sudden switch.
There are several issues that must be considered and real-world factors
that must be included when migrating to a new data environment. Even
though you are moving data from PCs to the database, the data is contin-
ually changing. It may be necessary to run different systems in parallel until
the changeover is complete. The transition could be made in phases,
putting the most critical data or data needed by the largest number of users
onto the database first and then gradually moving the rest of the data
as time and resources allow.
There are special issues that can arise when dealing with an existing
mainframe or minicomputer. A company’s options are often limited by long-
term lease or service agreements. Maybe when you acquired another com-
pany and its assets, the mainframe contract came along as an unavoidable
part of the deal. You might not need the mainframe as your primary data
source after you’ve extracted the data from it, but you have to keep paying
for it, so you might as well get some use out of it. In other cases there are
practical reasons why you can’t move the data to a PC-based database server.
The transition might be too expensive to make it cost effective, or the
mainframe data is a required source for a proprietary or third-party appli-
cation that runs on the mainframe only. It might be that communication
with customers or clients is mainframe-based and it is either too difficult
to move to a different method or there are licensing, patent, or copyright
issues that prevent it.
The reason really doesn’t matter. The bottom line is that there are often
valid, unavoidable justifications for maintaining data in a two-tier or three-tier
configuration, even if just temporarily “during the migration.” It’s important
to understand, however, that “during the migration” has become a permanent
way of life for some companies.
 12.2.1 UNDERSTANDING DISTRIBUTED DATA 419

SELF-CHECK
• Can a traditional centralized data environment have multiple data-
base servers as long as they are all deployed on the same LAN?
• What does a three-tier data environment include?
• What is a data warehouse used to support?
• What is a multi-purposed server?

12.2 Supporting a Distributed Database

In today’s world of universal dependence on information systems, all sorts of
people need access to a company’s databases. These people include a company’s
own employees, its customers, potential customers, suppliers, and vendors of all
types. It is possible for a company to have all of its databases concentrated at
one mainframe computer site with worldwide access provided by telecommuni-
cations networks. However, even though a centralized system like this can be
advantageous, it poses some problems as well. For example, if the single site
goes down, then everyone is blocked from accessing the company’s database.
Also the communications costs from the many far-flung PCs and terminals to
the central site can be prohibitive.
As an example, we’re going to use a large multinational company with major
sites in Los Angeles, Memphis, New York (corporate headquarters), Paris, and
Tokyo. Let’s say that the company has a transactional relational database that is
actively used by all five sites. There are six tables, named A, B, C, D, E, and F,
and response time regarding queries made to the databases is an important fac-
tor. Figure 12-3 shows a centralized configuration with all of the tables hosted
on the database physically located in New York.
While we are discussing distributed databases and related support issues, we’ll
use this example to see options available to distribute and maintain the data.

12.2.1 Understanding Distributed Data

The reasons for implementing distributed data environments can vary as much
as the companies using those environments to meet their data requirements. The
reasons and justifications for using a distributed data environment, however, usu-
ally come down to one or more of the following (in no particular order):

▲ Reduce costs.
▲ Make the data universally available.
420 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

Figure 12-3

ASIA

• Tokyo EUROPE
ARCTIC
OCEAN
GREENLAND U.K. • Paris
(DEN.)

CANADA AFRICA
A B C
NORTH AMERICA
PACIFIC D E F ATLANTIC
OCEAN • New York OCEAN
Los Angeles • UNITED STATES
• Memphis

Gulf of
MEXICO Mexico
Caribbean
Sea

SOUTH AMERICA

Centrally located data.

▲ Reduce data communication requirements.

▲ Improve performance during data operations.
▲ Keep data physically near its primary consumers.
▲ Have the data owner and primary consumer take some responsibility for
upkeep.

Before distributing the data, or even considering a distributed data environment,

you need to plan how you would divide the data, how it would be maintained,
and the potential impact on data operations. If migrating from a centralized to a
distributed environment, you must think about how the change will affect access
requirements, database applications, security configurations, and any number of
other design considerations. You must accept that the issue is not if these design
characteristics will change in the new environment, but how they will change. A
 12.2.1 UNDERSTANDING DISTRIBUTED DATA 421

Figure 12-4

ASIA

• Tokyo EUROPE
ARCTIC
D E
OCEAN F
GREENLAND U.K. • Paris
(DEN.)

CANADA AFRICA

NORTH AMERICA
PACIFIC A B ATLANTIC
OCEAN • New York OCEAN
Los Angeles • UNITED STATES
C • Memphis

Gulf of
MEXICO Mexico
Caribbean
Sea

SOUTH AMERICA

Distributed databases.

clear understanding will help you balance the costs and drawbacks against the
benefits. Sometimes the best solution is to keep your centralized design and
improve your communication infrastructure rather than changing your data
design.
The simplest solution, in most cases, is to locate the data near its primary con-
sumer. In our example, that means deploying databases and placing the tables
physically near the offices that most frequently use them. Figure 12-4 shows how
you might do this: Tables A and B are located in New York, while Table C is moved
to Memphis, Tables D and E to Tokyo, and Table F to Paris. Let’s take a look at
what this means from a support and management standpoint. With Table F in
Paris, for example, the people there can use it as much as they want without run-
ning up any telecommunications costs. Furthermore, the Paris employees can exer-
cise local autonomy over the data, taking responsibility for its security, backup
and recovery, and concurrency control.
422 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

Is this a workable solution? Possibly, but you don’t know enough about data
needs yet to know definitely. Does this solution have possible drawbacks? Defi-
nitely, including some drawbacks that carry over from the centralized database
and some new ones introduced by the distributed environment.
The main problem that is carried over from the centralized approach is avail-
ability. If New York went down in the original configuration, Table F (as well as
the rest of them) is unavailable. In our new design, if the Paris site goes down,
Table F is equally unavailable to the other sites.
One new problem relates to data access. What if an office issues a query that
joins data from multiple tables? In the dispersed approach, a join might require
tables located at different sites! Though not an insurmountable problem, this
would obviously add some major complexity. Another possible issue is security.
Although you can make the argument that local autonomy is good for issues like
security control, an argument can also be made that security for the overall data-
base can better be handled at a single, central location.
Moving the data to be near its primary consumer is one possible solution,
but is by far not the only solution, nor is it often the best solution. It’s doubt-
ful that any one location will need access to only one database table. How-
ever, you do have several different configuration options available, though
they may be limited somewhat by the functionality and features provided by
your DBMS.
Another possibility is to keep a full copy of the database at every loca-
tion, as shown in Figure 12-5. As you can see, this involves maintaining a
database with all six tables physically located in each office location. An obvi-
ous advantage to this configuration is availability. If a table is replicated at
two or more sites and one of those sites goes down, everyone everywhere else
on the network can still access the table at the other site(s). Telecommunica-
tion requirements to support client access are minimized. Joins are run using
local tables rather than distributed copies, making them easier to manage as
well. Before you create this distribution environment, however, you need to
make a couple of key decisions. You need to determine which copies of the
database will support data updates and how those updates will get distrib-
uted to the other copies. You also need to consider possible problems inher-
ent in this design.
One of the biggest potential concerns with a distributed data design that
duplicates data between locations is disk space. You need sufficient disk space
at each location to support the database copies. Security is another possible con-
cern. If a table is replicated at several sites, it becomes more of a security risk
by the mere fact that there are more copies in more locations and more oppor-
tunities for a dedicated hacker or data thief. Security management overhead,
though possibly (but not necessarily) distributed, increases because there are
more servers and databases to secure.
 12.2.2 UNDERSTANDING REPLICATED DATA 423

Figure 12-5

ASIA
• Tokyo
ARCTIC EUROPE
A B C OCEAN
D E F GREENLAND U.K. • Paris
(DEN.) A B C

D E F

CANADA AFRICA
A B C
A B C NORTH
PACIFIC AMERICA D E F ATLANTIC
OCEAN D E F • New York OCEAN
Los Angeles • UNITED STATES
• Memphis
A B C
MEXICO D E F
Caribbean
Sea

SOUTH AMERICA

Multiple database copies.

Possibly the biggest problem that data replication introduces is that of data
updates and concurrency control. If you allow updates to only one master copy
of the database that contains a consolidated data set, say the copy on New York,
you cut down significantly on the possibility of concurrency errors, but you lose
any benefits relating to telecommunication and improved access any time you
need to make a data update. If you allow updates to all of the databases, the
possibility of concurrency errors increases significantly. With either, you have the
issue of getting the updates made to all of the database copies.

12.2.2 Understanding Replicated Data

An important part of most distributed database environments is replication. This
is the means used by the database server to update multiple destination data-
bases with data from a central source database. The terminology used to describe
424 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

replication concepts, as well as the specifics of how replication is implemented,

varies by manufacturer.
Basically, replication is the process of copying changes from one table to one
or more other tables. The way this is accomplished varies, with different DBMSs
supporting one or more of the following options for replication type:

▲ Snapshot replication: a copy is made of the entire table and written as a

whole to the destination, overwriting any data currently in the table, or
creating the table for initial load of a remote database.
▲ Change replication: also known as merge replication. Changed rows in
the source table are written to the destination, overwriting or inserting
data as appropriate, which can result in update conflicts.
▲ Transactional replication: completed transactions are copied from the
source database’s transaction log to the destination transaction logs,
where they are applied to the database tables.

With some replication configurations, you have a single consolidated data-

base with a full set of all rows. This leaves three options for managing updates.
This design decision is made somewhat independent of the replication type. One
option for managing updates is that changes are made to the consolidated data-
base only, and then distributed out to the other copies. This option has the fewest
issues relating to concurrency, but requires access to the consolidated database
to make changes. The next option is to allow changes at the consolidated copy
and the replicated copies. The copies send their changes to the consolidated data-
base where the changes are consolidated and sent back out to the copies. This
allows for local updates but has a somewhat higher risk of concurrency errors
and requires careful management. The third option allows updates at the con-
solidated database and at any copy, but the copies are able to directly update
each other. This method has the highest risk of concurrency errors and the
longest latency, the time between when the update is made and when it is repli-
cated throughout the system. However, this third method is sometimes the only
workable solution when you have intermittent or unreliable connections between
the database locations.
The final replication design combines the type and update method. For
example, you might have an environment that uses change replication that per-
mits updates at the copies only, consolidating the changes at the consolidated
database. However, it might be more appropriate to permit updates at the copies,
but then allow the copies to use change replication to update each other (espe-
cially if there is no one consolidated master copy). You can also mix and match
methods. For example, you might use snapshot replication once a month to send
fresh copies out to all of the remote locations to ensure consistency with the
source database.
 12.2.3 UNDERSTANDING PARTITIONED DATA 425

Figure 12-6

ASIA

• Tokyo EUROPE
ARCTIC
C OCEAN B F
GREENLAND U.K. • Paris
(DEN.)

CANADA AFRICA
A B C
NORTH AMERICA
PACIFIC D E F ATLANTIC
OCEAN A E
UNITED STATES • New York OCEAN
Los Angeles •
D • Memphis

Gulf of
MEXICO Mexico
Caribbean
Sea

SOUTH AMERICA

Data partitioned by table.

12.2.3 Understanding Partitioned Data

So far, we’ve looked at working with complete tables or the complete database,
but these are not your only configuration options. You could have a situation
where remote locations need to frequently access some, but not all, of the data-
base tables. Using replication to keep the tables updated and manage data
changes, you could have a situation like the one shown in Figure 12-6, with
a consolidated copy of the database in New York, and, in Los Angeles, copies
of Table A and Table E only. That gives users in Los Angeles local access to
those tables. They also have access to the other database tables, but through
remote connections. Because A and E are the tables that users in Los Angeles
most often need to access, communication requirements are reduced while
keeping the storage requirements somewhat less than what is needed for the
whole database.
426 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

Figure 12-7

ASIA
• Tokyo
ARCTIC EUROPE
A F
OCEAN
GREENLAND U.K. • Paris
(DEN.)
B D E

CANADA AFRICA

NORTH AMERICA
PACIFIC A B F ATLANTIC
OCEAN C D
UNITED STATES • New York OCEAN
Los Angeles •
D E • Memphis

Gulf of
MEXICO Mexico
Caribbean
Sea

SOUTH AMERICA

Distributed tables with no consolidated database.

The principle behind making this concept work is flexibility in placing repli-
cated tables where they will do the most good. You want to

▲ Place copies of tables at the sites that use the tables most heavily in
order to minimize telecommunications costs.
▲ Ensure that there are at least two copies of important or frequently used
tables to realize the gains in availability.
▲ Limit the number of copies of any one table to control the security and
concurrency issues.
▲ Avoid any one site becoming a bottleneck.

Though used in Figure 12-6, this configuration doesn’t necessary require a

master or consolidated copy of the database containing all of the tables in any
one location. Another option is shown in Figure 12-7, with tables distributed
 12.2.3 UNDERSTANDING PARTITIONED DATA 427

around the world and no one consolidated database. Some database adminis-
trators don’t feel comfortable with a configuration like this and prefer to have
one central consolidated copy to ensure that all database data is secured and
backed up on a regular basis.
Figure 12-7 shows an arrangement of replicated tables based on the princi-
ples mentioned. There are two copies each of Tables A, B, E, and F, and three
copies of Table D. Apparently, Table C is relatively unimportant or infrequently
used, and it is located solely in Los Angeles.
You can take this partitioning of table data down to an even lower level. Most
manufacturers’ replication schemes support horizontal and vertical data parti-
tioning. With horizontal partitioning, you filter the rows so that a subset of the
available rows is replicated to the remote site. This is used when you want a local
copy of some, but not all, of the rows. With vertical partitioning, you filter the
columns so that only selected columns are replicated. This is typically done as a
security measure, giving the remote locations only the data they need to do their
jobs without generating multiple copies of more sensitive data. You can combine
the two types of partitioning and filter a table both horizontally and vertically.
You can see an example of partitioning, which is sometimes referred to as
table fragmentation, in Figure 12-8. This figure shows the same network we’ve
been using, but with Table G added. Table G might be, for example, the com-
pany’s employee table: the records of the employees who work in a given city
are stored in that city’s computer. G1 is the subset of records of Table G with
the records of the employees who work in Memphis, G2 is the subset of records
for the employees who work in Los Angeles, and so forth. This makes sense
when one considers that most of the query and access activity on a particular
employee’s record will take place at his or her work location.
The drawback of partitioning is that when one of the sites, say the New York
headquarters location, occasionally needs to run an application that requires
accessing the employee records of everyone in the company, it must collect the
records from every one of the five sites. One way to minimize this problem would
be to keep a consolidated copy of Table G with all employee records in New York.

rJ-\ FOR EXAMPLE

Distributed Data
As you can see, there is no one best distributed data configuration. The
design, like any database design solution, must be matched to the company,
its data, and the way it does business. There are some general guidelines that
apply in most situations, such as minimizing the exposure of sensitive data
and keeping data communication requirements to a minimum, but even with
strict adherence to these guidelines the available configurations vary widely.
Continued
428 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

For example, consider the requirements for a nationwide automotive

aftermarket parts retailer. It keeps a consolidated inventory, as well as con-
solidated copies of customer and customer order records in the home office.
It wants to deploy databases at each retail sales location to support local
point-of-sale operations. How might you design a solution to meet their
needs?
Start with a look at the data requirements at each location. What does
each location need for point-of-sale support? Most likely, it needs the local
customers, its own local physical inventory, and copies of its customer
orders. Point-of-sale applications need to respond to query requests and
complete customer orders as quickly as possible, so you would want all of
this information stored on the local database server. What each location
doesn’t need is a full set of inventory and order data for all locations. This
could drastically increase the local storage requirements and the additional
table rows could impact performance.
In this scenario, you also don’t keep a full copy of the customers at each
location. This saves storage space, but isn’t necessarily the best configura-
tion. Customers might buy from more than one store location. The logic to
handle searching for the customer data if it isn’t found locally makes the
application a little more complex. The number of distributed transactions
can also increase because of the distributed customer records, so perfor-
mance could suffer when posting customer orders. However, keeping a full
copy at each location isn’t without its possible problems. The biggest prob-
lem is the possibility of conflicts and concurrency errors when updating
multiple copies of the table and having to reconcile the changes between
the copies. These issues have to be balanced out, and a best compromise
chosen, when designing a distributed database.
This is a situation where you would use horizontally partitioned tables at
each of the sales locations with a master copy of each of the tables located in
the home office. Assuming that each location handles its own ordering and
restocking, you could post all activity relating to the location to the local data-
base. You still have the issue of keeping the consolidated database updated,
but this could be done using either a change-based or transaction-based repli-
cation method. If you restrict changes to the local database only and include
an identifier for the local retail sales location as part of the primary key in
each of the tables, you can minimize the possibility of conflicts during updates.
It’s likely in this situation that you would have tables in the consolidated
database that are not replicated to the remote locations. The sales locations
would likely not need copies of any tables that contain data relating to home
office operational requirements. There are a few more issues you need to
resolve, but we will come back to those later.
 12.2.4 DISTRIBUTED DATA SUPPORT ISSUES 429

Figure 12-8

ASIA
• Tokyo
ARCTIC EUROPE
A F
OCEAN
G5 GREENLAND U.K. • Paris
(DEN.)
B D E

G4

CANADA AFRICA
A B F
C D
NORTH AMERICA
PACIFIC G3 ATLANTIC
OCEAN G2 • New York OCEAN
UNITED STATES
Los Angeles •
D E • Memphis

G1 Gulf of
MEXICO Mexico
Caribbean
Sea

SOUTH AMERICA

Distributed data with partitioned Table G.

12.2.4 Distributed Data Support Issues

The possible issues that can result from a distributed data environment are
more varied and numerous than could possibly be covered in this chapter. The
possibilities vary widely depending on the particular data configuration, the
application configuration (client/server or multitiered), the DBMS used, access
requirements, security requirements, and so on. The closer you look at the
environment, the longer and more varied the list becomes. That doesn’t mean
you have to ignore the subject completely. Some issues apply across the vari-
ous manufacturers’ products and can occur in different configurations. The fol-
lowing discussion focuses on some of the common issues you are most likely
to encounter.
430 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

Managing Transactions and Concurrency

Most production databases act primarily as a transaction processing environment.
This means that issues relating to transactions and concurrency are critical in
any configuration. The configuration does, however, affect the types of issues
you might see.
The simplest example to see and understand is probably a configuration
where you have a master consolidated database and all changes are made to that
database. The concurrency issues, such as lost updates or dirty reads, are the same
as in a centralized environment and addressed in much the same way. The same
is true, at the local database, for changes that are made to a local copy of the data
using local tables only. In this case there is an added issue in that the updates
must also be made to the consolidated database and other replicated copies.
The easiest way to minimize potential conflicts that can arise is to use a
transactional replication design so that changes are made incrementally to the
databases. This helps to ensure that all changes are made, and are made in a
proper order. This isn’t appropriate for all environments, though, because it
requires reliable, relatively high-bandwidth connections between sites. If trans-
actional replication isn’t possible and you are replicating changed rows, the repli-
cation management system has an added responsibility: resolving data conflicts.
When changes are made to the same row at the same time in two different tables,
a conflict that is likely to cause a lost update will result. There is logic designed
into the replication management component of the DBMS that resolves the issue
based on several parameters, such as when the updates were made and which
copy of the database is considered most authoritative, that is, is the “correct”
copy of the data.
What if a transaction involves multiple tables? This can be a problem,
because either all changes to all tables, even those in different locations, must
either be made or rolled back as a group. Because the nature of the data and of
the applications that use it require that all of the data in the replicated tables
worldwide always be consistent, accurate, and up-to-date, a more complex syn-
chronous procedure must be used to process transactions. Although there are
variations on this theme, the basic process for accomplishing this is known as
the two-phase commit, so called because of how the transactions are processed
using a prepare phase and a commit phase. In the prepare phase, the database
gets everything ready for the update. If no errors occur, the commit phase is
entered and the transaction is committed at each database server. The specifics
of how this is implemented vary by manufacturer, but the general process flow
for a successful transaction is similar to the following:

1. The transaction processor starts the prepare phase and locates the data-
bases hosting the affected tables.
2. The changes are written to the database transaction logs.
 12.2.4 DISTRIBUTED DATA SUPPORT ISSUES 431

3. Depending on the transaction isolation settings, the database locks the

affected tables (or individual rows) for update.
4. The databases send messages that they are ready to commit.
5. Transaction process control enters the commit phase and issues a
commit instruction to each affected database.

This process requires well-connected servers, meaning that there is a full-

time, reliable, high-bandwidth connection. If there is a problem anywhere at any
step in the process or if the connection to any involved server is lost, the trans-
action is rolled back on all servers.
Microsoft has a component (separate from SQL Server) that is designed
specifically to manage distributed transactions, called the Microsoft Distributed
Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC). Because it is separate from SQL Server,
MS DTC can manage distributed transactions when using data sources in addi-
tion to SQL Server (in a heterogeneous environment), or even when processing
transactions that don’t include SQL Server as a data source.
When initiating an explicit distributed transaction through SQL Server, you
run BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRAN to identify it as such. To complete the trans-
action, run COMMIT TRAN or ROLLBACK TRAN from the command line,
script, or application. When you execute BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRAN, the MS
DTC takes over management of the process, enlisting the servers involved and
ensuring that all servers are ready before committing the transactions.
One reason that the process is similar for many other manufacturers is
because they also use calls to MS DTC to manage distributed transactions when
the database server is deployed in a Windows networking environment. Those
manufacturers who don’t often embed a distributed transaction management
component into the database server. Watch carefully, though, if you know that
you’ll be deploying in a distributed data environment. Some manufacturers pro-
vide no direct support for distributed transactions, leaving it up to you to build
these controls into your data application.

Managing Distributed Queries

A distributed query is one that retrieves data from different databases. In most
cases, it includes a distributed join, which is one that joins data from the dif-
ferent databases. This doesn’t necessarily mean a physically distributed environ-
ment, because the process of joining data between different databases hosted on
the same database server is also considered a distributed join. As with distrib-
uted transactions, methods for handling distributed queries vary between differ-
ent manufacturers, but there are similarities. The easiest way to understand the
process is through an example. We’ll use SQL Server 2005 as our sample data-
base server, but even when initiating the join from a SQL Server database server,
the joined tables can include tables hosted on other DBMSs.
432 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

You do not do anything to identify a distributed query as different in the

SELECT statement. The difference is that you specify data sources located on
different database servers. Data sources must be fully qualified, at least to the
point that the database server can uniquely identify and locate the source. How-
ever, depending on the remote sources, special clauses or functions may be
needed to access the remote servers and retrieve the necessary data.
The server executing the query is also the controlling server. It issues the
commands necessary to retrieve the data from the remote databases. The specifics
of this process are somewhat transparent to the user. Once the controlling server
has all of the data that it needs cached in local memory, it completes the process
as if running a local query.
As with distributed transactions, this process depends on well-connected
servers to keep performance at an acceptable level. It is also suggested that you
filter the results at the source servers to minimize the amount of data trans-
ferred. This is another situation where views and UDFs can be helpful in man-
aging and optimizing the process. The queries may also require special secu-
rity configurations to enable connectivity between the servers involved in the
query.
Some DBMSs, like SQL Server, require you to fully qualify each data source
so that it is uniquely identified. Other DBMSs do not require you to fully qual-
ify the tables and columns used in a distributed join, instead relying on a dis-
tributed data dictionary to locate the table data. Even then, using fully qualified
object names is still an option and is the preferred way of running the join. One
potential problem with this is that if there are any variations in the data in the
different tables, such as might occur because of replication latency, you might
not get the results you expect from your query.

Managing Management Issues

Managing and administering a distributed data environment often requires a bal-
ancing act between local autonomy and company standards. In order to prevent
complete chaos, it is necessary for someone to have final say over the data envi-
ronment as a whole, even if various administrative duties are delegated to local
administrators.
The two most common management models are a centralized management
model and a localized management with central oversight model. The central-
ized management model is the easiest one to understand and is the least likely
to result in administrative errors. In this model, all database servers, no matter
where they are physically located, are administered from a central location using
remote management tools. This is possible because most modern DBMSs ship
with embedded remote management utilities. SQL Server Management Studio,
for example, lets you register any number of local and remote servers for man-
agement and administration purposes. The primary advantage of this model is that
one person, or one administration group, has total control. There is no question
 12.2.4 DISTRIBUTED DATA SUPPORT ISSUES 433

FOR EXAMPLE
The Need for Distributed Operations
Let’s revisit our nationwide auto parts chain store. Previously, it had set up the
local stores with the data each store needs for point-of-sale operations. Now
we’re going to throw in another likely design requirement as a business rule.
Each customer must be listed once, and only once, in the consolidated database.
There are others requirements you might add, such as checking other
nearby locations if you don’t have something in stock or letting customers
return items to any location, but this is enough for now. You can think about
how to handle those problems on your own, later.
Life has definitely gotten more complicated, possibly more complicated
than you realize at first glance. Each customer is tracked separately in the sys-
tem. You want to make sure that all sales are tracked for sales analysis and mar-
keting purposes (all this data feeds a data warehouse at the home office). Let’s
say that you track customers by telephone number, and, by definition in your
data design document, each telephone number represents a unique customer.
The customer steps up to check out with a purchase, gives the employee
a telephone number, and the application does a search of the local customer
table. The number comes up not in file, so you need to enter a new customer
into the system, right? Not necessarily. What if this person purchased items
from a different location before? The application would do a second search,
as a distributed query, just to make sure. It could issue a query against all
of the other locations, but this is where the master copy comes in. The most
efficient way to check is to run a query against the master customer table
in the home office.
Now, let’s assume that the customer was found in the master table. All
updates must be made to the local databases, so now you have another prob-
lem, updating the customer record with this sale. We mentioned embedding
the location as part of the primary key, and now that information becomes
important. The application would use that code location to identify the
remote database. It would have to create the order as a distributed transac-
tion that updates the local inventory, employee (for sales bonus), and order
tables while also updating a remote customer table.
Would it be easier to code the application so that updates that affect
other locations are made directly to the master table? Possibly, but this
would add two additional problems. One, the design requirement is that all
updates be made to the local database. The other is that you set up repli-
cation so that the remote copies update the master copy, not the other way
around. If you start allowing updates at both, the possibility of concurrency
errors (such as lost updates) and replication conflicts increases.
434 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

as to the rights and responsibilities to make changes to the servers and databases.
Though not an absolute requirement, this model works best when all of the data-
base servers are well-connected.
Centralized management is not always appropriate or even possible. Local-
ized management with central oversight delegates some or all of the admin-
istrative duties to local administrators. The general idea is that a local adminis-
trator would know his or her server, network, and user requirements better than
someone off in a remote location. Unfortunately, there are several potential prob-
lems inherent in this model. There is a possibility of inconsistency in how servers
are managed or in how well administrators adhere to company guidelines. It can
be difficult to coordinate changes that have to be made to multiple servers at
the same time. Some local administrators might resist controls imposed by com-
pany guidelines or changes made from a central location.
There are some special requirements at the central management point in either
of these models. The requirements aren’t special in terms of what is expected of
administrators so much as they are a matter of scope. For example, administra-
tors working in the central role need to understand server configurations and data
stores at each of the locations. They also need a thorough understanding of data
requirements at each location and data flows between the locations. They need
to not only understand company guidelines regarding data management, but how
they apply to each location.

SELF-CHECK
• What are some reasons for implementing a distributed data envi-
ronment?
• Which replication type supports the lowest level of granularity for
incremental updates?
• What is latency?
• What replication options are available in most DBMSs?
• What is the advantage of permitting local autonomy when determin-
ing how a distributed data environment is managed?

12.3 Understanding Internet Issues

Today most systems are either directly connected to the Internet or are connected
to systems that are. Managing an Internet database environment presents several
unique challenges in comparison to managing a database environment in a system
 12.3.1 MANAGING PERFORMANCE ISSUES 435

that is specifically not connected to the Internet. In the Internet database envi-
ronment, the general public potentially has access (planned or unplanned access
by hackers) to the company’s company’s databases. The public responses to the
applications that involve the Internet are often unpredictable, meaning that the
load on the system and access to the databases can change rapidly. The environ-
ment requires constant monitoring and management, with administrators having
to react quickly when the situation changes.

12.3.1 Managing Performance Issues

Most Web users experience widely different performance levels when interact-
ing with the Web. Sometimes, the performance varies on visits to the same
Web site. Response time, the elapsed time from pressing the Enter key or
clicking on a “Go” icon to having the Web server’s response as a new Web page
fully displayed on your monitor, can vary greatly. Response, or perceived
response (how quickly the Web server seems to respond), can be critical. Com-
petition for customers continues to increase with ever more companies offer-
ing ever more services. A consumer’s lack of patience with poor performance
at one Web site can easily mean that the customer will leave for a competitor’s
site. The complexity of the Internet and Web environment means that there
are many potential reasons for poor performance. Performance varies depend-
ing on whether your connection to the Internet is through a dial-up (56K)
modem or a broadband connection, the level of hardware at your Internet ser-
vice provider, traffic levels with which you’re competing, Web server response
speed, and so forth.
From the point of view of the Web site, a major factor is the amount of traf-
fic coming in from the Internet. Internet traffic to a Web site, the number of
people or companies trying to access it simultaneously, can vary greatly because
of a variety of factors such as the following:

▲ The time of day (which must be considered on a worldwide basis).

▲ The season of the year (e.g., the Christmas shopping season).
▲ The changing popularity of a Web site.
▲ A major new product release (or product rumors).
▲ A major event (with an overwhelming spike in traffic possibly overload-
ing the server).

These spikes (some huge) in Internet traffic require predictive capacity plan-
ning. Companies want to be able to maintain reasonable response times during
spikes without spending large amounts of money to buy a lot of extra computer
equipment that will sit idle much or most of the time. Accomplishing this takes
planning and significant expertise.
436 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

Of course, system performance is also affected by software design and, in

particular for our interest here, by database design. Physical database design is
of particular interest in the Internet database environment. Various performance-
boosting physical design techniques are applicable, such as careful index design,
selective denormalization, and so forth.
In addition, we will mention two performance-boosting techniques that are
of particular interest in the Web database environment. Both are very similar in
how they improve performance. One is specific to the Internet environment and
Internet technologies. The other is common to any user data requests made of
the database server.
When a query comes in from a PC and is passed from the Web server to the
database server to the database, often someone will want the retrieved data again
fairly soon. If a copy of that data can be held on a temporary basis (cached in
memory) to fill the next request, you can gain two benefits: not only is the
response time for future retrievals of the same data improved, but the amount of
traffic between the Web server and the database server can be decreased. Reduc-
ing the load on the database helps improve performance servicing in other data
requests. This concept of holding data temporarily cached in memory, called data-
base persistence, can be accomplished with a query cache which is a special
area of dedicated memory associated with the Web server. The cache could also
be located, and often is, on a proxy server used with the Web server; the proxy
server provides additional support that includes holding a temporary copy of
retrieved data. Cached data can include the results of database queries, but also
can include other data that might be needed to serve other requests, including
full Web pages.
The other performance-boosting technique is used when accessing data over
the Internet (or over an internal Intranet) through ad hoc queries. Repetitive
queries can be stored or “canned” in the database server cache (just like queries
made over the local network) and recalled when needed. This way, the system
avoids going through query optimization and coming up with an efficient access
path every time the query is run.

12.3.2 Managing Availability Issues

A company’s Web site and the databases that it accesses need to be available to
the public at all times. This is especially true if the company is expecting to receive
traffic to the site on a worldwide basis, which, after all, is one of the hallmarks
of e-commerce. Three o’clock in the morning in one part of the world is the mid-
dle of the day in another, and so the system really has to be up all of the time.
An information system may be unavailable due to any of the following reasons:

▲ System or telecommunications failure.

▲ Failure of a support system, such as an electrical outage.
 12.3.2 MANAGING AVAILABILITY ISSUES 437

▲ Planned down period for system maintenance.

▲ Excessive traffic that clogs the system.

The challenge is to make the information systems and their databases avail-
able “24/7” without going overboard in terms of cost. How do you handle sys-
tem failures, electrical outages, or planned maintenance time? You can meet these
needs with redundant computer hardware and such accessories as electrical gen-
erators, UPSs, and batteries, but are these all cost-effective solutions? The trick,
and the concern during planning and design, is to find ways to prepare for such
eventualities at a reasonable cost. Excessive traffic is another issue. It can be
caused by legitimate traffic spikes, which can certainly reduce availability, but
can be planned and accounted for. Unexpected problems like computer viruses
that reproduce many copies of themselves, automated “robots” searching Web
sites for information, or dedicated attacks can clog systems, too.
Attacks that target Web sites, such as Denial of Service (DoS) attacks that
flood the Web site with traffic, can have multiple effects. Not only do these
attacks tie up the Web site so that legitimate traffic can’t get through, but the
added load could crash any Web applications running on the server. If the appli-
cation happened to be accessing the database server at the same time, you could
end up with lost or corrupted data.
Virus attacks and malicious attacks must be prevented whenever possible.
You can reduce the attack surface and minimize their effects through your design
and the security measures that you implement. These measures alone, however,
are usually not enough. Another key is constant monitoring by software that
watches for such conditions.
Other actions you take depend on your level of concern, the possibility of attack,
planned user loads, predictable traffic spikes, and so forth. Balanced against these
possible actions is your budget. You can only take the actions that you can afford
to take. Some of the most effective configurations for ensuring availability are also
some of the most expensive. Solutions such as clustering, fault-tolerant storage sub-
systems, and mirrored or standby servers, require duplicate hardware and software.
Growth also impacts availability, though it’s somewhat easier to project and
plan for its effects. Some electronic commerce efforts, in both “pure” e-commerce
startup companies and established companies, have experienced rapid growth.
In one case, the growth rate of traffic to the Web site was estimated at 1,000 to
4,000 percent per year in the early years. This is certainly good news for any
company that experiences it! However, this means that the information system
that supports this Web site must be scalable; that is, it must be capable of grow-
ing in size without adversely affecting the operations of the site. It is thus imper-
ative that hardware and software be chosen that is capable of rapid and major
expansion. Check that your chosen DBMS, as well as other components, have
the ability to scale up and scale out as necessary.
438 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

12.3.3 Managing Security and Privacy Issues

An Internet database environment is one in which all of the traditional data secu-
rity concerns are present, but in addition, the information system is exposed to
the whole world through its Web site! This is not an exaggeration. In the e-com-
merce environment the company wants as many people as possible to visit its
Web site and buy its products. This also opens a door to hackers, data thieves,
virus writers, and anyone else with mischief on their minds. Your Web site is an
openly published entry point into your company’s information system. Obvi-
ously, this openness requires security measures such as the following:

▲ Separating the different parts of the information system so that they run
on different computers. The Web server and the database server should be
different computers. Furthermore, these servers should be separated from
the rest of the company’s information system by being on a separate LAN.
▲ Making use of firewalls. Firewalls provide a layer of protection between
your network and the Internet. Firewalls can be hardware-based, software-
based or both. They can provide different types of protection such as
limiting open data paths or checking incoming messages for viruses and
other suspicious code. Firewalls can be dedicated hardware devices
designed specifically for that purpose or can also be implemented
through specialized server software. Hardware firewalls are usually more
efficient and a better choice in high volume environments. Software-
based firewalls are often more cost-effective and can frequently be
deployed on multi-purposed servers.

Take a look at Figure 12-9. This is a basic multi-tier, Web-based application,

but also includes a firewall. Additional firewalls can be placed between the Web
server and the database server to catch any malicious code that gets through the
initial firewall. Firewalls can also be placed between the Web server and the rest
of the company’s information systems.

Understanding Data Privacy Issues

Closely related to the issue of security is the issue of privacy. Companies have
long held personal data about their customers in their databases. What is dif-
ferent in the Internet database environment is, first, that the companies are com-
municating digitally with their customers through their Web sites, including
passing their personal data, over the Internet. This requires the use of encryp-
tion so that the data cannot be intercepted and read while in transit over the
Internet. Second, the collected personal data in the company’s database makes a
tempting target for someone out to steal such data. And, again, the database is
potentially accessible through the company’s public Web site, which brings us
back to the discussion about firewalls and other security devices.
 12.3.3 MANAGING SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES 439
Figure 12-9
PC Browser
W
Ser
PC Browser
PC Browser
Firewall
Da
PC Browser
“The Internet” Se
PC Browser
PC Browser
Database
PC Browser
Using a firewall.
Ensuring the protection and privacy of data requires a multifaceted approach.
Firewalls are part of the answer, but just part. Not only do you need to limit
traffic into and out of the database, you have to limit what users can do while
they are there. That means limiting database users to only those persons and
applications that need access, as well as setting access permissions to no more
than what is necessary. Another tool available to you with some DBMSs, includ-
ing SQL Server 2005, is data encryption. Not only can you encrypt the data
coming into and going out of the server, you can also encrypt data on the hard
disk. Because of the resource overhead required by data encryption, it should be
limited to sensitive or personal data. SQL Server makes it easy for you to choose
what you encrypt, though, because it supports encryption at the table level and
at the individual data column level.
440 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

FOR EXAMPLE
What Are We Getting Into?
Good Reading Bookstores, a fictitious bookseller, decides to move into the
e-commerce age with a Web site. You, working in the dual role of data and
database administrator, are responsible for the data tier of this new multi-
tiered application. That means getting the database ready, as well as being
there to advise and assist the programmers, network administrators, and
newly hired Webmaster.
Let’s start with your direct responsibilities. For a data administrator, data is
always a good place to begin. The good news is that most of the basic frame-
work required, things like inventory, customer, and order tracking components,
are already in place. You still need to go through the whole data design process,
though, to identify what new data requirements you have, if any. For example,
if you aren’t already tracking email addresses for your customers, you need to
start doing so now. You might need to add a large object data column to the
inventory table so you can include pictures of book covers and other items that
you stock. If the bookstore has not done any shipping in the past, you need to
add appropriate columns and tables to track shippers and shipping information.
Switch over to your database administrator hat now. Your security con-
cerns and the possibility of attack have just increased significantly. You need
to review database security to see what changes you need to make there. You
also need to provide for connectivity for the application that will feed data to
and process transactions for the Web server. This means working with the pro-
grammers, both to determine their requirements and to provide information
about data structures. You need to work with network administrators to see
what protections they are putting in place and what impact they might have
on how you configured communication parameters at the database server.
You also have a new set of performance concerns. You need to see what
is being done from the context of the Web server and network support com-
ponents to optimize performance, but you may need to make some changes
at your end, too. The server load is going to increase, but how much? That
is going to be difficult to predict. It depends on how long it takes people to
find the Web site and what kind of interest it generates. That doesn’t mean
you can’t do anything to prepare. Specific actions you can take include:
• Updating the baseline performance statistics.
• Reviewing current queries and query performance.
• Reviewing any new query requirements, watching for potential problems
like transactions likely to deadlock.
• Testing and tuning the database using queries needed by the new Web
application and creating additional indexes as necessary.
Continued
 12.3.3 MANAGING SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES 441

• Implementing security auditing.

• Creating alerts to monitor key server resources.
• Crossing your fingers.
It’s important to realize that when you move into a completely new sit-
uation you can’t plan for every eventuality. This is especially true when deal-
ing with the Internet. Monitor, maintain, and be ready to make changes
quickly, as the situation requires.
And just in case, keep your fingers crossed, just for luck.
_l
Understanding Data Theft
Despite companies’ best efforts, data theft still occurs. Industrial theft and espi-
onage is big business. Part of the problem is that the theft often goes undetected
until it is too late to do much to minimize the effect.
One of the most common factors in data theft is that someone violated or
bypassed security, leaving the data at risk. This is what happened, for instance,
at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). An employee at the VA
copied personally identifying information about hundreds of veterans to a lap-
top computer, bypassing network and database security. Later, when the laptop
was stolen, so was the data. In this particular case, the thief initially wasn’t even
aware of what he had stolen.
Data theft more often occurs as the result of careful planning than by acci-
dent. A common trick is to get a job in a company’s mail room, janitorial staff,
or other position that gives you open access to the company, including employee
cubicles. Then it becomes a matter of watching and waiting. A computer left
logged on at the end of the day, a password written down and thrown away,
along with other information picked up along the way . . . before long someone
could have nearly unlimited access. The thief could copy the data to a writable
CD, and then leave long before the theft can ever be discovered. Some thieves
have even emailed the data to themselves.

SELF-CHECK
• What does response time refers to?
• What are some of the factors that affect Web site performance?
• What can cause problems with availability of a Web site?
• What is a justification for placing a firewall between a Web server
and database server?
442 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

SUMMARY
This chapter looked at different database configuration options and how they
can be used to support database applications. The chapter began with a close
look at a centralized data environment, including the possibility of two- and
three-tier data requirements in that environment. It looked at several options for
implementing a distributed data environment and the role of replication in main-
taining distributed data. Finally, it looked at some key issues related to sup-
porting Internet-based applications.

KEY TERMS
Authoritative Merge replication
Centralized data environment Microsoft Distributed Transaction
Centralized management Coordinator (MS DTC)
Change replication Multi-purposed server
Commit phase Prepare phase
Database persistence Proxy server
Distributed database servers Query cache
Distributed data environment Replication
Distributed join Response time
Distributed query Server instances
Firewall Snapshot replication
Fragmentation Three-tier approach
Gateway computer Transaction replication
Horizontal partitioning Two-phase commit
Local area network (LAN) Two-tier approach
Latency Vertical partitioning
Local autonomy Well-connected
Localized management with central
oversight
 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 443

ASSESS YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Go to www.wiley.com/college/gillenson to evaluate your knowledge of data appli-
cation support.
Measure your learning by comparing pre-test and post-test results.

Summary Questions
1. A collection of PCs connected by communication lines in a relatively
small geographic area is known as a local area network (LAN). True or
False?
2. Which of the following is an example of a three-tier centralized data
approach?
(a) the application includes a database server, application server, and
Web server, with clients accessing data through a browser
(b) source data located on a database server, on the local PCs running
the client application, and on a mainframe computer
(c) source data is spread across three database servers deployed on the
same network
(d) source data is deployed on three database servers deployed in differ-
ent geographic locations
3. Which statement best describes the data stored in a data warehouse?
(a) operational data needed to support day-to-day activities
(b) archive data that is no longer applicable but kept available in case it
is needed in the future
(c) accumulated current and historical data used by decision support
applications
(d) external data waiting to be evaluated and integrated with production
data
4. What is the biggest concern when deploying a database server instance
on a multi-purposed server?
(a) The requirement to share resources with other server applications
could lead to less than optimal performance.
(b) Security configuration settings must be the same for all servers
hosted on the same computer.
(c) Other server applications might overwrite data stored in the database
server’s databases.
(d) It makes it more difficult for database clients to recognize the
computer as a database server.
444 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

5. Which of the following statements correctly describe running multiple

database server instances on a single computer?
(a) It provides a way to minimize hardware costs, assuming the server
has sufficient resources to support the instances.
(b) Each server instance is configured and managed separately from the
other server instances.
(c) The configuration should be used in a development environment
rather than a production environment.
(d) all of the above
6. Which of the following is an advantage of a distributed database configu-
ration in which a full copy of the database is maintained at each location?
(a) Communication requirements are minimized.
(b) There is no need to replicate changes between locations.
(c) There is no possibility of concurrency errors between locations.
(d) Disk space requirements are minimized.
7. To help ensure data integrity and minimize concurrency problems,
distributed transactions are managed using a three-phase commit process.
True or false?
8. You are designing an application that uses a distributed data environment.
You want to minimize communication and disk storage requirements at
each location. The solution should minimize the possibility of data
consistency errors when updates are made at remote locations. Which
configuration best suites your needs?
(a) Put a full copy of the entire database at each location.
(b) Put a copy of the database with all data tables at each location. Horizon-
tally partition the tables to filter out rows not applicable to that location.
(c) Put a full copy of only the most frequently accessed table at each
location.
(d) Put a horizontally partitioned copy of the most frequently accessed
table at each location.
9. Which replication type overwrites the complete destination table?
(a) snapshot replication
(b) merge replication
(c) change replication
(d) transactional replication
10. Which replication configuration has the highest risk of conflict?
(a) Allow updates at a master copy of the database only.
(b) Allow updates at the remote data copies, consolidate the changes at
the master copy, and distribute the changes.
 APPLYING THIS CHAPTER 445

(c) Allow changes to any copy and allow any copy to directly update
any other copy.
(d) You don’t have enough information to determine the correct answer.
11. A distributed join is a query that consolidates data from tables located in
different databases. True or false?
12. You initiate a distributed query from a database server running SQL
Server. There are multiple copies of the data table located on different
database servers, but with the same table name. How do you ensure that
the correct copy of the data is updated?
(a) List the affected database servers when you initiate the transaction.
(b) Let SQL Server choose the most appropriate table copy.
(c) Let MS DTC choose the most appropriate table copy.
(d) Identify each table by its fully qualified name.
13. A firewall can be used to filter traffic between a network and the internet
to monitor for malicious activity. True or False?
14. How is database persistence implemented?
(a) through a query cache associated with the Web server
(b) by caching the query execution plan at the database server
(c) through a query cache on the firewall
(d) none of the above
15. What actions can you take to prevent accidental disclosure of data stored
on a SQL Server 2005 database?
(a) Encrypt communications into and out of the database server.
(b) Encrypt data stored in database tables.
(c) Allow access permissions on an as-needed basis only.
(d) all of the above

Applying This Chapter

1. You are implementing a centralized data environment that will support
database applications on the local network and act as the data back end
to a Web application. You have completed the data design process and
are in the process of implementing the database and the other necessary
network components.
(a) What are factors that would prevent you from configuring the
database server as a multi-purposed server?
(b) Why is it difficult to estimate traffic and database access
requirements?
446 SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS

(c) What is the defining difference between a centralized and a

distributed data environment?
(d) Why might it be necessary to include a firewall in the network
deployment?
(e) What connectivity requirements do you need to configure at the
database server?
(f) How would your design change if you needed to include data stored
locally on client computers?
(g) How would your design change if you needed to include data stored
on client computers and a mainframe computer?
2. You are migrating from a centralized data environment to a distributed
data environment. Each location will need to maintain its own inventory
and employee records. All information, including copies of inventory and
employee information, will be maintained at the main office in Seattle.
(a) You want to keep storage requirements at each location to a minimum.
How should you do this?
(b) When will it be necessary to execute transactions as distributed
transactions? Be specific.
(c) Assuming you choose SQL Server as your database platform, briefly
describe how distributed transactions are processed and the
components involved.
(d) You deploy the database servers and create the databases at the
remote locations. You need to perform an initial load that creates the
initial tables. How can you use replication to accomplish this?
(e) Compare the support requirements for allowing inventory updates at
remote sites only or at remote sites and the master copy in Seattle.
(f) What would be necessary if you want to use centralized administra-
tion for all databases?
YOU TRY IT

Planning a Centralized Environment directly support any one clinic. Instead, each clinic will
You have a heterogeneous network environment with have its own local database server. Each office will
data stored on local PCs and on a mainframe com- maintain its own separate staff, equipment, and inven-
puter. The network links to the mainframe through a tory records. Every clinic must have full access to all pa-
gateway computer. You want to consolidate the data tient and treatment records. There are also a full set of
on a centralized SQL database server. The transition medical references online.
will be accomplished in phases, first consolidating the The primary concerns are accuracy, consistency,
PC data and then including the mainframe data. security, and how quickly patient and treatment infor-
The database server will support specialized cus- mation can be retrieved at the local clinics. All clients
tom database applications. The applications are being need access to the medical references, but speed of
developed in-house by staff programmers. You provide access to this information is less critical. Update la-
assistance to the programmers as necessary. Most ac- tency must be kept to a minimum. All communciation
cess to the database server will be limited to access via between locations and all patient records are en-
the database applications, but a small number of crypted.
clients will have direct access to the server. Treatment information is related to each patient and
At the same time, you are designing a separate data- includes information about any staff involved with the
base that will support an online research and reference treatment, medications given during the visit to the pa-
application. Most of the tables needed for the application tient, and prescriptions written for the patient. The clin-
will rarely need updating. Access to this server will be lim- ics do not fill prescriptions, but do sometimes give out
ited to a.NET Web application running on a Web server. samples they have received from drug representatives.
Your database server does not support locating ex- These are noted on the treatment record, but not
ternal data sources unless they are explicitly identified. tracked in any detail.
You want to minimize storage requirements, but
1. Describe the requirements for supporting data must meet the performance expectations for data re-
access during the intial deployment phases. trieval.
2. You need to select the hardware platform
needed to support the SQL databases. The 1. Describe the data requirements at each clinic.
databases will be hosted on different DBMS Include which tables, if any, would need to be
products. Discuss the considerations for con- partitioned. Identify data, if any, that would be
solidating the data requirements on a single stored on the consolidated data server only.
computer. Justify your answers. 2. Describe the replication requirements needed to
perform an initial load of the remote databases
Planning a Distributed Environment and to mainiain data integrity and consistency.
You are designing and deploying a distributed data 3. Identify situations that would call for distributed
environment that will support for-profit medical clinics. transactions. Be as specific as possible. Include
You have completed the initial data design and the data the steps necessary to execute a distributed
load on a database server that consolidates the records transaction using a two-phase commit process,
for all of the clinics. The consolidated server does not including the specific steps involved.

447
 GLOSSARY
Access path A plan for what steps to take to respond to a query.
Access security Controlling user and application access to data by allowing or disal-
lowing different activities.
ACID Transaction acronym standing for atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability.
Active Directory A Microsoft directory service that supports a full featured network
security environment organized around logical entities known as domains.
ADO.NET A collection of data object libraries that let you connect to various data
sources, send requests, and receive and manipulate data.
Aggregate function A function that operates on a set of values, returning a single
result based on these values.
Alert Performance threshold monitor.
AND Boolean operator used to test conditions in which both must be true for the
result to be true.
Application data requirements Information that the application needs and how it
will be used by the application.
Arbitration Act of resolving disputes.
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange. An encoding standard
for encoding English language characters and control characters, supporting 127 print-
able characters.
Associative entity Entity designed to associate key values from two entities between
which a many-to-many relationship is defined.
Atomicity Referring to the fact that either all of the statements in the transaction are
executed, or none of the statements are executed.
Attribute Information describing a data entity.
Audit trail Ongoing log of user access and activity.
Authentication The process by which a security principal is identified and allowed
access.
 GLOSSARY 449

Authentication method A way of identifying a client before authorizing access to

database resources. The most common authentication methods are based on user
names and associated passwords.
Authoritative Database version considered the primary or most accurate version.
Autocommit transaction Each statement is treated as a separate transaction with
BEGIN TRAN and COMMIT TRAN implied.
Automated tasks A task that runs without operator intervention based on a schedule
or in response to an event.
Automatic failover The process of switching control to a secondary (backup) database
server without operator intervention.
Balanced tree index Common index structure based on nodes with pointer values
directing you to the desired data.
Base object An object used as the base for creating another object.
Batch A file containing a set of executable statements.
Binary large object (BLOB) data type Relational data type used to store large blocks
for binary data.
Binary Operator An operator applied to two operands at the time, typically in the
format operand operator operand.
Binary relationship A relationship defined between two entities.
Binary tree index See Balanced tree index.
Blocked transaction A transaction that cannot continue because it cannot access
resources that it needs.
Boolean expression An expression that evaluates as either true or false.
Bottleneck Anything that adversely impacts performance.
B-tree index See Balanced tree index.
Built-in functions Predefined functions that install with SQL Server.
Bulk loading The process of loading a large amount of data into a database as a single
operation.
Business problem Anything that prevents a business from operating as it should.
Business rules Rules used to define or limit database data and its use by a business.
Cache Data storage area in memory.
Cardinality Value setting the maximum number of entities that can be involved in a
particular relationship.
Cartesian product A result returning all possible combinations of joins columns.
Centralized data environment Data configuration based on a single database server
hosting all application data.
Centralized management Management model where remote databases are managed
from a central location.
450 GLOSSARY

Centralized model Database deployment model characterized by a single database

server in a central location and accessed by local and remote users.
Change replication Configuration where changed rows in a source table are written
to the destination, overwriting or inserting data as appropriate.
Check constraint Constraint placed on table column to limit data values to a set range,
part of a specified list, or matching a format pattern.
Checkpoint Transaction log entry that identifies the active portion of the log and forces
the database server to write dirty pages to the hard disk.
Clause See keyword.
Clustered index Index whose order is used to physically sort table data.
Command operators Operator symbols and keywords used to run arithmetic, com-
parison, and logical operations.
Command syntax The format used when specifying and executing a command,
including any keywords, and command parameters.
Commit The process of successfully completing a transaction and finalizing its changes.
Commit phase Final phase of a two-phase commit process in which transactions are
committed on distributed servers.
Common gateway interface (CGI) A standard way for passing requests and data
between a Web server and an application.
Conceptual design Database design process that includes data collection and identi-
fying data requirements.
Concurrency Relating to supporting multiple users who need concurrent access,
access to the same data at the same time
Concurrency control Database control over data access as a way to prevent errors
that can occur when multiple users try to modify the same data at the same time.
Concurrent transactions Two or more transactions being processed at the same time.
Connection A communication path.
Connection path Physical communication path through which data travels.
Constraint Limit or control placed on tables and table columns.
Consumer audience Data consumers — the people or applications who need access
to data and who use data in some manner.
Control statement A statement used to make a decision or otherwise control batch
execution.
Control-of-flow statement See control statement.
Core business A business’ or organization’s primary activity. The organization’s justi-
fication for existence.
Correlated subquery A query in which the inner query depends on values passed to
it from the outer query.
 GLOSSARY 451

CREATE INDEX SQL command used to create an index.

CREATE TABLE SQL command that can be used to create a table, specify columns and
data tables, and set table properties and constraints, such as identifying the primary key.
CREATE VIEW SQL command used to create a view.
Cross join A query in which all rows are returned as a Cartesian product.
CRUD Acronym for create, read, update, and delete, the standard data processes
supported by a database.
Cursor A database object that allows for incremental processing of rows within a
result set.
Data Any and all information. The “things” that you want to record and track.
Data abstraction A way to look at data that breaks it down into is basic components
and groups the components to support different ways of looking at the data.
Data access The process of allowing users or applications to retrieve data from a
database.
Data accuracy Ensuring that data is accurate and correct.
Data administrator Role that includes planning, analysis, and liaison responsibilities.
Data analyst See data administrator.
Data application programming interface (Data API) Interface through which the
programming language accesses a database or other data source.
Data carousel Backup device that has multiple live media bays or that changes remov-
able media for you automatically.
Data catalog See data dictionary.
Data consumer Person, department, or application accessing and using data. See also
consumer audience.
Data definition language (DDL) SQL statements used to create, modify, and delete
server and database objects.
Data diagram Graphical representation of a database model.
Data dictionary Database component that describes data structures and data locations.
Also called the data catalog.
Data flow The path taken by data from its producer or owner to the data consumer.
Data integrity Ensuring that data values are properly entered and maintained.
Data mart A decision support database containing a subset of the data in a data
warehouse.
Data model Logical representation of business data, typically as entities and
relationships.
Data modification language (DML) SQL statements used to enter, modify, or delete
data.
452 GLOSSARY

Data normalization A methodology for organizing attributes into tables so that redun-
dancy among the nonkey attributes is eliminated.
Data planning Identifying data requirements, analyzing available data, and designing
ways to meet data needs.
Data query Term commonly used to refer to data access.
Data repository Refers to the data storage unit where physical data files are kept.
Data security Processes and procedures implemented with the goal of keeping data
safe. Basic data security categories are access security and physical security.
Data type A way of describing the kind of data that can be stored in a column or a
variable.
Data type Data storage format used to specify storage characteristics for data columns
and variables.
Data volatility Referring to how often data is added to the database and how often
the data changes.
Data volume assessment The process of determining the storage space required for
each database table.
Data warehouse A decision support database used to store a large amount of (typically
historical) data.
Database An ordered collection of related data elements intended to meet the infor-
mation needs of an organization and designed to be shared by multiple users.
Database administrator Role responsible for operationally-oriented administration
activities.
Database engine Core DBMS component responsible for data retrieval and modifica-
tion, coordinating other DBMS component actions, providing an interface with the data
user, and interfacing with the platform operating system.
Database object Something created as part of a database, such as a table or view.
Database persistence Act of caching queries in an Internet-based application where
data is cached at the Web server or a proxy server.
Database practitioner Information Technology personnel responsible for designing,
creating, and maintaining databases.
DDL statement Statement used to create and manage server and database objects.
DDL trigger Trigger that fires when database or database server objects are created or
modified.
Deadlock A condition where two transactions mutually block each other.
Decision support database A database designed to support advanced data mining
activities and provide support for strategic decision making.
Declarative statement Statement in which you specify the data for which you are
looking and let the DBMS determine the procedure for accessing that data.
Decomposition process Another term for the data normalization process. Also called
“non-loss decomposition.”
 GLOSSARY 453

Dedicated server A server dedicated to running a single application.

Default constraint Value entered when no value is provided during data entry.
Default database Database context for running SQL commands when a database is
not specified.
Defining association A means of expressing that the value of one particular attribute
is associated with a single, specific value of another attribute.
Denormalization Taking pairs of related, third normal form tables and combining
them.
Determinant attribute The attribute in a defining association whose value determines
the value of the attribute on the right side of the association.
Deterministic function A function that always return the same result if you pass it
the same arguments.
Differential backup Backup of all changes made since the most recent base (full)
backup.
Direct memory access (DMA) Access channel that enables devices such as disk drives
and network adapters to directly access (write to and read from) the computer’s main
memory.
Dirty page A page that has been updated in memory, but not written to the hard disk.
Dirty read A data read that reads data that has been modified, but not committed.
Disk duplexing Fault tolerant storage method based on two hard disks with identical
data, with each hard disk connected to a different disk controller.
Disk mirroring Fault tolerant storage method based on two hard disks with iden-
tical data.
Disk queue Number of hard disk requests waiting to be resolved. With most operating
systems, this should average one or less.
Disk striping with parity Fault tolerant storage method using three or more hard
disks with data and parity information striped across the physical disks.
Distributed data environment Data configuration based on application data stored
on multiple database servers.
Distributed database servers A multiple server configuration supporting related data.
Distributed join Joins data from the different database.
Distributed model Database deployment model characterized by multiple database
servers, typically deployed in different physical locations.
Distributed query A query that retrieves data from multiple databases.
DML statement Any statement used to enter or modify data.
DML trigger Trigger that fires when data is entered, updated or modified.
Domain In the context of Microsoft Active Directory, a security boundary.
Domain integrity Relating to ensuring that the values entered in specified columns
are legal.
454 GLOSSARY

Dynamic SQL Statements executed directly through an interactive user interface, such
as a command prompt, for immediate execution on the database server.
Electronic data interchange (EDI) Technologies and standards for electronic data
transfer.
Embedded SQL Statements executed in the context of another programming language.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software Multi-function, integrated software
based on multiple software modules used to manage common business tasks and based
on a shared database.
Entity Refers to something having a distinct existence. In the context of database
technologies, refers to the items that can be described and tracked in the database.
Entity integrity Relating to ensuring that each row is uniquely identified.
Entity-Relationship (E-R) Modeling The process of identifying entities, attributes, and
relationships for a relational database model.
Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) Data diagram based on entities and relationships.
Exception conditions Less commonly used normal forms.
Exclusive lock A lock that, when acquired by one transaction, prevents other transac-
tions from accessing the object.
Explicit conversion The process of manually converting data.
Explicit transaction Transaction in which the entire transaction is controlled through
BEGIN TRAN, COMMIT TRAN, and ROLLBACK TRAN.
Fault-tolerant storage Physical data storage method designed to avoid data loss or
errors in case of hardware failures.
Fault-tolerant system Designed to protect data in the event of a hard disk failure.
Firewall Provide a layer of protection between your network and the Internet. Firewalls
can be hardware-based, software-based or both.
First normal form Each attribute value is atomic, that is, no attribute is multivalued.
Foreign key Relational database object used to define and maintain relationships
between tables.
Forms generator DBMS component used to design forms. Most commonly used to
design data input and data presentation forms.
Fragmentation A condition where the data is randomly spaced in small pieces all over
the hard disk rather than being located in one place.
Fragmentation Term sometimes used to describe table partitioning.
Full backup A backup of all data, including the transaction log, if any.
Fully qualified object name Complete object name that defines the object as globally
unique.
Function Named set of executable steps that support input parameters and return a
value.
Function Special executable designed to operate on data and return a result.
 GLOSSARY 455

Functional dependency See Defining association.

Gateway computer In the context of LAN communication support, a computer used
to link a LAN with other LANs, with the Internet, or a different network type on which
a mainframe computer is located.
Globally unique identifier (GUID) Value generated in such a way that even if created
for different tables or on different servers, each value is unique.
Guest SQL Server default database user account supporting anonymous access.
Heterogeneous data environment Operational environment characterized by having a
resource mix that can include any combination of different database types, DBMS systems,
operating systems, and hardware platforms.
Hierarchical database model Database model based on a hierarchical (parent/child)
data organization. This is primarily a legacy mainframe database model.
Horizontal partitioning Filter a table by row.
Horizontal partitioning Splitting table contents by row.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) A protocol layer and part of the TCP/IP protocol
suite supporting World Wide Web traffic on the Internet.
Identifier An attribute that identifies a specific instance of an entity as unique.
Implicit conversion The process of automatically converting data into a compatible
data type.
Implicit transaction Transactions begin automatically after the end of the previous
transaction. The end of the transaction is controlled using COMMIT TRAN and
ROLLBACK TRAN.
Inactive portion The portion of the transaction log containing completed transac-
tions only.
Inconsistent analysis Analysis based on data where data changes between reads of
the same data set.
Incremental backup A backup of changes made to data pages since the most recent
full, differential, or incremental backup.
Index Database object use to sort and organize data.
Indexed view View on which you have created a clustered index.
Information Data that has been organized in such a way as to be meaningful and useful
to people.
Inner join A query in which only qualifying results are returned from the joined
tables.
Input parameter Data value provided to a function or procedure.
Instant messaging (IM) Communication software allowing communication between
users over a network or through the Internet.
Integrated security Security based on Windows authentication and using Windows
security principals.
456 GLOSSARY

Interactive SQL Statements executed directly through an interactive user interface,

such as a command prompt, for immediate execution on the database server.
Intersection data Data that is part of a many-to-many relationship and associated
with a specific, unique instance of related entities.
Isolation Referring to the fact that a transaction must appear as though it executed by
itself without interference from any other concurrent transaction.
Join A query combining columns from two or more data sources.
Joining Combining the data from two tables based on linking columns.
Key column Column used to define index sort order.
Keyword A part of a command identifying a clause to either supply parameters or
define command actions.
Kill Exit a process without completing any open transactions.
Large object data Data requiring a large amount of storage space.
Latency The time between when data changes and when the change is replicated to
the destination servers.
Leaf node A node located at the lowest level of an index and representing the
actual data.
Local area network (LAN) An arrangement of personal computers connected
together by communication lines.
Local autonomy Delegated responsibility for database server security, backup, recovery,
and concurrency control.
Local variable Object used to store a value in memory temporarily.
Localized management with central oversight Management model with local auton-
omy that includes centralized management control over management decisions.
Lock level The level at which a lock is acquired, typically database, table, or row.
Lock A restriction placed on access to database objects.
Lock scope See lock level.
Logical design Design process that includes identifying entities and describing the
data model.
Login Security principal used to manage server access and server-level security.
Login credentials Information identifying a user to the database server and used to
set server access permissions.
Lost update A condition where one transaction overwrites another transaction’s
changes, causing the first transaction’s updates to be lost.
Main memory Provides temporary storage of data and programs.
Maintenance plan A defined set of maintenance tasks executing on a periodic schedule.
Management model with local autonomy that includes centralized management control
having the final say over management decisions.
 GLOSSARY 457

Manual failover The process of switching control to a secondary (backup) database

server with operator intervention.
Manual task A task that requires operator intervention.
Many-to-many relationship A relationship in which any number of referenced entity
instances can be related to any number of referencing entity instances.
Memory buffer Dedicated area in main memory used for temporary data storage.
Merge replication See change replication.
Merged scan join Highly efficient join algorithm that requires either sorted or indexed
join columns.
Metadata Data about data, or the data describing a database and database objects.
Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC) Microsoft component
that manages distributed transactions.
Middleware General term referring to software components located in the “middle”
of a multi-tier application.
Minimally logged operation The fact that the operation ran is logged, but not its
affect on the database or data.
Mirror image An exact duplicate of a database or other data file.
Mixed authentication SQL Server configuration option supporting Windows and
SQL Server authentication.
Modality Value setting the minimum number of entities that can be involved in a
particular relationship.
Modem Communication device that performs digital to analog and analog to digital
conversions.
Multi-purposed server A server computer running multiple server applications.
Mutual authentication A process by which a client and server are able to identify
each other before establishing a connection.
Nested loop join Join resolved by looping through a Cartesian product.
Nested procedure A procedure called and executed by another procedure.
Nested transaction O\occurs when you explicitly start a new transaction while already
operating within the scope of a transaction.
Network database model Database model based on data organization supporting
flexible owner/member relationships between data entities. This is primarily a legacy
mainframe database model.
Node Data stored at a hierarchical level within an index.
Nonclustered index An index used to logically, but not physically, organize and
sort data.
Noncorrelated subquery A subquery where the inner query is not dependent on
values from the outer query.
458 GLOSSARY

Nondeterministic function A function that might return different results, even if called
with exactly the same arguments.
Non-logged operation That means that the change isn’t written to the transaction log,
but instead is made directly to the database.
Non-loss decomposition Normalization process in which neither data nor relation-
ships are lost.
Nonrepeatable read A condition where data changes between reads of the same
data set.
Nonvolatile storage Storage media that continues to hold the data it contains when
power is lost or the computer is turned off. The most common example is disk drives.
Normal forms Defined rules for data normalization.
Null value An undefined value, usually used to identify that no value is provided for
that attribute
Nullability Column definition as to whether or not a column can accept null values.
Object-oriented database model Database model where entities are treated as objects,
which are individual items that can be defined and described more completely than in a
relational model.
Object-relation model Data model based on both relational and object modeling
concepts.
Object-relational database model Hybrid database model based on the relational
model, but integrating features and functionality from the object-oriented model.
OLE DB A Microsoft data access API.
One-to-many relationship A relationships in which one referenced entity instance
can be related to any number of referencing entity instances.
One-to-one relationship A relationships in which one referenced entity instance can
be related to one referencing entity.
Online transaction processing Database type characterized by the need to support data
update, change, and delete data, the need to optimize for support of concurrency and
throughput, and the requirement to scale to meet the needs of a large number of users.
Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) An industry standard API Supporting data
connectivity.
Open transaction A pending transaction that has not been committed or rolled back.
Operating system software Software that controls the computer hardware, provides
an interface to the user, and provides an environment in which applications can run.
Operator precedence Operator ranking used to determine the order in which opera-
tors are processed.
Optimistic processing Transaction control method that assumes that conflicts are
unlikely and does not check for conflicts before processing the transaction.
OR Boolean operator used to test conditions in which the result is true if either condi-
tion is true.
 GLOSSARY 459

Outer join A query returning qualifying rows from one table and all rows from the
second “outer” table.
Output parameter A value returned by a procedure.
Packet size Network communication parameter setting the maximum amount of data
that can be sent at one time.
Paging file An area of hard disk storage set aside for use as system memory.
Parameters Values provided that help determine how a command runs.
Partial functional dependency A dependency where data is dependent on part of the
primary key.
Partial rollback A process by which part, but not all, of the statements in a transaction
are reversed.
Partial update A condition when only part of the tables involved in an operation are
updated instead of updating all tables.
Performance baseline Performance data you collect to use for comparison later when
performance problems are suspected.
Performance counter Module designed to monitor a specific aspect of system or appli-
cation performance.
Performance object A group of related performance counters.
Phantom read A condition where a row appears or disappears in subsequent reads of
the same data.
Phantom A data row that has appeared or disappeared in a subsequent read of the
same data.
Physical data pointer Value used to link and associate data in the hierarchical and
network database models. Values to link data values to physical storage locations in
many implementations of the relational database model.
Physical design Design process that includes identifying and implementing the physical
database and database objects.
Physical security Protecting data against physical corruption or loss; typically involves
protecting the server, ensuring the storage media and duplicating data.
Precedence constraint Decision point within a maintenance plan used to control
execution.
Prepare phase Initial phase of the two-phase commit process where the databases are
prepared for update.
Primary index Index for a table’s primary key.
Primary key Database object used to enforce uniqueness in a table.
Procedure Compiled set of executable statements.
Processor affinity Configuration settings relating to multiple processor use.
Production database Database that provides support for day-to-day business activities.
460 GLOSSARY

Protocol Rules defining data format and transmission enabling computers to

communicate.
Proxy server Support server that, among other functions, can cache copies of recently
retrieved Web pages.
Public SQL Server database role to which all database users belong.
Publicity Informing potential users about available data and database structure.
Qualifying conditions See search argument.
Query cache Area of dedicated memory associated with the Web server that is used to
temporarily hold query results.
Query mode Interactive mode of SQL statement execution.
Query optimizer See query processor.
Query processor DBMS component responsible for parsing, optimizing, and compiling
queries for execution. Also known as a query optimizer.
Query Executable statement written in a DBMS language and typically used to retrieve
or manipulate data.
RAID Redundant Array or Inexpensive (or Independent) Disks, disk configurations
commonly used with database systems that provide enhanced performance and, in most
configurations, fault tolerance.
Read committed Transaction isolation level that prevents dirty reads by not reading
uncommitted data.
Read uncommitted Least restrictive isolation level that does not acquire locks and
ignores exclusive locks during reads.
Recovery The process of updating database tables based on committed transactions
in the transaction log.
Referenced entity The entity to which another entity refers in a relationship.
Referencing entity The entity which refers to and is associated with another entity in
a relationship.
Referential integrity Another name for relational integrity, referring to the fact that
you are maintaining the relationship between referencing and referenced tables.
Relational database Database based on the relational model.
Relational database model Database model based on entities that are associated with
each other through relationships.
Relational integrity Ensuring that relationships between tables are correctly created
and maintained.
Relational result See result set.
Relationship An association defined and established between two data entities.
Removable media Media that can be physically removed from the computer.
 GLOSSARY 461

Repeatable read Transaction isolation level that prevents dirty reads and nonrepeatable
reads by not reading uncommitted data and not allowing changes to data read by the
transaction.
Replication Means by which a database server updates one or more destination data-
base servers.
Report writer DBMS component responsible for designing and processing reports.
Reporting database A decision support database designed to support report generation.
Response time The delay from the time that the request is made (such as when the
Enter key is pressed) to execute a query until the result appears on the screen.
Response time The elapsed time required for a Web server’s response to display in
the client’s browser.
Result set Rows and columns returned by a SELECT command.
Role In SQL Server, login or data user groups with defined permissions.
Roll forward A recovery process that updates database tables based on committed
transactions in the transaction log.
Rollback The process of backing out the changes made by an unsuccessful transaction
so that they are not written to the hard disk.
Sa account SQL Server administrator account.
Scalable Term describing a solution that can grow to meet business needs.
Scaling out The process of partitioning data and a database application across multiple
distributed database servers.
Scaling up The process of upgrading the database hardware platform by improving
the processor, memory, disk subsystem, or other hardware resources.
Schema Metadata used to describe database objects.
Schema binding Prevents you from making any changes to the structure of the base
tables, such as adding columns or changing column data types.
Script A set of executable statements saved together as a file.
Search argument Logical and conditional operators used to filter the rows processed
by a command.
Search attribute A value used to retrieve particular records.
Second normal form Every nonkey attribute must be fully functionally dependent on
the entire key.
Secondary index Additional database indexes (other than the primary index).
Secondary storage Nonvolatile data storage such as disk and tape drives.
Securable Server or database object over which you have control over permission
assignments.
Security context The security default for a connection based on the security princi-
pal’s assigned rights and permissions.
462 GLOSSARY

Security principal Refers to an entity that can be uniquely identified through authen-
tication and sets a connection’s security context.
Selectivity Referring to the number of different values in a table column.
Serializable Most restrictive transaction isolation level designed to prevent dirty reads,
nonrepeatable reads, and phantoms.
Serialization Non-concurrent transaction processing (serial processing).
Server instances Multiple, separately-managed database servers running on a single
computer.
Shared lock A lock that allows other transactions to access the same data for read.
Snapshot replication Configuration where an entire table is copied to the destina-
tion server.
Snapshot SQL Server-specific transaction isolation level in which the transaction uses
a snapshot of database data taken at the start of the transaction.
Split read Read request serviced by multiple hard disks.
SQL Native Client OLE DB-based data access technology that supports the full features
set of SQL Server 2005.
SQL Server authentication Authentication method based on SQL Server logins and
database server authentication.
Sqlcmd The command used to launch the preferred character-based command line
interface for Microsoft SQL Server 2005.
Stakeholder Any person with a personal interest in or who is affected by database
design and implementation.
Strategic data planning Data planning relating to long-term data use issues.
Strong password Password that includes mixed case letters, numbers, and “special”
characters.
Subquery A way of retrieving information where one query is dependent on another
query.
Surface area A term referring to how exposed an database is to access and
manipulation.
System analyst IT specialist responsible for analyzing complex systems and how
they interact, in order to determine how computers can best be used to meet business
requirements.
System stored procedures Predefined procedures that install with SQL Server.
Table Fundamental database object in the relational database model where entities
are described as rows and columns.
Table alias A value used to replace and represent a table name when writing queries.
Table order The order in which rows are physically stored in a table.
Temporary table A table created in memory only and having a limited scope.
 GLOSSARY 463

Ternary relationship A relationship between three different entities.

Third normal form (3NF) Referring to a database normalized to the third normal form.
Transitive dependencies are not allowed.
Three-tier approach Data configuration where data is located on the database server,
the local computer, and a mainframe computer.
Threshold value A specified minimum or maximum value that, when exceeded,
indicates a potential problem.
Throughput Relating to the volume of data moved and processed by an application.
Timeout Occurs when a transaction is unable to complete processing within a
specified time
Timestamp ordering Schedule-based concurrency method that enforces serialization
and preserves order of execution of transactions and transaction statements.
Transaction A series of statements or commands that execute as a group. All of the
statements must either run successfully or all must be rolled back, as if they were
never run.
Transaction isolation Ensuring that one transaction does not interact with other
transactions.
Transaction isolation level Connection-specific setting that defines default lock
behavior.
Transaction log backup A backup that backs up, and then clears, completed trans-
actions in the transaction log.
Transaction replication Configuration where completed transactions are copied from
the source database’s transaction log to the destination database’s transaction log.
Transaction scheduling A concurrency method that serializes transaction execution
by scheduling when a transaction executes relative to other transactions.
Transactional datase Database type characterized by the need to support data insert,
change, and delete and needing to optimize for support of concurrency and throughput.
Transitive dependency One nonkey attribute is functionally dependent.
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) The communication
protocol suite on which the Internet and most current PC networks are based.
Trigger Specialized procedure that runs in response to an event.
Trusted connection Server connection using the currently logged on Windows user
as the basis for authentication.
Two-phase commit Transaction processing method used to commit distributed
transactions through a two-step process.
Two-tier approach Data configuration where data is located on the database server
computer and on the local computer.
Unary operator An operator applied to only one operand at the time; typically in the
format operator operand.
464 GLOSSARY

Unary relationship A relationship between different entities instances within the

same entity.
Uncommitted dependency A data read based on data that has been updated, but
the update has not been committed.
Unicode A universal encoding system capable of encoding any written language.
Unified Modeling Language (UML) Language created to design and model object-
oriented systems, including object-oriented databases.
Unique constraint Column constraint requiring unique values.
User Security principal used to manage database access and database-level security.
User-defined function Custom function that you can create that accepts input para-
meters and returns either a scalar value or a table.
Variable Named temporary storage area in memory used for data manipulation.
Vertical partitioning Filtering or splitting a table by column.
View Relational database model database object that provides custom data retrieval.
Virtual desktop A utility that lets you have the command running on one computer,
but see the screens and control the command remotely from another computer.
Virtual private network (VPN) Provides a secure, reliable communication path.
VPNs can be used over the Internet, or over a private LAN or WAN.
Well-connected Referring to a full-time, reliable, high-bandwidth connection
between servers.
WiFi Term referring to wireless communication technologies.
Windows authentication Authentication method based on Windows users and groups.
Working database See default database.
XML document fragment A portion of an XML document containing data organized
in a hierarchical fashion.
 INDEX
NUMBERS AND SYMBOLS ADO.NET, 189, 378
1-M (One-to-many) binary relationship, 81, 82, 83, 85, Agent and alert systems, 46
110–11 Aggregate functions, 204–6, 229, 236
1-M (One-to-many) unary relationship, 84, 85, 114–15 Airline company example, 3–5
1NF (First normal form), 126–29 Alerts, 272
1-1 (One-to-one) binary relationship, 80–81, 83, 85, ALL, 225
106–10 ALTER, 214, 216, 278
1-1 (One-to-one) unary relationship, 84, 85, 113 Amazon.com, 6
2NF (Second normal form), 129–31 American National Standards Institute (ANSI),
3NF (Third normal form), 132–34 185, 208
+ (Addition operators), 197, 207 American Standard Code for Information Interchange
/ (Division operators), 197 (ASCII), 172, 387
% (Modulo operators), 197 Analysts, 52
* (Multiplication operators), 197, 207 AND logical operator, 198–200, 226–28
– (Subtraction operators), 197 Anonymous access, 386
ANSI SQL-99, 202–3, 208, 210, 211, 215, 216
APIs (application programming interfaces), 189, 342,
A 376–77, 380
Accepted SQL function categories, 204 Applications
Access path, 192 as bottleneck, 264
Access to data/database, see also Connectivity; business rules, 68–70
SELECT statements creation as IT function, 52
connectivity, 369, 382–92 database design implementation, 151–52
control of, 382 database performance, 264
data administration, 303, 312–13 data requirements, 151
database controls, 386–87 design process, 61–70
data management, 16–18 embedded SQL, 189–90
defined, 13 explicit transactions, 342
indexes, 275–80 interfaces, 39, 378–82
operations, 28 life cycle of database applications, 301–2, 319
performance roadblocks, 264–75 servers, 41
permissions, 369, 382–87, 393–97 software for, 39
programmable objects, 284–92 Application support
security, 13–14, 382–92 administration, 440–41
server controls, 383–85 centralized databases, 413
table access minimization, 397 consolidated data source, 417
transaction order and time, 352 data configurations, 414–15
views, 275, 280–83 data theft, 441
Accuracy of data, 12, 13 distributed data configurations, 419–23, 427–34
ACID, 341 Internet issues, 434–41
Active connections, 390 LAN configuration, 413–14
Active Directory, 383 multi-purposed servers, 438
Activity logs, 46–47, 390–91 partitioned data, 425–27
Activity Monitor, Microsoft SQL Server, 360, 362, 390, performance issues, 435–36
392 privacy, 438–40
ADD, 28 replicated data, 423–28, 430, 433
Addition operators (⫹), 197, 207 security, 438–40
Administrators, 52, 302, 307–18, 378–79, 384. server configurations, 416–17, 438
See also Data administration; Database transitions in, 418
administration Arbitration, 312–13
466 INDEX

Architecture of database environment Binary tree index, 77–78

hardware, 38–43 Bitwise operations, 237
people and procedures, 38–39, 50–53 Blocked transactions, 353–54, 358–62
software requirements, 38, 39, 43–50 Boolean expressions, 226–28, 254
Arithmetic operators, 196–97 Bottlenecks, 264–65
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Brackets, 195
Interchange), 172, 387 B-Tree index, 77–78
Associative entities, 82, 89 Buffers, 41–42
Asterisk (multiplication) operators, 197 Built-in functions, 204
Atomicity, 341 Bulk loading, 64
At symbol, variables, 253 Business analysts, 52
Attributes, see also Key attributes Business environment, 149, 163
conversion of E-R diagrams to relational tables, 105–17 Business problems, 324
defining, 72–73 Business rules, 67–70
determinant attributes, 124–25
explained, 34, 87
many-to-many (M-M) relationships, 87–88 C
relational database models, 72–73 Cache, 266, 340, 404
search attribute, 173 Cardinality, 80–81, 83
table attribute adjustments, 167–68 Cartesian product, 244
as table columns, 172 Casual users, 50, 51
Audit trail, 315 Centralized databases, 413
Authentication, 13, 376–77, 382–84, 387 Centralized data environment, 413
Authoritative, 430 Centralized management, 432
Autocommit transactions, 341, 343 Centralized models, 30–31
Automated tasks, 320 CGI (Common Gateway Interface), 380
Automatic failover, 399 Change auditing, 396
Automatic recovery transactions, 340 Change replication, 424
Availability of Internet, 436–37 Character-based interfaces, SQL, 187–88
Available utilities, 320 Check constraint, 160
Checkpoints, 335, 356
Child segment, hierarchical database model,
B 32–33
Background monitoring, 46 Clauses, 190
Backups Client application software, 45
servers, 399–400 Client interface, 377
for data security, 400–405 Client/server connectivity
defined, 53 configurations, 40–41, 414–15
differential backups, 401–2 interfaces, 376–79
log backups, 335–36, 402 servers, 370–71, 376–79
Balanced tree index, 77–78 traditional model for, 370–71, 376
Base objects, 76 Clustered index, 77, 276
Batches, 187, 251–56 Collection of data, 7–8, 13, 25–26
Batch files, 157 Columns, see Table columns
BEGIN, 253–56 Combining results, SELECT statements,
BEGIN TRAN, 336, 337, 339, 342–44, 346, 431 239–40
BETWEEN, 198, 228 Command-line interface utilities, 50
Binary data, 172 Command operators
Binary large object (BLOB), 36 arithmetic, 196–97
Binary operators, 196 binary, 196
Binary relationships comparison, 197–201, 226, 238
converting into database objects, 106–13 concatenation, 196–97
defined, 79 defined, 186
E-R data diagrams, 80–84 logical, 197–201
one-to-many (1-M), 81, 82, 83, 85, 110–11 precedence of, 200, 207, 322
one-to-one (1-1), 80–81, 83, 85, 106–10 unary, 196
 INDEX 467

Commands Consolidated data sources, application, 417

DDL, 213–16 Constraints, 156
DML, 208–13 Consumer audience, 14
parsing, 190 Control-of-flow statements, 252
SELECT, 190–96 Control statements, 252, 253–56
SQL, 186–96, 208–16 Conversion of relationships, see Relationship
syntax, 190 conversions
transactions, 336–39 Conversion SQL function category, 204
Commit, 334 Core business, 7–8
Commit phase, 430 Correlated subqueries, 247
COMMIT TRAN, 336, 337, 339, 342–44, 431 CREATE, 214–15
Common Gateway Interface (CGI), 380 CREATE FUNCTION, 288–89
Communication, see also Connectivity CREATE INDEX command, 175, 277–78
administration, 302 CREATE PROCEDURES, 286–87
DBMS interface, 49–50 CREATE TABLE command, 156, 158, 173
distributed data and databases, 419–23 CREATE VIEW command, 176
hardware links, 40, 42 Cross join, 244
by operating system, 45 CRUD, 28
Comparison operators, 197–201, 226, 238 Cursors, 343
Competitive advantage, 3, 313 Custom modeling program, 92
Composite keys, 113, 167
Computer viruses, 437
Concatenation operators, 196–97 D
Conceptual designs, 61–63 Data, see also specific topics
Concurrency accuracy, in relational database models, 70–71
control of, 36 application and configurations, 414–23, 427–34
defined, 64 characteristics of, 149–51
designing for, 352 defined, 2
distributed data and databases, 430–31 duplication of, 15
error minimization, 352, 354, 356–58 elements of, 25–26
hybrid databases, 65 flow of, 302
importance of, 354 integrity of, 120, 159–62
management of, 348, 430–31 organizing, 16, 234–36
methods of, 352–55 permissions, 393–96
overview, 347–48 planning for, 308–9
problem recognition, 324, 348–51 protection of, 12–15, 392–405
in transactions, 333, 347–55 as resource, 303
Configurations role of, 2–3
client/server, 40–41, 414–15 security, 12–15, 392–405
distributed data and databases, 419–23, 427–34 sources of, 7–11
multi-tier approach, 414, 415, 416, 418, 438 SQL definition and manipulation, 185
Connection, 370. See also Connectivity standards for, 16, 309–11
Connection path, 372 storage formats, 44
Connectivity theft of, 441
and access, 369, 382–92 types of, 36, 153, 172
client/server, 370–71, 376–79 volume of, 149, 163
connection process, 387–92 Data abstraction, 38–39
data protection, 392–405 Data administration
hardware, 371, 372–74 access, 312–13
interfaces for, 376–82 competitive advantage, 313
multi-tier, 379–82 coordination, 308
performance management, 435–36 and database administration, 303, 307–13
security, 387–92 liaison requirements, 311
software, 374–75 management of, 308–13
World Wide Web, 371–72, 379–82 overview, 307–8
Consistency, 341 planning, 308–9
468 INDEX

publicity, 313 determination of database type, 63–65

standards, 16, 309–11 of functions, 288
training, 311–12 hybrid databases, 65
Data administrators, 302–3, 317, 378–79, 384 information needs, 26
Data analyst, 302 initial process and conceptual designs, 61–63
Data APIs, 189, 342, 376–77, 380 as IT function, 52
Data application software, 45 logical design process, 61–63
Database(s), see also specific topics to minimize concurrency errors, 352, 354, 356–58
application life cycle, 301–2, 319 modeling goals, 66–68
basic concepts regarding, 26–29 preliminary modeling, 66
characteristics of, 25–26 of procedures, 285–86
components of, 38–53 relational design comparison, 117–23
DBMS components, 45–50 transactional databases, 63–64
defined, 2, 25, 26 Database designers, 52
hardware, 40–43 Database design implementation
models of, 31–37 application characteristics, 151–52
optimization of, 270, 274 application life cycle, 301–2, 319
people and procedures, 38–39, 50–53 business environment, 149, 163
purpose of, 6 combining tables, 163–66
security, 13–14, 314–15, 382, 386–87, 397 database objects, 171–77
software requirements, 43–50 data characteristics, 149–51
tuning of, 53 data integrity requirements, 159–62
use of, 29–31 design requirements, 147–48
Database administration final table design, 171–73
administration role and justification, 302–3 GUI management utilities, 154–55
application support, 440–41 hardware, 152–53
and data administration, 307–13 index, 173–75
database application life cycle, 301–2, 319 operational requirements, 152
decentralization requirements, 305 performance factors, 162–71
external data integration, 305 physical design process, 61–63, 147–58
Internet, 440–41 software environment, 152–53
job specialization justification, 304 splitting tables, 168–70
management, 304–5, 315–26 SQL Command Utilities, 155–58
metadata, 315 table attribute adjustments, 167–68
need justification, 302–6 view implementation, 175–77
operational management justification, 304–5 Database engines, 45–47
performance monitoring, 270–75, 314 Database management
physical database, 316 administration, 304–5, 315–26
public vs. private systems, 306 application life cycle, 301–2, 319
roles and responsibilities, 307–18 automation, 321
security monitoring, 314–15 concurrency, 348, 430–31
software, 316 connectivity controls, 382–92
troubleshooting, 316–18 distributed database model, 432, 434
Database administrators, 52, 302, 307–18, 378–79, 384 maintenance plans, 52–53, 322–24
Database design metadata, 315
administration, 304 ongoing tasks, 321–24
business rules, 67–70 operational management justification, 304–5
converting an entity to a table, 105–6 physical databases, 316
converting binary relationships, 106–13 publicity, 313
converting E-R diagrams, 105–17 SELECT, 193–96, 229–31
converting unary relationships, 113–16 software, 316
database application life cycle, 301–2, 319 task performance, 319–21
and data modeling, 61–70 transaction concurrency, 348
data normalization, 123–36 troubleshooting, 316–18, 324–26
decision support system (DSS), 64–65 utility choices, 320
 INDEX 469

Database management systems (DBMS), see also backup servers, 399–400

Applications; Transactions client/server connectivity, 370–71, 376–79
administrative needs, 303 dedicated servers, 266–67
communications interface, 49–50 defined, 41
components, 45–50 direct connection to, 371
concurrency, 347–55 multi-purposed servers, 416, 438
database engine, 45–47 protection and security, 383–85, 399–400, 404–5, 415
in database environment overall architecture, 38, 39 proxy servers, 436
data dictionary, 47 Database software, 27. See also Software
data manipulation, 185 Data carousel, 403
data type selection, 172 Data catalog, 38
defined, 27, 39 Data collection, 7–8, 13, 25–26
forms generator, 49 Data consumers, 11, 14, 38, 302
hardware performance, 265–70, 314, 436 Data definition language (DDL)
operating systems and storage formats, 44 ALTER, 214, 216
origins of, 5 commands, 185, 186, 213–16
query processor, 47–49 CREATE, 214–15
report writer, 49 defined, 186
securables, 394–96 DROP, 214, 216
security, 382 SQL, 213–16
Database models triggers, 162
centralized, 30–31 Data diagrams, 82. See also Entity-relationship (E-R)
database design goals, 66–68 data diagrams
database objects, 75–79 Data dictionary, 38, 39, 43, 47
deployment, 30 Data encryption, 439
distributed, 31 Data management
hierarchical, 32–33 access to data, 16–18
hybrid, 32, 65 accuracy of data, 12, 13
navigational approaches, 31 administration, 308–13
network, 33–34 coordination, 308
object-oriented, 32, 35–36 data planning, 308–9
object-relational, 36–37 distributed data models, 31, 432, 434
relational, 31–32, 34–35 need for, 5–6
relational database, 31–32, 34–35, 70–75 organization of data, 16
Database objects potential concerns, 12–18
converting binary relationships into, 106–13 roles in, 2–3
converting unary relationships into, 113–16 security, 12–15, 392–405
database design, 106–16 sources of data, 7–12
DDL commands, 213–14 standards, 309–11
final table design implementation, 171–73 Data manipulation language (DML)
implementation of, 171–77 commands, 208–13
index implementation, 173–75 defined, 186
modeling of, 75–79 DELETE, 208, 211–12
object-oriented model, 32, 35–36 embedding, 213
object-relational model, 36–37 expression evaluation, 208–10
performance, 270 INSERT, 208–9
programmable objects, 284–92 parameters, 212–15
view implementation, 175–77 SQL, 208–13
Database performance, see Performance UPDATE, 208, 209–11
Database persistence, 436 Data mart, 65
Database practitioners, 28 Data mining, 5–6
Database servers, see also Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Data modelers, 52
access controls, 383–85 Data models
application configurations, 416–17 database and application design, 61–70
application software, 45 data comparison, 91–97
470 INDEX

defined, 61 Differential backups, 401–2

distributed data, 31, 432, 434 Direct memory access (DMA), 42
modeling tools, 92–96 Dirty pages, 340
relationships, 79–91 Dirty read, 349
Data normalization Disk drive performance, 265–68
database design, 123–36 Disk duplexing, 398
database performance, 265 Disk fragmentation, 267
decomposition process, 125–34 Disk mirroring, 398
defined, 123 Disk queue, 265
denormalizing data, 134–36, 166 Disk striping with parity, 398–99
exception conditions, 126 DISTINCT, 225
new table discovery, 135 Distributed data and databases
normalization techniques, 123–25 application software, 45
and performance, 162 application support, 419–23
shortening the process, 134 concurrency management, 430–31
unnormalized data, 126 configuration, 419–23, 427–34
Data objects join, 431
embedded SQL, 189 management models, 31, 432, 434
large object (LOB) data, 70, 172 models, 31
managed, 394–96 operations, 433
many-to-many (M-M) relationships, 111–13, 115–16 queries management, 431–32
programmable objects, 284–92 support for, 429–34
Data query, 17 transaction management, 430–31
Data query language (DQL), 185 Division operators (/), 197
Data read/write and performance, 264 DLL, see Data definition language
Data repository, 27, 38, 39, 42 DMA (direct memory access), 42
Data retrieval, see also Indexes; SELECT statements DML, see Data manipulation language (DML)
as data manipulation, 185 Domain integrity, 159–60
joins, 242–46 Domains, 215, 383
SELECT statements, 193–96 DoS (Denial of Service) attacks, 437
subqueries, 242, 246–50 DQL (data query language), 185
Data security, 12–15, 392–405 DROP, 214, 216, 278
Data volatility, 149 DSS (decision support system), 64–65, 417
Data warehouse, 64–65, 67 Durability, 341
Date/time data, 172, 204, 352 Dynamic SQL, 186–89
DBMS, see Database management systems (DBMS)
DB2 software, 185 E
Deadlocks, 357–58, 361 Electronic data interchange (EDI), 310
Decentralization, database administration, 305 Embedded SQLs, 186, 189
Decision-support databases, 29, 30 Embedding DML, 213
Decision support system (DSS), 64–65, 417 END, 253–56
Declarative statement, 192 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, 305
Decomposition process, 125–34 Entities
Dedicated servers, 266–67 associative entities, 89–90
Default constraint, 160 defined, 34
Default database, 191 defining, 71–72
Defining associations, 123–25 E-R modeling, 71–75
DELETE, 28, 185, 208, 211–12 integrity of, 159, 160
Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, 437 intersection data, 88–89
Denormalization, 134–36, 166 relational database models, 70–75
Deployment models, 30 relationships, 35
Design of database, see Database design Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD), 66, 92–96
Determinant attributes, 124–25 Entity-relationship (E-R) data diagrams
Deterministic functions, 202 binary relationships, 80–84
Diagrams, see Entity-relationship (E-R) data diagrams cardinalities, 80–81, 83
 INDEX 471

conversion to relational tables, 105–17 SQL, 201–8

E-R model, 80–82 variations in, 202–7
modality, 82–83
modeling, 71–75, 80–81 G
modeling tools, 92–96 Galileo spacecraft, 18
unary relationships, 84–86 Gateway computers, 413
Equal to operators, 197–98, 226 Generic draw program, 92
ERD (Entity-Relationship Diagram), 66, 92–96 Globally unique identifier (GUID), 160
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software, 305 Graphical user interface (GUI), 50, 154–55, 188–89
Errors Greater than operators, 197–98, 226
concurrency, 352, 354, 356–58 Greater than or equal to operators, 198, 226
data protection, 393 GROUP, 234–37
error logs, 46–47, 361 GROUP BY, 225
SQL, 190 Guest account, 386
EXCEPT, 239–40
Exception conditions, 126 H
Exclusive locks, 353 Hard drive performance, 265–68
Execution Hardware
with Boolean expressions, 254 backups, 401–4
query plans, 48–49 connectivity, 371, 372–74
SQL commands, 186–89 database design implementation, 152–53
Explicit conversion, 196 database environment architecture, 38–43
Explicit transactions, 341–42 defined, 39
Expressions Internet performance management, 436
Boolean, 226–28, 254 operating system management, 43
defined, 195 performance, 265–70, 314, 436
DML commands, 208–10 platforms as bottleneck, 264
parentheses, 207 RAID, 40, 42, 398
SELECT commands, 194–98 HAVING, 225, 236–37
SQL-99 functions, 202–3 Heterogeneous data environment, 31
External data integration, 305 Hierarchical database model, 32–33
Historic data sources, 10
F Horizontal partitioning, 168, 427
Fault detection, operating system, 45 Human data sources, 10–11
Fault-tolerant storage, 15, 397 Hybrid databases, 32, 65
Fields, 75 Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), 379–80
File management, operating system, 45
Filtering results, 226–29, 280–81, 291–92 I
Firewalls, 438–39 Identifiers, 72–73, 90–91, 252
First normal form (1NF), 126–29 IM (instant messaging), 370, 374
Fixed length data, 172 Implementation of database, see Database design
Flows of data, 11 implementation
Foreign keys, 34–35, 160–61 Implicit conversion, 196
Forms generator, 49 Implicit transactions, 342–43
Fragmentation, 321, 427 IN, 228
FROM, 190, 242–43, 279 Inactive portion, 402
Front-end tools, 39 Inconsistent analysis, 350
Full backups, 401 Incremental backups, 401
Fully qualified object name, 156 Indexed view, 283
Functionality, 320 Indexes, see also Tables
Functions access, 275–80
creating, 288–92 creating, 277–78
defined, 186 as database objects, 77–79
dependencies, 123 defined, 77
programmable objects, 284, 287–92 designing, 276–77
472 INDEX

implementation of, 173–75 Isolation in transactions, 341, 352–53, 356–58

query optimization, 279–80 IT (Information Technology), 25, 38–39, 50–53
Index keys, 176
Individual users, 51 J
Information, see also specific topics Job specialization, 304
current, as data source, 9–10 JOIN, 225, 242–44
in database design, 26 Join
defined, 2 data normalization, 135
role in data management, 2 defined, 242
Information services (IS), 302, 305, 310, 311, 314, 316 distributed join, 431–32
Information Technology (IT), 25, 38–39, 50–53 explained, 242–44
Informix software, 185 indexes, 279–80
In-line table-valued functions, 288 and performance, 162–63
Inner join, 244 syntax, 244–46
Input/output (I/O), 40, 42, 45, 347
Input parameters, 284
INSERT K
DML commands, 208–9 Key attributes
keyword combinations, 240–42 composite keys, 113, 167
procedures, 285–86 foreign keys, 34–35, 160–61
views, 283 index keys, 176
Insertion of new records, 185 primary keys, 34–35, 72–73, 107, 160
Instant messaging (IM), 370, 374 Key columns, 276
Integrated security, 387 Keywords
Integration, external data, 305 combining, 241
Integrity of data, 120, 159–62 DDL commands, 214–15
Interaction and conflict, 320 SELECT, 225–26, 240–42
Interactive SQL, 186–89 SQL commands, 186, 190
Interfaces Kill, 360, 362
application programming interfaces (APIs), 189, 342,
376–77 L
character-based, 187–88 LANs (local area networks), 372–73, 413–14
client/server, 376–79 Large object (LOB) data, 70, 172
command-line interface, 50 Latency, 424
connectivity, 39, 376–82 Leaf nodes, 79
DBMS, 49–50 Less than operators, 197–98, 226
graphical user interface (GUI), 50, 154–55, 188–89 Less than or equal to operators, 198, 226
network interface card (NIC), 373 Liaison requirements, data administration, 311
International Organization for Standardization (ISO), 185 Life cycle of database applications, 301–2, 319
Internet, see also World Wide Web (WWW) LIKE, 198, 201, 229
administration, 440–41 Linux, 43
application support, 434–41 LOB (large object) data, 70, 172
availability issues, 436–37 Local area networks (LANs), 372–73, 413–14
connectivity, 371–72 Local autonomy, 421
data theft, 441 Localized management with central oversight, 434
performance issues, 435–36 Local variables, 253
privacy, 438–40 Lock, 353
security, 438–40 Locking levels, 353
traffic on, 435–36 Lock scope, 353
INTERSECT, 239–40 Log backups, 335–36, 402
Intersection data, 87, 88–89 Logical designs, 61–63
INTO, 225 Logical operators, 197–201, 226–28
I/O (input/output), 40, 42, 45, 347 Login credentials, 369, 384
IS (information services), 302, 305, 310, 311, 314, 316 Logins, 369, 382–85
ISO (International Organization for Standardization), 185 Lost updates, 349
 INDEX 473

M Microsoft Windows
Mainframe, 40 access authentication, 383–84, 387, 391–92
Main memory, 40, 41 disk fragmentation utility, 267
Maintenance plans, 52–53, 322–24 as PC operating system, 43
Managed objects, 394–96 performance monitors, 271–72, 275
Management, see Database management; Data management security, 387
Manual failover, 399 Middleware, 379
Manual modeling, 92 Mini-computer, 40
Manual tasks, 320 Minimally logged operation, 212
Many-to-many (M-M) binary relationship, 81–85, 87–90, Minus sign operators, 197
111–13 Mirror image, 15
Many-to-many (M-M) relationships, 87–91 Mixed authentication, 383
Many-to-many (M-M) unary relationships, 84, 85–86, M-M (many-to-many) binary relationship, 81–85, 87–90,
115–16 111–13
Mass deployment databases, 29 M-M (many-to-many) relationships, 87–91
Mathematical SQL function category, 204 M-M (many-to-many) unary relationships, 84, 85–86,
Member records, network database models, 33–34 115–16
Memory and performance, 266, 268–69 Modalities, 82–83
Memory buffers, 41–42 Models, see Database models; Data models
Memory management by operating system, 45 Modems, 373–74
Merge replication, 424 Monitoring
Merge-scan join, 280 active connections, 390
Metadata, 43, 47, 315 activity logs, 46–47, 390–91
Microsoft Access, 44, 306 Activity Monitor, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, 360,
Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN), 225, 253 362, 390, 392
Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator background, 46
(MS DTC), 431 performance, 270–75, 314
Microsoft Maintenance Plan Wizard, 322–23 security, 314–15
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network), 225, 253
Activity Monitor, 360, 362, 390, 392 MS DTC (Microsoft Distributed Transaction
automation, 321–22, 325 Coordinator), 431
command context, 191 Multiplication operators (*), 197, 207
configurations, 414–17 Multi-purposed servers, 416, 438
connectivity interfaces, 376–77 Multi-statement table-valued functions, 288
database performance, 266–67 Multi-tier approach, data configuration, 414, 415, 416,
distributed data, 415–17, 431–32, 439 418, 438
functions, 204, 288 Multi-tier connectivity, 379–82
hardware performance, 265–70 Mutual authentication, 376–77
indexed view, 176–77 MySQL software, 185, 186, 417
interactive SQL, 187
maintenance, 322–23 N
Management Studio, 188–89, 320, 386, 390 Navigational approaches to databases, 31
object-relational database model, 36 Nested-loop join, 280
performance monitoring, 270–75 Nested procedures, 286
programmable objects, 284–92 Nested subqueries, 242, 246–47
query mode, 187 Nested transactions, 343–45
security, 382–83, 439 NET Framework, 378, 390
SELECT, 185–87, 191–92, 208, 213, 224, 225 Network adapter, 373
server security and access, 383–92 Network interface card (NIC), 373
transaction management, 355–62 Networks
triggers, 162 database models of, 33–34
troubleshooting, 324–25 defined, 39
utility decisions, 320 local area networks (LANs), 372–73, 413–14
Windows authentication, 383–84, 387, 391–92 operating system controls, 45
Microsoft Visio, 92–93 shared for data backup, 402–4
474 INDEX

virtual private network (VPN), 374 Optimistic processing, 354

wide-area network (WAN), 374 Optimization, database, 274
Node, 79 Oracle software, 36, 185, 380
Nonclustered index, 77, 276 ORDBMS (object-relational database management
Noncorrelated subqueries, 246–47 systems), 36
Nondeterministic functions, 202 ORDER BY, 225, 236–37, 280
Non-logged operation, 212 Order processing, transactions, 334–35
Non-loss decomposition, 125 Organizing data, 16, 234–36
Nonrepeatable read, 350 OR logical operators, 198–201, 226–28
Nonvolatile storage media, 42 ORM (object-relation models), 92–93
Normal forms, see also Data normalization OS (operating systems), 43–45, 269
defined, 126 OSS (operating system software), 43–44
first normal form (1NF), 126–29 Outer join, 244
second normal form (2NF), 129–31 Output parameters, 284
third normal form (3NF), 132–34 Owner records, network database, 33–34
Not equal to operators, 198
NOT logical operator, 198
Not operators, 198 P
NULL, 209, 291 Packet size, 387
Nullability, 159 Paging file, 269
Null value, 107 Parameters
Numeric data, 172 command syntax, 190
Numeric SQL function category, 204 DML commands, 212–15
embedded SQL, 189
programmable objects, 284
O SELECT, 195
Object-oriented database model, 32, 35–36 SQL-99 functions, 203
Object-relational database management systems Parentheses in expression evaluation, 207
(ORDBMS), 36 Parent segment, hierarchical database model, 32–33
Object-relational database model, 36–37 Parity, disk striping with, 398–99
Object-relation models (ORM), 92–93 Parsing, 190
Objects, see Database objects; Data objects; Partial functional dependency, 129
Programmable objects Partial rollback, 336
Objectype, 214 Partial updates, 334
ODBC (Open Database Connectivity), 377 Partitioned data, 425–27
OLE DB, 377, 378, 390 Passwords, 382–83, 385
OLTP (online transaction processing), 64–65 People
One-tier security system, 383 data administrators, 302–3, 317, 378–79, 384
One-to-many (1-M) binary relationship, 81, 82, 83, 85, database administrators, 52, 302, 307–18,
110–11 378–79, 384
One-to-many (1-M) unary relationship, 84, 85, 114–15 database designers, 52
One-to-one (1-1) binary relationship, 80–81, 83, 85, database environment architecture, 25, 38–39, 50–53
106–10 database practitioners, 28, 38, 39, 50-53
One-to-one (1-1) unary relationship, 84, 85, 113 data consumers, 11, 14, 38, 302
Online transaction processing (OLTP), 64–65 data modelers, 52
Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), 377 programmers, 52
Open transactions, 344–45 stakeholders, 61
Operating system software (OSS), 43–44 training for data administration, 311–12
Operating systems (OS), 43–45, 269 users, 39, 50–51, 382
Operations and operators, see also Command operators Percent sign (%), Modulo operators, 197
access, 28 Performance
management and database administration, 304–5 access roadblocks, 264–75
precedence in SELECT, 237–38 administration needs, 303
requirements, database design implementation, 152 application support, 435–36
SQL, 196–201 baseline, 271
transaction limits, 352 bottlenecks, 264–65
 INDEX 475

counters, 271 Production, database application life cycle, 301–2, 319

database design implementation, 162–71 Production databases, 29
database optimization, 270, 274 Programmable objects
hardware, 265–70, 314, 436 defined, 284
Internet, 435–36 functions, 287–92
Microsoft Windows utilities, 271–72 procedures, 284–87
monitoring, 270–75, 314 Programmers, 52
objects, 271 Protection, see Security
tools for, 274–75 Protocol, 374
transaction isolation level, 356–58 Proxy servers, 436
Periodic task automation, 270–75 Public accounts, 386
Permissions to access, 369, 382–87, 393–97 Publicity, 313
Phantom reads, 351
Phantoms, 351
Physical database designs
Q
Qualifying conditions, 190
application data requirements, 151–52
Queries
business environment, 149, 163
aggregate functions, 229, 236
and database administration, 316
batches, 251–56
data characteristics, 149–51
control statements, 253–56
design process, 61–63
defined, 45
design requirements, 147–49
distributed query, 431–32
GUI utilities, 154–55
execution plans for, 48–49
hardware, 152–54
joins, 242–46
implementation, 61–63, 147–48
as procedure, 52
operational requirements, 152
scripts, 251–56
software environment, 152–54
subqueries, 242, 246–50
SQL Command Utilities, 155–58
syntax of, 224–42
Physical data pointers, 32–33, 34
variables, 252–53
Physical data storage, 402–5
Query Analyzer, 189
Physical entities, 71
Query mode, 187
Physical security, 15–16
Query optimizer, 47
Plus sign operators, 197
Query processor, 47–49
Policy integrity, 159, 161
Query scale, 436
Power users, 51
Query window, 369
Practitioners, 38, 39, 50–53
Precedence constraints, 322
Preliminary modeling, database design, 66 R
Prepare phase, 430 RAID
Primary index, 77 database performance, 265–66
Primary keys, 34–35, 72–73, 107, 160 data protection, 397–400
Primary process identification, 8–9 disk mirroring, 398
Privacy, 438–40 disk striping with parity, 398–99
Private databases, 30 fault-tolerant storage, 15, 397
Problems, recognition and resolution, 324, 345–51 hardware, 40, 42, 398
Procedures security, 397–400
architecture of database environment, 38–39, 50–53 software configurations, 398
database design, 285–86 Random write, 404
programmable objects, 284–87 RDBMS (relational database management system), 37
SQL commands, 186 READ, 28
Processors and processing Read committed, 356
affinity, 270 Read uncommitted, 356
client/server configurations, 40–41, 414–15 Records, 75
concurrency, 347 Recovery, 45, 53, 336, 340
as hardware, 40, 41 Redundant Array of Independent Disks, see RAID
management by operating system, 43 Referencing entities, 74
performance, 269–70 Referential integrity, 74, 120, 159, 160–61
476 INDEX

Regular users, 50–51 application support, 438–40

Relational database design, 117–23 backups, 400–405
Relational database management system (RDBMS), 37 backup servers, 399–400
Relational database models, 31–32, 34–35, 70–75 change auditing, 396
Relational integrity, 120 connection process, 387–92
Relational result, 191 connectivity, 392–405
Relationship conversions context of, 382
binary, into database objects, 106–13 data backups, 400–405
in database design, 105–17 database protection, 386–87, 397
of E-R diagrams to relational tables, 105–17 data management, 12, 13–15
single entity to a table, 105–6 data permissions, 393–96
unary, into database objects, 79, 84–86, 113–16 data protection, 12–15, 392–405
Relationships, 35 DBMS, 382
Removable media, 403 Internet, 438–40
Removable storage, 43 logins, 369, 382–85
Repeatable read, 356–57 managed objects, 394–96
Replication, 423–28, 430, 433 permissions, 393–96
Reporting and reports, 49, 52, 65, 320 physical security, 15–16
Resources, transaction concurrency, 352 privacy, 438–40
Response time, 149, 435 RAID configurations, 397–400
Result set, 191 server protections, 383–85, 399–400, 404–5
Retirement, database application life cycle, 301–2, 319 table access minimization, 397
Retrieval, see Data retrieval triggers, 161–62
Roles Security principals, 382, 383, 385
of administrators, 52, 302, 307–18, 378–79, 384 Selectivity, 173
of data, 2–3 SELECT statements
of databases, 2 batches, 251–56
Rollbacks, 334 combining results, 239–40
ROLLBACK TRAN, 334, 336, 337, 338, 339, 342, 344, command operators, 196–201
346, 352, 431 command syntax, 190, 192–93
Rolled forward, 336 control statements, 253–56
Routine maintenance, 52–53, 322–24 data retrieval, 193–96
Rows, see Table rows explained, 195
Rules, business, 67–70 expression evaluation, 194–98
filtering results, 226–29
GROUP, 234–37
S joins, 242–46
Scalability, 67, 437 keyword combinations, 240–42
Scalar functions, 284, 288, 291 managing results set, 229–31
Scaling out, 153 operator precedence, 237–38
Scaling up, 153 organizing data, 234–36
Schema, 43 parameters, 195
Schema binding, 283 permissions, 396
Scope of transactions, 341–45 scripts, 251–56
Scripts, 187, 251–56 sorting data, 231–34
Search argument, 190 SQL, 190, 192–96
Search attribute, 173 subqueries, 242, 246–50
Search conditions, 196, 210–12 syntax of, 190, 224–42
Secondary index, 77 variables, 252–53
Secondary storage, 42 Serialization, 352–53, 357
Second normal form (2NF), 129–31 Server instances, 416
Securables, 394 Servers, see Database servers
Security Shared data, 26
access, 13–14, 382–92 Shared lock, 353
administration monitoring, 314–15 Shared network for data backup, 402–4
 INDEX 477

Single-tier security system, 383 Systems analysts, 52, 302

Slash (/), division operators, 197 Systems software, 39
Snapshot, 357 System stored procedures, 284
Snapshot replication, 424
Software, see also under Microsoft
connectivity, 374–75 T
database administration, 316 Table alias, 243
database design, 152–53 Table columns
database environment architecture, 38, 39, 43–50 attributes as, 172
explained, 27 combine SELECT results, 239–40
Internet performance management, 436 filtering results, 280–81, 291–92
RAID configurations, 398 index implementation, 173–74
Sorting data, SELECT, 231–34 vertical partitioning, 168–69, 427
Sources of data, 7–11 Table orders, 231
Specialized users, 51 Table rows
Speed of storage devises, 43 filtering results, 280–81, 291–92
sp_helpdb system, 284–85 horizontal partitioning, 168, 427
Split reads, 398 Tables, see also Indexes
SQL, see Structured Query Language (SQL) access, 243, 397
sqlcmd connections, 187, 369, 390 attribute adjustments, 167–68
SqlConnection object, 390 combining, and database design, 163–66
SQL Server, see Microsoft SQL Server 2005 as database objects, 75–76
Stakeholders, 61 data normalization, 123–36
Standards data protection, 397
ANSI, 172, 387 DML commands, 208–13
ANSII, 185, 208 E-R diagram conversion to, 105–17
data, 16, 309–11 filtering results, 280–81, 291–92
SQL, 185–86 final design implementation, 171–73
Storage devices, 15, 40, 41, 402–4 joining two or more, 242–46
Strategic data planning, 309 relational database models, 34
String data, 172 splitting, 168–70
String SQL function category, 204 TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Strong password, 385 Protocol), 379–80
Structured Query Language (SQL) Telecommunication, distributed databases, 419–23
ANSI SQL-99, 202–3, 208, 210, 211, 215, 216 Temporary tables, 215
command execution, 186–92 Ternary relationships, 79, 86–87
command utilities, 155–58 Third normal form (3NF), 132–34
data definition, 185 Three-tier approach, data configuration, 414, 415,
data manipulation, 185 416, 418
DDL commands, 213–16 Threshold values, 272
defined, 17, 47 Throughput, 64, 149
DML commands, 208–13 Time
dynamic SQL, 186–89 of backup, 401
embedded SQL, 186, 189 date/time data, 172, 204, 352
functions, 201–8 response time, 149, 435
interactive SQL, 186–89 time-outs, 359
Native Client, 377 timestamp ordering, 353
operators, 196–201 Tools and utilities
query mode, 187 available utilities, 320
SELECT commands, 190, 192–96 client connectivity interface, 377–78
standards, 185–86 command-line interface utilities, 50
Subqueries, 198, 242, 246–50 DBMS, 50
Subtraction (⫺) operators, 197 GUI utilities, 50, 154–55
Surface area, 14 for modeling, 92–96
Syntax of statements, 190, 224–42 performance, 274–75
478 INDEX

performance monitoring, 270–75 Uncommitted dependency, 349

SQL command, 155–58 Unicode, 172, 387
toolkits, 50 Unified Modeling Language (UML), 37
TOP, 225, 280 Uninterruptible power source (UPS), 404–5
Training for data administration, 311–12 UNION, 239–40
Transactional database, 63–64 Unique constraint, 160
Transactional replication, 424 Unique identifiers, 90–91
Transactions Uniqueness, 90–91
ACID, 341 Unnormalized data, 126
autocommit, 341, 343 UPDATE, 28, 208–11, 240–42, 283
automatic recovery, 340 Update of data, 185
BEGIN TRAN, 336, 337, 339, 342–44, 346 Usage, 52
blocked transactions and deadlocks, 358–62 User-defined data type, 215
commands, 336–39 User-defined functions (UDFs), 224, 287–89,
COMMIT TRAN, 336, 337, 339, 342–44 291, 397
concurrency, 347–55 Users, 39, 50–51, 382
control of, 186 Utilities, see Tools and utilities
defined, 28, 334
design to minimize concurrency errors, 352, 354,
V
356–58
Validation and authentication, 13, 376–77,
distributed data and database management, 430–31
382–84, 387
explicit, 341–42
Variables, 252–53
flow of, 336–41
Verification of data source, 13
implicit, 342–43
Vertical partitioning, 168–69, 427
isolation of, 341, 352–53, 356–58
Views
logs and log backups, 335–36, 402
access, 275, 280–83
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 management, 355–62
creating, 280–81
nested transactions, 343–45
as database objects, 75–77
problem recognition and resolution, 324, 345–47
defined, 44
processing basics, 333–36
implementation of, 175–77
properties of, 341
replacing, 291
ROLLBACK TRAN, 334, 336, 337, 338, 339, 342,
using, 281–83
344, 346, 352
Virtual desktop, 155
scheduling, 352
Virtual private network (VPN), 374
scope of, 341–45
size of, 352
support for, 28–29 W
Transact-SQL (TSQL), 187, 237, 288 Well-connected servers, 431
Transitions in application support, 418 WHERE, 190, 210–11
Transitive dependency, 132 Wide-area network (WAN), 374
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol WiFi, 372–73
(TCP/IP), 379–80 Windows, Microsoft, see Microsoft Windows
Triggers, 161–62 Wireless connectivity, 372–73
Troubleshooting, database administration, 316–18 Working database, 191
Trusted connections, 387–88 World Wide Web (WWW), see also Internet
Two-phase commit, 430 connectivity, 371–72, 379–82
Two-tier approach, data configuration, 414, 415 database access, 379–80
Two-tier security system, 382–83 e-commerce growth, 437
multi-tier connectivity, 379–82
Writing batches and scripts, 251–52
U
UDFs (user-defined functions), 224, 287–89, 291, 397
Unary operator, 196 X
Unary relationships, 79, 84–86, 113–17 XML, 33, 225, 377