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CSPC403 DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

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UNIT – I Introduction
File System vs. DBMS – Views of data – Data Models – Database Languages – Database Management System Services
– Overall System Architecture – Data Dictionary – Entity – Relationship (E-R) – Enhanced Entity – Relationship Model.
File System vs. DBMS
There are following differences between DBMS and File system:

File System DBMS

File system is a collection of data. In this system, DBMS is a collection of data. In DBMS, the user is
the user has to write the procedures for managing not required to write the procedures.
the database.

File system provides the detail of the data DBMS gives an abstract view of data that hides the
representation and storage of data. details.

File system doesn't have a crash mechanism, i.e., if DBMS provides a crash recovery mechanism, i.e.,
the system crashes while entering some data, then DBMS protects the user from the system failure.
the content of the file will lost.

It is very difficult to protect a file under the file DBMS provides a good protection mechanism.
system.

File system can't efficiently store and retrieve the DBMS contains a wide variety of sophisticated
data. techniques to store and retrieve the data.

In the File system, concurrent access has many DBMS takes care of Concurrent access of data
problems like redirecting the file while other using some form of locking.
deleting some information or updating some
information.

Views of data
View of data in DBMS narrate how the data is visualized at each level of data abstraction. Data
abstraction allow developers to keep complex data structures away from the users. The developers achieve
this by hiding the complex data structures through levels of abstraction.
There is one more feature that should be kept in mind i.e. the data independence. While changing the data
schema at one level of the database must not modify the data schema at the next level. In this section, we will
discuss the view of data in DBMS with data abstraction, data independence, data schema in detail.
Content: View of Data in DBMS
1. Data Abstraction
2. Data Independence
3. Instance and Schema
4. Key Takeaways
1. Data Abstraction
Data abstraction is hiding the complex data structure in order to simplify the user’s interface of the
system. It is done because many of the users interacting with the database system are not that much
computer trained to understand the complex data structures of the database system.
 To achieve data abstraction, we will discuss a Three-Schema architecture which abstracts the database
at three levels discussed below:
Three-Schema Architecture:
The main objective of this architecture is to have an effective separation between the user interface and
the physical database. So, the user never has to be concerned regarding the internal storage of the
database and it has a simplified interaction with the database system.
The three-schema architecture defines the view of data at three levels:
i. Physical level (internal level)
ii. Logical level (conceptual level)
iii. View level (external level)
i. Physical Level/ Internal Level
The physical or the internal level schema describes how the data is stored in the hardware. It also
describes how the data can be accessed. The physical level shows the data abstraction at the lowest level
and it has complex data structures. Only the database administrator operates at this level.
ii. Logical Level/ Conceptual Level
It is a level above the physical level. Here, the data is stored in the form of the entity set, entities,
their data types, the relationship among the entity sets, user operations performed to retrieve or
modify the data and certain constraints on the data. Well adding constraints to the view of data adds
the security. As users are restricted to access some particular parts of the database.
It is the developer and database administrator who operates at the logical or the conceptual level.
iii. View Level/ User level/ External level
It is the highest level of data abstraction and exhibits only a part of the whole database. It exhibits the
data in which the user is interested. The view level can describe many views of the same data. Here, the
user retrieves the information using different application from the database.
The figure below describes the three-schema architecture of the database:

Three Schema Architecture

In the figure above you can clearly distinguish between the three levels of abstraction. To understand it
more clearly let us take an example:
We have to create a database of a college. Now, what entity sets would be involved? Student,
Lecturer, Department, Course and so on…
 Now, the entity sets Student, Lecturer, Department, Course will be stored in the storage as
the consecutive blocks of the memory location. This is the physical or internal level and is hidden
from the programmers but the database administrator is it aware of it.
At the logical level, the programmers define the entity sets and relationship among these entity sets
using a programming language like SQL. So, the programmers work at the logical level and even the
database administrator also operates at this level.
At the view level, the users have the set of applications which they use to retrieve the data they are
interested in.
2. Data Independence
Data independence defines the extent to which the data schema can be changed at one level without modifying
the data schema at the next level. Data independence can be classified as shown below:
Logical Data Independence:
Logical data independence describes the degree up to which the logical or conceptual schema can be changed
without modifying the external schema. Now, a question arises what is the need to change the data schema at
a logical or conceptual level?
Well, the changes to data schema at the logical level are made either to enlarge or reduce the database by
adding or deleting more entities, entity sets, or changing the constraints on data.
Physical Data Independence:
Physical data independence defines the extent up to which the data schema can be changed at the physical or
internal level without modifying the data schema at logical and view level.
Well, the physical schema is changed if we add additional storage to the system or we reorganize some files
to enhance the retrieval speed of the records.
3. Instances and Schemas
What is an instance?
We can define an instance as the information stored in the database at a particular point of time. Let us
discuss it with the help of an example.
As we discussed above the database comprises of several entity sets and the relationship between them.
Now, the data in the database keeps on changing with time. As we keep inserting or deleting the data to and
from the database.
Now, at a particular time if we retrieve any information from the database then that corresponds to an
instance.
What is schema?
Whenever we talk about the database the developers have to deal with the definition of database and the data
in the database.
The definition of a database comprises of the description of what data it would contain what would be the
relationship between the data. This definition is the database schema.
4. Key Takeaways:
• View of data in DBMS describes the abstraction of data at three-level
i.e. physical level, logical level, view level.
• The physical level of abstraction defines how data is stored in the storage and also reveals its access
path.
• Abstraction at the logical level describes what data would be stored in the database? what would be
the relation between the data? and the constraints applied to the data.
• The view level or external level of abstraction describes the application which the users use to retrieve
the information from the database.
• Data independence explains the extent to which data at a certain level can be modified without
disturbing the data next higher levels.
• An instance is the retrieval of information from the database at a certain point of time. An instance in a
database keeps on changing with time.
• Schema is the overall design of the entire database. Schema of the database is not changed frequently.
So that’s all about the view of data in the database which help us to understand the database from users,
developers and database administrator aspects.
Data Models
Data Model is the modeling of the data description, data semantics, and consistency constraints of the data. It
provides the conceptual tools for describing the design of a database at each level of data abstraction.
Therefore, there are following four data models used for understanding the structure of the database:

1. Relational Data Model: This type of model designs the data in the form of rows and columns within a
table. Thus, a relational model uses tables for representing data and in-between relationships. Tables are
also called relations. This model was initially described by Edgar F. Codd, in 1969. The relational data
model is the widely used model which is primarily used by commercial data processing applications.
2. Semistructured Data Model: This type of data model is different from the other three data models
(explained above). The semistructured data model allows the data specifications at places where the
individual data items of the same type may have different attributes sets. The Extensible Markup
Language, also known as XML, is widely used for representing the semistructured data. Although XML
was initially designed for including the markup information to the text document, it gains importance
because of its application in the exchange of data.
3. Entity-Relationship Data Model: An ER model is the logical representation of data as objects and
relationships among them. These objects are known as entities, and relationship is an association among
these entities. This model was designed by Peter Chen and published in 1976 papers. It was widely used
in database designing. A set of attributes describe the entities. For example, student_name, student_id
 describes the 'student' entity. A set of the same type of entities is known as an 'Entity set', and the set of
the same type of relationships is known as 'relationship set'.
4. Object-based Data Model: An extension of the ER model with notions of functions, encapsulation, and
object identity, as well. This model supports a rich type system that includes structured and collection
types. Thus, in 1980s, various database systems following the object-oriented approach were developed.
Here, the objects are nothing but the data carrying its properties.
Database Languages
• A DBMS has appropriate languages and interfaces to express database queries and updates.
• Database languages can be used to read, store and update the data in the database.
Types of Database Language

1. Data Definition Language

• DDL stands for Data Definition Language. It is used to define database structure or pattern.
• It is used to create schema, tables, indexes, constraints, etc. in the database.
• Using the DDL statements, you can create the skeleton of the database.
• Data definition language is used to store the information of metadata like the number of tables and
schemas, their names, indexes, columns in each table, constraints, etc.
Here are some tasks that come under DDL:
• Create: It is used to create objects in the database.
• Alter: It is used to alter the structure of the database.
• Drop: It is used to delete objects from the database.
• Truncate: It is used to remove all records from a table.
• Rename: It is used to rename an object.
• Comment: It is used to comment on the data dictionary.
These commands are used to update the database schema that's why they come under Data definition
language.
2. Data Manipulation Language
DML stands for Data Manipulation Language. It is used for accessing and manipulating data in a database.
It handles user requests.
Here are some tasks that come under DML:
• Select: It is used to retrieve data from a database.
• Insert: It is used to insert data into a table.
• Update: It is used to update existing data within a table.
 •
Delete: It is used to delete all records from a table.
• Merge: It performs UPSERT operation, i.e., insert or update operations.
• Call: It is used to call a structured query language or a Java subprogram.
• Explain Plan: It has the parameter of explaining data.
• Lock Table: It controls concurrency.
3. Data Control Language
•DCL stands for Data Control Language. It is used to retrieve the stored or saved data.
•The DCL execution is transactional. It also has rollback parameters.
(But in Oracle database, the execution of data control language does not have the feature of rolling
back.)
Here are some tasks that come under DCL:
• Grant: It is used to give user access privileges to a database.
• Revoke: It is used to take back permissions from the user.
There are the following operations which have the authorization of Revoke:
CONNECT, INSERT, USAGE, EXECUTE, DELETE, UPDATE and SELECT.
4. Transaction Control Language
TCL is used to run the changes made by the DML statement. TCL can be grouped into a logical transaction.
Here are some tasks that come under TCL:
• Commit: It is used to save the transaction on the database.
• Rollback: It is used to restore the database to original since the last Commit.
Database Management System Services
• The advancements in technology have opened the floodgates for endless volumes of data to flow into
the system. With this tremendous amount of data pouring in from diverse sources and in multiple
formats, it becomes a critical task for organizations to store, process and manage this data. And even
more so in today’s data driven world, where it has become the key to business success.
• A robust and efficient database management system resolves all your data worries, giving your business
the power to lead.
Choosing the right database
• In order to ensure a successful database management system, you need to carefully devise a strategy in
alignment with the data requirements and business roadmap of your organization. Today, with numerous
database options available in both open as well as closed source database categories, it is important to
choose a database solution as per the volume, variety.
• SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) has resulted into a data explosion which is overwhelming
for legacy DBMS. Every second, large amount of data is being generated through a widespread network
of data sources – images, graphs, hyper-text, documents, etc. Legacy systems prove to be insufficient to
address this magnanimity of data management, and that is when the more agile and updated non-
relational (NoSQL)databases find applicability. They are not only capable of handling complex data
management needs, but also provide numerous database options for diverse needs and data types.
NoSQL forms the bedrock for big data and analytics, which enables organizations to make highly-
informed strategic decisions.
Our comprehensive offerings of new age database management services

Overall System Architecture

The architecture of a database system is greatly influenced by the underlying computer system on which the
database is running:
i. Centralized.
ii. Client-server.
iii. Parallel (multi-processor).
iv. Distributed
Database Users:
Users are differentiated by the way they expect to interact with the system:
• Application programmers:
o Application programmers are computer professionals who write application programs.
Application programmers can choose from many tools to develop user interfaces.
o Rapid application development (RAD) tools are tools that enable an application programmer
to construct forms and reports without writing a program.
• Sophisticated users:
o Sophisticated users interact with the system without writing programs. Instead, they form their
requests in a database query language.
o They submit each such query to a query processor, whose function is to break down DML
statements into instructions that the storage manager understands.
• Specialized users :
o Specialized users are sophisticated users who write specialized database applications that do
not fit into the traditional data-processing framework.
 o Among these applications are computer-aided design systems, knowledge base and expert
systems, systems that store data with complex data types (for example, graphics data and audio
data), and environment-modeling systems.
• Naive users :
o Naive users are unsophisticated users who interact with the system by invoking one of the
application programs that have been written previously.
o For example, a bank teller who needs to transfer $50 from account A to account B invokes a
program called transfer. This program asks the teller for the amount of money to be transferred,
the account from which the money is to be transferred, and the account to which the money is
to be transferred.
Database Administrator:
• Coordinates all the activities of the database system. The database administrator has a good
understanding of the enterprise’s information resources and needs.
• Database administrator's duties include:
o Schema definition: The DBA creates the original database schema by executing a set of data
definition statements in the DDL.
o Storage structure and access method definition.
o Schema and physical organization modification: The DBA carries out changes to the
schema and physical organization to reflect the changing needs of the organization, or to alter
the physical organization to improve performance.
o Granting user authority to access the database: By granting different types of
authorization, the database administrator can regulate which parts of the database various
users can access.
o Specifying integrity constraints.
o Monitoring performance and responding to changes in requirements.
Query Processor:
The query processor will accept query from user and solves it by accessing the database.
Parts of Query processor:
• DDL interpreter
This will interprets DDL statements and fetch the definitions in the data dictionary.
• DML compiler
a. This will translates DML statements in a query language into low level instructions that the query
evaluation engine understands.
b. A query can usually be translated into any of a number of alternative evaluation plans for same
query result DML compiler will select best plan for query optimization.
• Query evaluation engine
This engine will execute low-level instructions generated by the DML compiler on DBMS.
Storage Manager/Storage Management:
• A storage manager is a program module which acts like interface between the data stored in a
database and the application programs and queries submitted to the system.
• Thus, the storage manager is responsible for storing, retrieving and updating data in the database.
 • The storage manager components include:
o Authorization and integrity manager: Checks for integrity constraints and authority of
users to access data.
o Transaction manager: Ensures that the database remains in a consistent state although there
are system failures.
o File manager: Manages the allocation of space on disk storage and the data structures used
to represent information stored on disk.
o Buffer manager: It is responsible for retrieving data from disk storage into main memory. It
enables the database to handle data sizes that are much larger than the size of main memory.
o Data structures implemented by storage manager.
o Data files: Stored in the database itself.
o Data dictionary: Stores metadata about the structure of the database.
o Indices: Provide fast access to data items.
Data Dictionary
Data Dictionary consists of database metadata. It has records about objects in the database.
Data Dictionary consists of the following information:
1. Name of the tables in the database
2. Constraints of a table i.e. keys, relationships, etc.
3. Columns of the tables that related to each other
4. Owner of the table
5. Last accessed information of the object
6. Last updated information of the object
An example of Data Dictionary can be personal details of a student:
Example
<StudentPersonalDetails>
Student_ID Student_Name Student_Address Student_City
The following is the data dictionary for the above fields:
Field Name Datatype Field Length Constraint Description
Student_ID Number 5 Primary Key Student id
Student_Name Varchar 20 Not Null Name of the student
Student_Address Varchar 30 Not Null Address of the student
Student_City Varchar 20 Not Null City of the Student
Types of Data Dictionary
Here are the two types of data dictionary:
Active Data Dictionary
The DBMS software manages the active data dictionary automatically. The modification is an automatic task
and most RDBMS has active data dictionary. It is also known as integrated data dictionary.
Passive Data Dictionary
Managed by the users and is modified manually when the database structure change. Also known as non-
integrated data dictionary.
The ER model defines the conceptual view of a database. It works around real-world entities and the
associations among them. At view level, the ER model is considered a good option for designing databases.
 Entity

An entity can be a real-world object, either animate or inanimate, that can be easily identifiable. For example,
in a school database, students, teachers, classes, and courses offered can be considered as entities. All these
entities have some attributes or properties that give them their identity.
An entity set is a collection of similar types of entities. An entity set may contain entities with attribute sharing
similar values. For example, a Students set may contain all the students of a school; likewise a Teachers set
may contain all the teachers of a school from all faculties. Entity sets need not be disjoint.
A real-world thing either living or non-living that is easily recognizable and nonrecognizable. It is anything in
the enterprise that is to be represented in our database. It may be a physical thing or simply a fact about the
enterprise or an event that happens in the real world.
An entity can be place, person, object, event or a concept, which stores data in the database. The characteristics
of entities are must have an attribute, and a unique key. Every entity is made up of some 'attributes' which
represent that entity.
Examples of entities:
• Person: Employee, Student, Patient
• Place: Store, Building
• Object: Machine, product, and Car
• Event: Sale, Registration, Renewal
• Concept: Account, Course
An entity may be any object, class, person or place. In the ER diagram, an entity can be represented as
rectangles.
Consider an organization as an example- manager, product, employee, department etc. can be taken as
an entity.

a. Weak Entity
An entity that depends on another entity called a weak entity. The weak entity doesn't contain any key attribute
of its own. The weak entity is represented by a double rectangle.

Relationship (E-R)
A relationship is used to describe the relation between entities. Diamond or rhombus is used to represent the
relationship.

Types of relationship are as follows:

1. One-to-One Relationship
When only one instance of an entity is associated with the relationship, then it is known as one to one relationship.
For example, A female can marry to one male, and a male can marry to one female.

2. One-to-many relationship
When only one instance of the entity on the left, and more than one instance of an entity on the right
associates with the relationship then this is known as a one-to-many relationship.
For example, Scientist can invent many inventions, but the invention is done by the only specific
scientist.

3. Many-to-one relationship
When more than one instance of the entity on the left, and only one instance of an entity on the right
associates with the relationship then it is known as a many-to-one relationship.
For example, Student enrolls for only one course, but a course can have many students.

4. Many-to-many relationship
When more than one instance of the entity on the left, and more than one instance of an entity on the right
associates with the relationship then it is known as a many-to-many relationship.
For example, Employee can assign by many projects and project can have many employees.

Enhanced Entity – Relationship Model

The enhanced entity–relationship (EER) model (or extended entity–relationship model) in computer science
is a high-level or conceptual data model incorporating extensions to the original entity–relationship (ER)
model, used in the design of databases.
Prerequisite –
Generalization, Specialization and Aggregation in ER model are used for data abstraction in which abstraction
mechanism is used to hide details of a set of objects.
Generalization –
Generalization is the process of extracting common properties from a set of entities and create a generalized
entity from it. It is a bottom-up approach in which two or more entities can be generalized to a higher level
entity if they have some attributes in common. For Example, STUDENT and FACULTY can be generalized
to a higher level entity called PERSON as shown in Figure 1. In this case, common attributes like P_NAME,
P_ADD become part of higher entity (PERSON) and specialized attributes like S_FEE become part of
specialized entity (STUDENT).
Specialization –
In specialization, an entity is divided into sub-entities based on their characteristics. It is a top-down approach
where higher level entity is specialized into two or more lower level entities. For Example, EMPLOYEE entity
in an Employee management system can be specialized into DEVELOPER, TESTER etc. as shown in Figure
2. In this case, common attributes like E_NAME, E_SAL etc. become part of higher entity (EMPLOYEE) and
specialized attributes like TES_TYPE become part of specialized entity (TESTER).

Aggregation –
An ER diagram is not capable of representing relationship between an entity and a relationship which may be
required in some scenarios. In those cases, a relationship with its corresponding entities is aggregated into a
higher level entity. For Example, Employee working for a project may require some machinery. So, REQUIRE
relationship is needed between relationship WORKS_FOR and entity MACHINERY. Using aggregation,
WORKS_FOR relationship with its entities EMPLOYEE and PROJECT is aggregated into single entity and
relationship REQUIRE is created between aggregated entity and MACHINERY.