Chapter 2

DB Environment

ITIS 213
Objectives
 Purpose of three-level database architecture.
 Contents of external, conceptual, and internal levels.
 Purpose of external/conceptual and conceptual/internal mappings.
 Meaning of logical and physical data independence.
 Distinction between DDL and DML.
 A classification of data models.
 Purpose/importance of conceptual modeling.
 Typical functions and services a DBMS should provide.
 Function and importance of system catalog.
 Software components of a DBMS.
 Meaning of client–server architecture and advantages of this type of
architecture for a DBMS.
 Function and uses of Transaction Processing Monitors.

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Three-Level Architecture
 Early proposal for a standard terminology and general
architecture for DBSs was produced in 1971

 2-level approach with a system view called the schema

and user views called subschemas.

 The American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

Standards Planning and Requirements Committee
(SPARC) produced a similar architecture but
recognized 3 levels including a system catalog.

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Three-Level Architecture
 3 distinct levels at which data items can be described:
◦ External level: the way the users perceive the data
◦ Conceptual level: provides both the mapping and the desired
independence between the external and the internal levels.
◦ Internal level: the way the DBMS and the OS perceive the data

◦ The data is actually stored

using the data structure and
file organizations.

ANSI-SPACR 3-level architecture 4 / 85

Objectives of the 3-level Architecture
 The objective is to separate each user’s view of the DB
from the way the DB is physically represented. Why?
◦ Each user should be able to access same data, but have
different customized view.
◦ Each user should be able to change the way they view the data,
which should not affect other users.
◦ Users should not have to deal directly with physical DB
storage details (e.g. indexing, hashing).
◦ DBA should be able to change the DB storage structure
without affecting the users’ views.
◦ DBA should be able change the conceptual structure of the DB
without affecting all users.

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External Level
 Users’ view of the DB, it describes that part of DB that
is relevant to a particular user.

 Consists of a number of different external views of the

DB. Each user has a view of the real world.

 It includes those entities, attributes, and relationships in

the real world that the user is interested in, others may
exist but the user will be unaware of.

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External Level
 Different users may have different views of the same
data
◦ day month year or year month day

 Some views might include derived or calculated data,

which is not actually stored in the DB but created when
needed.
◦ Age is calculated form the DOB
◦ Combined from different entities

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Conceptual Level
 Community view of the DB, describes what data is
stored in DB and relationships among the data.

 Contains the logical structure of the entire DB as seen

by the DBA.

 It is a complete view of the data requirements of the

organization that is independent of any storage
considerations.

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Conceptual Level
 Represents:
◦ All entities, their attributes, and their relationships
◦ The constraints on the data
◦ Semantic information about the data
◦ Security and integrity information

 Supports each external view, such that any data

available to a user must be contained in, or derivable
from, the conceptual level.

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10 / 85
Conceptual Level
 Must not contain any storage-dependent details.

 Example:
◦ Description of an entity should contain only data type of
attributes and their length, but not any storage considerations
such as the number of bytes occupied.

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Internal Level
 Physical representation of the DB on the computer.

 Describes how the data is stored in the DB.

 Covers the physical implementation of the DB to

achieve optimal runtime performance and storage space
utilization.

 It covers the data structures and file organizations used

to store data on storage devices.

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Internal Level
 It interfaces with the OS access methods (i.e. file
management techniques for storing and retrieving data
records) to:
◦ place the data on the storage devices
◦ build the indexes
◦ retrieve the data
 It concerns with:
◦ Storage space allocation for data and indexes
◦ Record descriptions for storage (with stored sizes for data
items)
◦ Record placement
◦ Data compression and data encryption techniques
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The Physical Level
 Managed by the OS under the direction of the
DBMS. But the function of the OS and DBMS
may vary from system to system.
◦ Some DBMS take advantage of many of the OS
access methods, while others use only the most
basic ones and create their own file organizations.

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The Physical Level
 The physical level consists of items only the
OS knows such as exactly how the
sequencing is implemented and whether the
fields of internal records are stored as
continuous bytes on the disk.

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Schema, Mappings, & Instances
 The overall description of the DB is called the
DB schema.

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Schema, Mappings, & Instances
 Types of schema in the DB defined according
to the 3-level architecture:
◦ External schema (or subschemas): correspond to
different views of the data.
◦ Conceptual schema: describes all the entities,
attributes, and relationships together with integrity
constraints.
◦ Internal schema: complete description of the
internal model, containing the definitions of stored
records, the methods of representation, the data
fields, and the indexes and storage structures used.
◦ There is only one conceptual schema and one
internal schema per DB.
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Schema, Mappings, & Instances
 The DBMS is responsible for mapping
between these 3 types of schema.

 The DBMS checks the schemas for

consistency
◦ i.e. each external schema is derivable from the
conceptual schema, and it must use the information
in the conceptual schema to map between each
external schema and the internal schema.

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Schema, Mappings, & Instances
 The conceptual schema is related to the
internal schema through a
conceptual/internal mapping.
 This enables the DBMS to find the actual

record or combination of records in physical

storage that constitute a logical record in the
conceptual schema, together with any
constraints to be enforced on the operations
for that logical record.
 DBMS maintains the conceptual/internal

mapping.
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Schema, Mappings, & Instances
 The DBMS allows any differences in:
◦ entity names
◦ attribute names
◦ attribute order
◦ data types, and so on
to be resolved.
 Each external schema is related to the
conceptual schema by the
external/conceptual mapping allowing the
DBMS to map names in the user’s view on to
the relevant part of the conceptual schema.

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Schema, Mappings, & Instances

The 2 external views are merged

into one conceptual view.

The age field has been changed into a

DOB. The DBMS maintains the
external/conceptual mapping.

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Schema, Mappings, & Instances
Example: DBMS
maps the sNo field
of the 1st external
view to the staffNo
field of the
conceptual record.

The conceptual level

is then mapped to
the internal level,
which contains a
physical description At this level, we see a
of the structure for definition of the structure in a
the conceptual high-level language.
record.

The structure contains a pointer

(next) which allows the list of staff
records to be physical linked The order of fields at the
together to form a chain. internal level is different from
that at the conceptual level.
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Schema, Mappings, & Instances
 It is important to distinguish between the
description of the DB and the DB itself.
◦ The description of the DB is the DB schema (or
intension). It is specified during the DB design
process and is not expected to change frequently.
◦ The actual data in the DB may change frequently.
 Ex: it changes every time we insert details of a new
member of staff.

◦ The data in the DB at any particular point in time is

called a DB instance (or extension). Therefore,
many DB instances can correspond to the same DB
schema.
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Data Independence
 A major objective for the 3-level architecture is to provide
data independence, which means that upper levels are
unaffected by changes to lower levels.
 Kinds of data independence:
◦ Logical data independence - Refers to the immunity of the external
schemas to changes in the conceptual schema. Ex: addition or removal
of new entities, attributes, or relationships, should be possible without
having to change existing external schemas or having to rewrite
application programs.
◦ Physical data independence - Refers to the immunity of the
conceptual schema to changes in the internal schema.
using different file organizations or storage structure,
using different storage devices, modifying indexes, or
hashing algorithms, should be possible without having to
change the conceptual or external schemas.

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Physical Data Independence
 The following figure illustrates where each
type of data independence occurs in relation
to the 3-level architecture.

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Physical Data Independence
 The 2-stage mapping in the ANSI-SPARC
architecture may be inefficient, but provides
greater data independence.
 For more efficient mapping, the ANSI-SPARC

model allows the direct mapping of external

schemas on to the internal schema, thus
bypassing the conceptual schema.
 This reduces data independence, so that every

time the internal schema changes, the external

schema and any dependent application
programs may also have to change.
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 Called sublanguages because they don’t include
constructs for all computing needs such as

DB Languages conditional or iterative statements which are

provided by high-level programming languages

 Data Sublanguage consists of 2 parts:

◦ Data Definition Language (DDL)
 Used to specify the DB schema
 Allows the DBA or user to describe and name entities,
attributes, and relationships required for the
application
 plus any associated integrity and security constraints.

◦ Data Manipulation Language (DML)

 Used to both read and update the DB
 Provides basic data manipulation operations on data
held in the database.

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DB Languages
 Many DBMS have a facility for embedding the
sublanguage in a high-level language (e.g C+
+ which is called here a host language.
 To compile the embedded file:

◦ The commands in the data sublanguage are first

removed from the host language program
◦ Replaced by function calls
◦ The pre-pocessed file is then compiled
◦ Placed in an object module
◦ Linked with a DBMS-specific library containing the
replaced functions
◦ Executed when required.
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Data Definition Language (DDL)
 A language that allows the DBA or user to
describe and name the entities, attributes,
and relationships required for the application,
together with any associated integrity and
security constraints.

 The DB schema is specified by the DDL. It is

used to define a new one or modify an
existing one. It can’t be used to manipulate
data.

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Data Definition Language (DDL)
 The result of the compilation of the DDL
statements is a set of tables stored in special
files collectively called the system catalog (or
data dictionary, data directory).
 The system catalog integrates the metadata,

that is data that describes objects in the DB

and makes it easier for those objects to be
accessed or manipulated.
◦ Metadata contains definitions of records, data items
and other objects that are of interest to users or are
required by the DBMS.

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Data Definition Language (DDL)
 The DBMS normally consults the system
catalog before the actual data is accessed in
the DB.
 Theoretically, different DDLs can be identified

for each schema in the 3-level architecture:

◦ A DDL for the external schemas
◦ A DDL for the conceptual schema
◦ A DDL for the internal schema
 But in practice, there is one comprehensive
DDL that allows specification of at least the
external and conceptual schemas.
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Data Manipulation Language (DML)
 A language that provides a set of operations
to support the basic data manipulation
operations:
◦ Insertion of new data into the DB
◦ Modification of data stored in the DB
◦ Retrieval of data stored in the DB
◦ Deletion of data from the DB
 Hence, one of the main functions of the DBMS
is to support a DML in which the user can
construct statements that will cause such
data manipulation to occur.

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Data Manipulation Language (DML)
 Data manipulation applies to
At higher levels, emphasis is placed on ease of
use and effort is directed at providing efficient
◦ The external level user interaction with the system

◦ The conceptual level

◦ The Internal level At the internal level we must define rather

complex low-level procedures that allow
efficient data access.

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Data Manipulation Language (DML)
 The part of DML that involves data retrieval is
called query language. It is a High level special
purpose language used to satisfy diverse requests
for the retrieval of data held in the DB
 Types of DMLs (based on their underlying retrieval
constructs):
◦ Procedural DML
 Specifies how the output of a DML statement is to be
obtained
 Treat records individually
◦ Non-procedural DML
 Describe only what output is to be obtained
 Operate on sets of records

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1. Procedural DML
 A language that allows the user to tell the system
what data is needed and exactly how to retrieve the
data.
 The user must express all the data access
operations that are to be used by calling
appropriate procedures to obtain the information
required.
 Procedural DMLs are embedded in a high level
programming language that contains constructs to
facilitate iteration and handle navigational logic.
 Network and hierarchical DMLs are procedural

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2. Non-Procedural DMLs
 Also called declarative language which allows the
user to state what data is needed rather than how it
is to be retrieved.
 Allow the required data to be specified in a single
retrieval or update statement.
 User specifies what data is required without
specifying how it is to be obtained.
 The DBMS translates a DML statement into one or
more procedures that manipulate the required sets
of records.
 Easier to learn than procedural language such as
SQL and QBE(Query by Example).

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4th Generation Languages (4GLs)
 An operation that requires hundreds of lines
in a 3GL, requires significantly fewer lines in
4GL.
 3GL is procedural, 4GL is non-procedural
 In 4GL the user does not define steps, but

defines parameters
 4GL relies on 4GL tools
 4GL can improve productivity by a factor of

ten

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4th Generation Languages (4GLs)
 4GL encompasses:
◦ Presentation language, such as query languages
and report generators
◦ Specialty languages, such as spreadsheet and DB
languages
◦ Application generators that define, insert, update,
and retrieve data from the DB to build applications
◦ Very high-level languages that are used to generate
application code

 SQL and QBE are examples of 4GL

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4GLs: Form Generators
 Interactive facility for rapidly creating data
input and display layouts for screen forms.
 Allows users to define what the screen is to

look like, what information is to be displayed,

colors for screen elements, etc.
 The better forms generators allows the

creation of derived attributes, perhaps using

arithmetic operators or aggregates, and the
specification of validation checks for data
input.

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4GLs: Report Generators
 Facility for crating reports from data stored in
the DB.
 Similar to a query language in that it allows

the user to ask questions of the DB and

retrieve information from it for a report.
 Much greater control over what the output

looks like.
 We can let the report generator automatically

determine how the output look or we can

create our own customized output reports
using a special report generator command
instructions. 40 / 85
4GLs: Report Generators
 Types:
◦ Language-oriented
 We enter a command in a sublanguage to define what
data is to be included in the report and how the report
is to be laid out.

◦ Visually oriented
 We use a facility similar to a forms generator to define
the same information.

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4GLs: Graphics Generators
 Facility to retrieve data from the DB and
display it as a graph showing trends and
relationships in the data.
◦ Bar charts
◦ Pie charts
◦ Line charts
◦ Scatter charts

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4GLs: Application Generators
 Facility for producing a program that
interfaces with the DB.
 Reduces the design time
 Consists of pre-written modules that

comprise fundamental functions that most

programs use.
◦ Modules written in a high-level language
◦ Modules constitute a library of functions to choose
from.
 The user specifies what the program is
supposed to do, the application generator
determines how to perform the tasks.
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Data Models and Conceptual
Modeling
 Schema is written using data definition
language
 Unfortunately, this language is too low level

to describe the data requirements of an

organization in a way that is readily
understandable by a variety of users.
 What we require is a higher-level description

of the schema, which is a data model.

 Data model: an integrated collection of

concepts for describing and manipulating

data, relationships between data, and
constraints on the data in an organization. 44 / 85
Data Models and Conceptual
Modeling
 A model is a representation of a real-world
objects and events and their associations.
 It is an abstraction that concentrates on he

essential, inherent aspects of an organization

itself.
 It should provide the basic concepts and

notations that will allow DB designers and

end users unambiguously and accurately to
communicate their understanding of the
organizational data.

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Data Model Components
 Structural part: construction rules of DB

 Manipulation part: defining the types of

operation that are allowed on the data (i.e.
operations for updating, retrieving, and
changing the structure of the DB).

 Set of integrity constraint: insures the data is

accurate.

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Purpose of Data Model
 To represent data and to make the data
understandable  the DB can easily be
designed

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Levels of Data Models According to
the ANSI SPARC Architecture
 External data model: to represent each user’s
view of the organization, sometimes called
the universe of discourse (UoD).

 Conceptual data model: to represent the

logical view that is DBMS-independent.

 Internal data model: to represent the

conceptual schema in such a way that it can
be understood.

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Categories of Data Models
Object-based data model
}
 Used to describe data at the
conceptual and external level
 Record-based data model
 Physical data model
Describes data at the
internal level

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1. Object-based Data Models
 Uses concepts such as entities, attributes and
relationships.

 Entity: distinct object (person, event) in an

organization that is to be represented in the
DB.
 Attribute: property that describe some aspect

of the object that we wish to record.

 Relationship: association between entities.

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Common Types of Object-based Data
Model
 Entity-Relationship
 Semantic
 Functional
 Object Oriented

◦ Extends the definition of an entity to include not

only the attributes that describe the state of the
object but also the actions that are associated with
the object, i.e. its behavior. The object is said to
encapsulate both state and behavior.

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2. Record-based Data Models
 The DB consists of a number of fixed-format
records possibly of different types.
 Each record type defines a fixed number of

fields, each typically of fixed length.

 Types: 1. Majority of modern commercial systems.
2. Provides substantial amount of data
independence.
◦ Relational data model 3. Adopt a declarative approach to DB

}
processing, i.e specifying what data is to be
◦ Network data model retrieved.

◦ Hierarchical data model

1. Early DB systems were based on
either the network or hierarchical
data models.
2. Require the user to have knowledge
of the physical DB being accessed.
3. Adopt a navigational approach i.e
specifying how the data is to be
retrieved.

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2. Record-based Data Models
 Used to specify the overall structure of the DB
and a higher-level description of the
implementation.
 Drawback:

◦ They do not provide adequate facilities for explicitly

specifying constraints on the data, whereas the
object-based model lack the means of logical
structure specification but provide more semantic
substance by allowing the user to specify constraint
on the data.

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A. Relational Data Model
 Based on the concept of mathematical
relations.
 Data and relationships are represented as

tables.
 Each table has a number of columns with a

unique name.

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A. Relational Data Model

There is a relationship between

the two tables: a branch office
has staff.

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A. Relational Data Model
 It requires that the DB be perceived by the
user as table.
 This perception applies only to the logical

structure of the DB, i.e. the external and

conceptual level of the ANSI-SPARC
architecture. It does not apply to the physical
structure of the DB which can be
implemented by a variety of storage
structures.

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B. Network Data Model
 Data is represented as collections of records,
and relationships are represented by sets.
 Records appear as nodes (or segments), and

sets as edges in the graph.

 Most popular Network DBMS is Computer

Associates’ IDMS/R.

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C. Hierarchical Data Model
 Restricted type of network model
 Data is represented as collections of records

and relationships are represented by sets.

 Allows a node to have only one parent
 Can be represented as a tree graph, with

records appearing as nodes (or segments)

and sets as edges.
 Most popular hierarchical DBMS is IBM’s IMS

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C. Hierarchical Data Model

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Physical Data Models
 Describe how data is stored in the computer,
representing information such as
◦ Record structures
◦ Record orderings
◦ Access paths

 Most common ones:

◦ Unifying model
◦ Frame memory

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Conceptual Modeling
 Conceptual schema is the heart of the DB
 It supports all the external views and is

supported by the internal schema.

 The internal schema is merely the physical

implementation of the conceptual schema.

 The conceptual schema should be a complete

and accurate representation of the data

requirements of the enterprise ensuring that
all information are complete and correctly
represented.

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Conceptual Modeling
 Conceptual modeling (or conceptual DB
design) is the process of constructing a
model of the information use in an enterprise
that is independent of implementation
details, such as the target DBMS, application
programs, programming languages, or any
other physical considerations.
 It is independent of all implementation

details, whereas the logical model assumes

knowledge of the underlying data model of
the target DBMS.
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Functions of a DBMS
1. Data Storage, Retrieval, and Update

◦ Ability to store, retrieve, and update data in the DB

◦ Benefit: DBMS hides the internal physical

implementation details such as file organization
and storage structure from users

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Functions of a DBMS
2. A User-Accessible Catalog
◦ To store description of data items and which is
accessible to users:
 Names, types and sizes of data items
 Names of relationships
 Integrity constraints on the data
 Names of authorized users who have access to data
 Data items that each user can access and types of access
allowed, e.g insert, update, delete, or read access
 External, conceptual, and internal schemas and the
mappings between the schemas
 Usage statistics, e.g. frequencies of transactions and
counts on the number of accesses made to objects in DB

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Functions of a DBMS
 DBMS System catalog is a fundamental
component, many software components rely
on it for information.
 Benefit of a system catalog:

◦ Information about data can be collected and stored

centrally. This helps to maintain control over the
data as a resource.
◦ The meaning of data can be defined, which will help
other users understand the purpose of the data.
◦ Communication is simplified, since exact meanings
are stored. The system catalog may also identify
the user or users who own or access the data.

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Functions of a DBMS
 Benefit of a system catalog (Cont):
◦ Redundancy and inconsistencies can be identified
more easily since the data is centralized.
◦ Changes to the DB can be recorded.
◦ The impact of a change can be determined before it
is implemented, since the system catalog records
each data item, all its relationships, and all its
users.
◦ Security can be enforced.
◦ Integrity can be ensured.
◦ Audit information can be provided.

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Functions of a DBMS
3. Transaction Support
◦ Mechanism which will ensure either that all the
updates corresponding to a given transaction are
made or that none of them is made

◦ A transaction is a series of actions, carried out by a

single user or application program, which accesses
or changes the contents of the DB.

◦ Ex:
 Add a new member of staff to the DB
 Update the salary of a member of staff
 Delete a property from the register 67 / 85
Functions of a DBMS
◦ Ex:
 Delete a member of staff from the DB
 Reassign the properties that he or she managed to
another member of staff

◦ If the transaction fails during execution, (e.g

computer crash) the DB will be in an inconsistent
state, i.e. some changes will have been made and
others not. Hence, the changes that have been
made will have to be undone to return the DB to a
consistent state again.

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Functions of a DBMS
4. Concurrency Control Services
◦ To ensure that the DB is updated correctly when
multiple users are updating the DB concurrently

◦ Concurrence access is relatively easy if all users are

only reading data, as there is no way that they can
interfere with one another.
◦ But when 2 or more users are accessing the DB
simultaneously and at least one of them is updating
data, there may be interference that can result in
inconsistencies.

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Functions of a DBMS
T1 T2
Withdrawing Depositing
T1 T $10
2 balx $100

t1 read(balx) 100
t2 read(balx) balx=balx+100100
t3 balx=balx-10 write(balx) 200
t4 write(balx) 90
t5 90
◦ If T1 and T2 were executed serially, the final balance
would be $190 regardless of which was performed
first.
◦ But they start nearly at the same time and both read
$100. T2 then increases balx by $100 to $200 and
stores the update in the DB. Meanwhile, T 1
decrements its copy of balx by $10 to $90 and
stores this value in the DB, overwriting the previous 70 / 85
Functions of a DBMS
5. Recovery Services
◦ To recover the DB in the event of damage
◦ Causes of damage:
 System crash
 Media failure
 Hardware or software error causing the DBMS to stop
 Power failure
 Result of the user detecting an error during the
transaction and aborting the transaction before it
completes

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Functions of a DBMS
6. Authorization Services.
◦ Only authorized users can access the DB
◦ Ex: only branch manager is allowed to see salary-
related information for staff
◦ To protect the DB from unauthorized access,
intentional or unintentional (security)

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Functions of a DBMS
7. Support for Data Communication
◦ DBMS must be capable of integrating with
communication software
◦ Most users access the DB from workstations
connected:
 directly to the computer hosting the DBMS or
 Remotely through a network
◦ The DBMS receives a communication messages and
response in a similar way
◦ All transmissions are handled by Data
Communication Manager (DCM)
◦ DCM is not part of the DBMS but integrated with the
DBMS
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Functions of a DBMS
8. Integrity Services
◦ Both the data in the DB and the changes to the data
follow certain rules
◦ DB integrity: correctness and consistency of stored
data. It is another type of data protection
◦ Integrity is concerned with the quality of data
◦ Integrity is usually expressed in terms of
constraints (consistency rules that the DB is not
permitted to violate)

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Functions of a DBMS
9. Services to Promote Data Independence.
◦ To support the independence of programs from the
actual structure of the DB
◦ Data independence is achieved through a view or
subschema mechanism.
◦ Physical data independence is easier to achieve
◦ Logical data independence is more difficult (in
some systems, any type of change to the logical
structure is prohibited)
◦ It is easy to add new entity, attribute, and
relationship but difficult to remove

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Functions of a DBMS
10. Utility Services
◦ Help the DBA to administer the DB
◦ Some utilities work at the external level and
consequently can be produced by the DBA. Others
work at the internal level and can be provided by
the DBMS vendor
◦ Examples
 Import facilities (from flat files) and export facilities
 Monitoring facilities: to monitor the DB usage
 Statistical analysis: to examine performance
 Index reorganization facilities
 Garbage collection and reallocation: to remove deleted
records physically from the storage devices to
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