Components and Functionalities of a

Database System
• A database system is partitioned into
modules that deal with each of the
responsibilities of the overall system.
• The functional components of a
database system can be broadly
partitioned into two:
– storage manager and
– the query processor components as shown
in the figure next slide.

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Database System Structure
Components and Functionalities of
a Database System
• Storage manager: is a program module
that provides interface between the low
level data stored in the database and the
application programs or queries submitted
to the system.
• The storage manager translates the
various DML statements into low level file
system commands (the conventional
operating system commands); this it is
responsible for storing, retrieving and
updating data.
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Components and Functionalities of a
Database System
• The main components of the storage manager
are:
– Authorization and integrity manager: checks for
credentials of the users and tests for the integrity
constraints.
– Transaction Manager: enables to preserve
consistency despite system failure and avoid conflict
at the time of concurrent transaction.
– File manager: manages disk storage allocation and
data structure for stored data.
– Buffer manger: is responsible for fetching data from
disk storage to the main memory.

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Components and Functionalities of a
Database System
• Query Processor: is a module that handles
queries as well as requests for modification of
the data and metadata. Some of the components
are:
– DDL interpreter (compiler): processes DDL
statements for schema definition (meta-data) and
records the definitions in the data dictionary.
– DML compiler: analyze, translates and optimizes
DML statements in a high-level query language into
an evaluation plan consisting of low-level instructions
codes to the query evaluation (execution) engine.
– Query evaluation engine: execute low-level
instructions generated by the DML compiler.
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 Data Models
• Data Model: A set of concepts to describe
the structure of a database, and certain
constraints that the database should obey.
• Data Model Operations: Operations for
specifying database retrievals and updates
by referring to the concepts of the data model.
Operations on the data model may include basic
operations and user-defined operations.

Slide 2-6
 Types of Data Models
• Hierarchical Model
• Network Model
• Relational Model
• High-level (Conceptual) Model
– Entity–Relationship Model
– Enhanced Entity-Relationship
Model

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 1. Hierarchical Model
• organizes data in a tree structure.
• uses Parent Child Relationships (one to many).
– Each parent can have many children
– Each child has only one parent
• implies that a record can have repeating information,
generally in the child data segments.
• popular from the late 1960s, with the introduction of IBM's
Information Management System (IMS) DBMS, through the
1970s.

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Example

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 2. Network Model
• permitted the modeling of many-to-many
relationships in data.
• Each record can have multiple parents
– Composed of sets
– Each set has owner record and member record
– Member may have several owners
• The data model is a simple network, and link and
intersection record types may exist, as well as sets
between them
• In 1971, the Conference on Data Systems
Languages (CODASYL) formally defined the
network model.
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Example

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 3. Relational Model
• The history of the relational database began with E.F.
Codd's 1970 paper, A Relational Model of Data for Large
Shared Data Banks. The concept derives from his
principles of relational algebra. Most of the database
systems in use today are based on the relational system,
know as Relational Database Management Systems
(RDBMS)
• The model initial allows the definition of data
structures, storage and retrieval operations and
integrity constraints. In such a database the data and
relations between them are organized in tables.
• A table is a collection of records and each record in a table
contains the same fields organized in columns.
• The records in the table form the rows of the table.
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Example

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 Steps of Database
Design
• In general, it involves three steps
– Requirements analysis – specifies what
the system is required to do based on user
input.
– Design – specifies how the system will
address the requirements.
• Conceptual Design
• Logical Design
• Physical Design
– Implementation – translates design
specifications into a working system.
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 Requirement analysis
• determines the data, information, system
components, data processing and analysis functions
required by the system.
• involves the process of identifying and documenting
the data required by users to meet present and
future information needs.
• Requirements are determined by interviewing
producers and users of data and producing a formal
requirements specification. The specification
includes
– the data required for processing, natural data
relationships, constraints with respect to performance,
integrity and security.
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 Requirement analysis
• The Requirements analysis should address
the following questions
- What user views are required (present and
future)?
- What data elements are required in these user
views?
- What are the primary keys that uniquely
identify entities in the organization?
- What are the relationships between data
elements?
- What are the operational requirements such as
security, integrity, and response time?
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 Steps in Requirements
Analysis
1. Identify scope of the design effort.
2. Establish metadata collection standards – who to
interview, what to collect, how to structure interview.
3. Identify user views – extracted by reviewing user tasks,
types of decisions. Forms, reports, graphs, maps can be
useful information for defining views.
– User view- subset of data used by a user in a specific
context
4. Build a data dictionary – define and describe each item
in detail: name, description, type, length, range and
relationships
5. Identify data volumes and usage patterns – how
much data is used and how frequently is data change.
6. Identify operational (functional) requirements.
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 Design
• Design of a database involves three types of
designing steps:
– Conceptual Design: Synthesis of information from
requirements analysis according to semantic rules.
Outcome is a conceptual model. The conceptual
model describes entities, attributes and relations
among entities independent of implementation details.
– Logical Design: Transforms the conceptual data
model into an internal model - schema that can be
processed by a particular DBMS. For example E/R
model to relational model mapping.
– Physical Design: Involves design of internal storage
structures, record formats, access methods, record
blocking and soon. [Requires a higher level study]
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 Implementation
• is simply translating the implementation
design into one of the database
management systems. That is
writing/developing the entities and/or the
objects in the database schema together with
their relationships and constraints.

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 Schemas versus Instances
• Database Schema: The description of a database.
Includes descriptions of the database structure and
the constraints that should hold on the database.
• Schema Diagram: A diagrammatic display of (some
aspects of) a database schema.
• Schema Construct: A component of the schema or
an object within the schema, e.g., STUDENT, COURSE.
• Database Instance: The actual data stored in a
database at a particular moment in time. Also called
database state (or occurrence).

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Database Schema Vs. Database State
• Database State: Refers to the content of a database at a
moment in time.
• Initial Database State: Refers to the database when it is
loaded
• Valid State: A state that satisfies the structure and
constraints of the database.
• Distinction
• The database schema changes very infrequently. The database
state changes every time the database is updated.
• Schema is also called intension, whereas state is called
extension.

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 Three-Schema Architecture
• Proposed to support DBMS characteristics of:
• Program-data independence.
• Support of multiple views of the data.

Slide 2-23
 Three-Schema Architecture
• Defines DBMS schemas at three levels:
• Internal schema at the internal level to describe physical
storage structures and access paths. Typically uses a
physical data model.
• Conceptual schema at the conceptual level to describe the
structure and constraints for the whole database for a
community of users. Uses a conceptual or an
implementation data model.
• External schemas at the external level to describe the
various user views. Usually uses the same data model as
the conceptual level.

Slide 2-24
 Data Independence
• Logical Data Independence: The capacity to
change the conceptual schema without having
to change the external schemas and their
application programs.
• Physical Data Independence: The capacity to
change the internal schema without having to
change the conceptual schema.

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 DBMS Languages
• Data Definition Language (DDL): Used by the DBA
and database designers to specify the conceptual
schema of a database. In many DBMSs, the DDL is
also used to define internal and external schemas
(views). In some DBMSs, separate storage definition
language (SDL) and view definition language (VDL)
are used to define internal and external schemas.

Slide 2-26
 DBMS Languages
• Data Manipulation Language (DML): Used to
specify database retrievals and updates.
• DML commands (data sublanguage) can be
embedded in a general-purpose programming
language (host language), such as COBOL, C or an
Assembly Language.
• Alternatively, stand-alone DML commands can be
applied directly (query language).

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 DBMS Languages
• High Level or Non-procedural Languages: e.g.,
SQL, are set-oriented and specify what data to
retrieve than how to retrieve. Also called
declarative languages.
• Low Level or Procedural Languages: record-
at-a-time; they specify how to retrieve data
and include constructs such as looping.

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 Centralized and Client-Server
Architectures
• Centralized DBMS: combines everything into
single system including- DBMS software,
hardware, application programs and user
interface processing software.

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 Basic Client-Server Architectures
• Specialized Servers with Specialized functions
• Clients
• DBMS Server

Slide 2-30
 Specialized Servers with Specialized
functions:
• File Servers
• Printer Servers
• Web Servers
• E-mail Servers

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