MODULE 1

Q1. Define DBMS

A database management system (DBMS) is a collection of programs that
enables users to create and maintain a database. The DBMS is a
collection of interrelated data and a set of program to access
those data.

Q2.Define DBA

A person who has central control over the system is called a

DBA. Administering the resources is the responsibility of the
database administrator (DBA). The DBA is responsible for authorizing
access to the database, coordinating and monitoring its use, and
acquiring software and hardware resources as needed. The DBA is
accountable for problems such as security breaches and poor system
response time.

Q3. Explain Database Users

 DBA
 Database Designer
Database designers are responsible for identifying the data to be stored
in the database
and for choosing appropriate structures to represent and store this data.
 End Users
Different types of user interfaces have been designed for the different
types of users. End users are the people whose jobs require access to the
database for querying, updating, and generating reports; the database
primarily exists for their use.
casual end user
occasionally access the database, but they may need different
information each time.
Sophisticated end user
include engineers, scientists, business analysts, and others who
thoroughly familiarize themselves with the facilities of the DBMS in order
to implement their own applications to meet their complex requirements.
Stand alone end user
maintain personal databases by using ready-made program packages
that provide easy-to-use menu-based or graphics-based interfaces.

 System analyst and application programmers

System analysts determine the requirements of end users, especially
naive and parametric end users, and develop specifications for standard
canned transactions that meet these requirements. Application

Rasmi Sasidharan Dept.of Computer Applications-MAMS

programmers implement these specifications as programs; then they
test, debug, document, and maintain these canned transactions. Such
analysts and programmers—commonly referred to as software
developers or software engineers.

Q4. Explain Data Models

A data model—a collection of concepts that can be used to

describe the structure of a database—provides the necessary
means to achieve this abstraction. Data models show that how the
data is connected and stored in the system. It shows the relationship
between data

Structure of a database mean the data types, relationships, and

constraints that apply to the data. Most data models also include a set of
basic operations for specifying retrievals and updates on the database.

Categories of Data Models

High-level or conceptual data model

User level data model is the high level or conceptual model. This
provides concepts that are close to the way that many users perceive
data.
Low-level or physical data models
provides concepts that describe the details of how data is stored in the
computer model. Low level data model is only for Computer specialists
not for end-user

Representation data model: It is between High level & Low level data
model Which provides concepts that may be understood by end-user but
that are not too far removed from the way data is organized by within the
computer.

The most common data models are

1. Relational Model The Relational Model uses a collection of
tablesboth data and the relationship among those data. Each table have
multiple column and each column has a unique name . Relational
database comprising of two tables
Customer –Table.

In a relational model, each table, also known as a relation, represents a

specific entity, such as a customer

Each row in the table represents an instance of that entity

Each column represents an attribute or property of that entity.

Rasmi Sasidharan Dept.of Computer Applications-MAMS

For example, a simple relational model for a retail store can have the
following tables:
1. Customers: (columns for customer ID, name, address, and phone
number)
2. Products (columns for product ID, name, description, and price)
3. Orders: (columns for order ID, customer ID, and order date)
4. Order_items: (columns for order ID, product ID, and quantity)

The tables are related to each other through the use of keys, for example
the customer ID in the orders table is a foreign key that references the
primary key of the customers table, and the product ID in the
order_items table is a foreign key that references the primary key of the
products table.

Entity-Relationship Model
The entity-relationship (ER) model is a data model that describes the
relationships between entities in a database
In the ER model, entities are represented as rectangles and
relationships are represented as diamond shapes. Entities are
objects or concepts that have a distinct identity and properties, such as a
customer or a product. Relationships are the associations between
entities, such as a customer placing an order.
For example, a simple ER model for a retail store with the following
entities:
1. Customer
2. Product
3. Order
and the following relationships:
1. A customer places one or more orders
2. An order is placed by one customer
3. An order contains one or more products
4. A product is contained in one or more orders

Network Model
The network model is a type of data model that represents data as a
collection of records and relationships. It is similar to the hierarchical
model in that it represents data as a tree-like structure, with each record
having a parent-child relationship with one or more other records.

Rasmi Sasidharan Dept.of Computer Applications-MAMS

However, the network model allows for many-to-many relationships,
whereas the hierarchical model only allows for one-to-many
relationships.
In the network model, records are represented as nodes and
relationships are represented as links between nodes. Each node
has a unique identifier, also called a record number, and can have
multiple links to other nodes. The relationships are defined by link types
and link sets, which specify the type of relationship and the number of
links between nodes.

Advantages:
1.Representation of relationship between entities is implemented using
pointers which allows the representation of arbitrary relationship
2. Unlike the hierarchical model it is easy.
3.data manipulation can be done easily with this model.
Hierarchical Model
A hierarchical data model is a data model which the data is organized
into a tree like structure. The structure allows repeating information
using parent/child relationships: each parent can have many children but
each child only has one parent. All attributes of a specific record are
listed under an entity type.

Rasmi Sasidharan Dept.of Computer Applications-MAMS

Q5.Schema and Instances

The description of a database is called the database schema,

which is specified during database design and is not expected to change
frequently.
A displayed schema is called a schema diagram. A schema diagram
displays only some aspects of a schema, such as the names of record
types and data items, and some types of constraints.

Q6.Data
Independence

Data independence is a property of a database management system by

which we can change the database schema at one level of the database
system without changing the database schema at the next higher level.

Types of Data Independence

There are two types of data independence.
 logical data independence
 Physical data independence

Rasmi Sasidharan Dept.of Computer Applications-MAMS

Logical Data Independence
 Changing the logical schema (conceptual level) without changing
the external schema (view level) is called logical data
independence.
 It is used to keep the external schema separate from the logical
schema.
 If we make any changes at the conceptual level of data, it does not
affect the view level.
 This happens at the user interface level.
 For example, it is possible to add or delete new entities, attributes
to the conceptual schema without making any changes to the
external schema.

Physical Data Independence

 Making changes to the physical schema without changing the
logical schema is called physical data independence.
 If we change the storage size of the database system server, it will
not affect the conceptual structure of the database.
 It is used to keep the conceptual level separate from the internal
level.
 This happens at the logical interface level.
 Example – Changing the location of the database from C drive to D
drive.

Rasmi Sasidharan Dept.of Computer Applications-MAMS

Difference Between Physical and Logical Data Independence

Rasmi Sasidharan Dept.of Computer Applications-MAMS

Q.7 Explain Database Languages

DDL
DML
SDL
VDL

DDL is a Data Definition Language that is used to define data structures.

For example: creating a table, and altering a table are instructions in
SQL.

DML is a Data Manipulation Language that is used to manipulate data

itself. For example: insert, update, and delete are instructions in SQL.

Data Definition Language

 DDL is used to specify a database’s structure, which includes its
tables, views, indexes, and constraints.
 DDL commands come in the following types: CREATE, ALTER, DROP,
RENAME, and TRUNCATE.
 DDL statements only modify the database’s schema; they have no
direct effect on the data within the database.
 DDL declarations are irreversible and difficult to undo.

Data Manipulation Language

 Inserting, updating, removing, and retrieving data from a database
are all possible with DML.
 DML commands come in the following types: SELECT, INSERT,
UPDATE, DELETE, and MERGE.
 DML statements have a direct impact on the database’s data.
 In the event of an error, data can be recovered thanks to the
reversibility of DML statements.

Rasmi Sasidharan Dept.of Computer Applications-MAMS

Difference Between DDL and DML

Rasmi Sasidharan Dept.of Computer Applications-MAMS

Q8.EXPLAIN THE DATABASE SYSTEM ENVIRONMENT

The DBMS is a complex software system.

Typical DBMS Component Modules

Top part
refers to
the various users of database environment and their interfaces.
Lower part shows the storage of data and processing of transactions.
The top part shows interfaces for the DBA staff, casual users who work
with interactive interfaces to formulate queries, application programmers
who create programs using some host programming languages, and
parametric users who do data entry work by supplying parameters to
predefined transactions.

The DBA staff works on defining the database and tuning it by making
changes to its definition using the DDL and other privileged commands.
The DDL compiler processes schema definitions, specified in the DDL,
and stores descriptions of the schemas (meta-data) in the DBMS catalog.
The catalog includes information such as the names and sizes of
files,names and data types of data items,storage details of each file,
mapping information among schemas, and constraints.

➢Casual users occasionally need information from the database and they
are interactingwith the database using interactive query interface. It is a
menu based or form based interaction.The queries specified by the
casual users are validated for correctness of the query syntax, the name
of the files and data elements and so on by a query compiler. It compiles

Rasmi Sasidharan Dept.of Computer Applications-MAMS

them into internal form. It is then used by the query optimizer for
possible re-arrangement and re-ordering of operations, elimination of
redundancies etc

➢Application programmers write programs in host languages like C, C++,

Java etc and they are submitted to a precomplier. The precompiler
extract DML commands from an application program written in host
lanagange I.e. [itseparates back end from front end]. Then DML
statements are passed on the DML compiler and host language programs
are passed on to the host language compiler.The result of these two
compilations together formsthe canned transactions[compiled
transactions]. Canned transactions are executed repeatedly by
parametric users.

➢The run time database processor executes

•Privileged commands
•Executable query from query optimizer
•Canned transaction From the stored database.

It is also work with stored data manager which uses basic operating
system services for carrying out read/write operations from the database.
It also has concurrency control subsystem, backup and recovery
subsystem to co-ordinate the functions of DBMS

➢The run time database processor executes

•Privileged commands
•Executable query from query optimizer
•Canned transaction
From the stored database. It is also work with stored data manager which
uses basic operating system services for carrying out read/write
operations from the database. It also has concurrency control subsystem,
backup and recovery subsystem to co-ordinate the functions of DBMS.

Rasmi Sasidharan Dept.of Computer Applications-MAMS