DIGITAL NOTES ON

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Syllabus
Module-1

Databases and Database Users: Introduction, An example, Characteristics of

the Database Approach, Actors on the Scene, Workers behind the Scene,
Advantages of Using DBMS Approach, A Brief History of Database
Applications, When Not to Use a DBMS. Database System Concepts and
Architecture: Data Models, Schemas, and Instances, Three-schema
Architecture and Data Independence, Database Languages and Interfaces, The
Database System Environment, Centralized and Client-Server Architectures,
Classification of Database Management Systems.
Module-2
Data Modeling Using Entity-Relationship Model: Using High-Level Conceptual Data
Models for Database Design, An Example Database Application, Entity Types, Entity Sets,
Attributes and Keys, Relationship Types, Relationship Sets, Roles and Structural
Constraints, Weak Entity Types, Refining the ER Design Company Database Diagrams,
Naming Conventions and Design. Issues, File organization and storage, secondary storage
devices, type of single level ordered index, multi-level indexes, indexes on multiple keys.
Module-3
Relational Model and Relational Algebra: Concepts, Constraints Schemas, Update
Operations, Unary Relational Operations: SELECT and PROJECT, Relational Algebra
Operations from SET Theory, Binary Relational Operations: JOIN and DIVISION,
Examples of Queries in Relational Algebra. Relational Database Design: Anomalies in a
database, functional dependency, normal forms, lossless join and dependency, BCNF,
normalization through synthesis, higher order normal forms.
SQL- SQL Data Definition and Data Types, Specifying Constraints in SQL, Schema
Change Statements in SQL, Basic Queries in SQL, More Complex SQL Queries, Insert,
Delete and Update Statements in SQL, Specifying Constraints as Assertion and Trigger,
Views (Virtual Tables) in SQL.
Module-4
Introduction to transaction processing, transaction and system concepts, desirable properties
of transactions, transaction support in SQL. Concurrency control techniques: two -phase
locking techniques, concurrency control based on timestamp ordering. Recovery techniques:
recovery concepts, recovery in multi-database systems, database backup and recovery from

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 catastrophic failures.

BCA – II SEM

UNIT-1
Databases and Database Users

Introduction:
Database is a collection of related data. Database management system is software designed to assist the
maintenance and utilization of large scale collection of data. DBMS came into existence in 1960 by Charles.
Integrated data store which is also called as the first general purpose DBMS. Again in 1960 IBM brought
IMS-Information management system. In 1970 Edgor Codd at IBM came with new database called
RDBMS. In 1980 then came SQL Architecture- Structure Query Language. In 1980 to 1990 there were
advances in DBMS e.g. DB2, ORACLE.

Data: Data is raw fact or figures or entity. Information: The

processed data is called information. Database: A database is a

collection of related data.

For example, a university database might contain information about the following:
 Entities such as students, faculty and courses.
 Relationships between entities, such as students' enrollment in courses, faculty
teaching courses.

Database Management System:

A Database Management System (DBMS) is a collection of program that enables user to

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create, maintain and manipulate a database.

The DBMS is hence a general purpose software system that facilitates the process of
defining, constructing and manipulating database for various applications.

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 Characteristics of DBMS
• To incorporate the requirements of the organization, system should be designed for easy
maintenance.

• Information systems should allow interactive access to data to obtain new information
without writing fresh programs.

• System should be designed to co-relate different data to meet new requirements.

• An independent central repository, which gives information and meaning of available data is
required.

• Integrated database will help in understanding the inter-relationships between data stored in
different applications.

• The stored data should be made available for access by different users simultaneously.

• Automatic recovery feature has to be provided to overcome the problems with processing system
failure.

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Different people behind DBMS
These apply to "large" databases, not "personal" databases that are defined, constructed, and
used by a single person via, say, Microsoft Access.

There are two categories of people behind DBMS

a) Those who actually use and control the database content, and those who design, develop and
maintain database applications (called ―Actors on the Scene)

b) Those who design and develop the DBMS software and related tools, and the computer systems
operators (called ―Workers Behind the Scene).

a) Actors on the Scene

1. Database Administrator (DBA): DBA is a person who is responsible for authorizing access to
the database, coordinating and monitoring its use, and acquiring software and hardware
resources as needed.

2. Database Designers: They are responsible for identifying the data to be stored and for
choosing an appropriate way to organize it. They also define views for different categories of
users. The final design must be able to support the requirements of all the user sub-groups.

3. End Users: These are persons who access the database for querying, updating, and
report generation. They are main reason for database's existence!

o Casual end users: use database occasionally, needing different information each time; use query
language to specify their requests; typically middle- or high- level managers.

o Naive/Parametric end users: Typically the biggest group of users; frequently query/update the
database using standard canned transactions that have been carefully programmed and tested in
advance. Examples:

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□ bank tellers check account balances, post withdrawals/deposits
□ reservation clerks for airlines, hotels, etc., check availability of seats/rooms and make reservations.

o Sophisticated end users: engineers, scientists, business analysts who implement their
own applications to meet their complex needs.

o Stand-alone users: Use "personal" databases, possibly employing a special- purpose (e.g.,
financial) software package. Mostly maintain personal databases using ready-to-use packaged
applications.

o An example is a tax program user that creates its own internal database.
o Another example is maintaining an address book

4. System Analysts, Application Programmers, Software Engineers:

o System Analysts: determine needs of end users, especially naive and parametric users, and
develop specifications for canned transactions that meet these needs.

o Application Programmers: Implement, test, document, and maintain programs that

satisfy the specifications mentioned above.

b) Workers Behind the Scene

1) DBMS system designers/implementors: provide the DBMS software that is at the foundation of
all this!

2) Tool developers: design and implement software tools facilitating database system design,
performance monitoring, creation of graphical user interfaces, prototyping, etc.

3) Operators and maintenance personnel: responsible for the day-to-day operation of the
system.

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Advantages of a DBMS
Using a DBMS to manage data has many advantages:
Data independence: Application programs should be as independent as possible from details
of data representation and storage. The DBMS can provide an abstract view of the data to
insulate application code from such details.

Efficient data access: A DBMS utilizes a variety of sophisticated techniques to store and
retrieve data efficiently. This feature is especially important if the data is stored on external
storage devices.

Data integrity and security: If data is always accessed through the DBMS, the DBMS can
enforce integrity constraints on the data. For example, before inserting salary information
for an employee, the DBMS can check that the department budget is not exceeded. Also,
the DBMS can enforce access controls that govern what data is visible to different classes
of users.

Data administration: When several users share the data, centralizing the administration of
data can offer significant improvements. Experienced professionals who understand the
nature of the data being managed, and how different groups of users use it, can be
responsible for organizing the data representation to minimize redundancy and for fine-
tuning the storage of the data to make retrieval efficient.

Concurrent access and crash recovery: A DBMS schedules concurrent accesses to the data in such a
manner that users can think of the data as being

accessed by only one user at a time. Further, the DBMS protects users from the effects of
system failures.

Reduced application development time: Clearly, the DBMS supports many important
functions that are common to many applications accessing data stored in the DBMS. This, in
conjunction with the high-level interface to the data, facilitates quick development of
applications. Such applications are also likely to be more robust than applications developed
from scratch because many important tasks are handled by the DBMS instead of being
implemented by the application.
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 Functions of DBMS
• Data Definition: The DBMS provides functions to define the structure of the data in the application.
These include defining and modifying the record structure, the type and size of fields and the various
constraints to be satisfied by the data in each field.

• Data Manipulation: Once the data structure is defined, data needs to be inserted, modified or deleted.
These functions which perform these operations are part of DBMS. These functions can handle
plashud and unplashud data manipulation needs. Plashud queries are those which form part of the
application. Unplashud queries are ad-hoc queries which performed on a need basis.

• Data Security & Integrity: The DBMS contains modules which handle the security and
integrity of data in the application.

• Data Recovery and Concurrency: Recovery of the data after system failure and concurrent access of
records by multiple users is also handled by DBMS.

• Data Dictionary Maintenance: Maintaining the data dictionary which contains the data definition of
the application is also one of the functions of DBMS.

• Performance: Optimizing the performance of the queries is one of the important functions of DBMS.

When not to use a DBMS

a) Main inhibitors (costs) of using a DBMS:
i) High initial investment and possible need for additional hardware.
ii) Overhead for providing generality, security, concurrency control, recovery, and
integrity functions.

b) When a DBMS may be unnecessary:

i) If the database and applications are simple, well defined and not expected to
change.

ii) If there are stringent real-time requirements that may not be met because of DBMS

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overhead.

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 iii)If access to data by multiple users is not required.
c) When no DBMS may be sufficient:
i) If the database system is not able to handle the complexity of data because of modeling
limitations

ii) If the database users need special operations not supported by the DBMS.

Role of Database Administrator.

Typically there are three types of users for a DBMS:
1. The END User who uses the application. Ultimately he is the one who actually puts the data into
the system into use in business. This user need not know anything about the organization of data in
the physical level.

2. The Application Programmer who develops the application programs. He/She has more knowledge
about the data and its structure. He/she can manipulate the data using his/her programs. He/she also
need not have access and knowledge of the complete data in the system.

3. The Data base Administrator (DBA) who is like the super-user of the system.

The role of DBA is very important and is defined by the following functions.
• Defining the schema: The DBA defines the schema which contains the structure of the
data in the application. The DBA determines what data needs to be present in the system
and how this data has to be presented and organized.

• Liaising with users: The DBA needs to interact continuously with the users to
understand the data in the system and its use.

• Defining Security & Integrity checks: The DBA finds about the access restrictions to
be defined and defines security checks accordingly. Data Integrity checks are defined by
the DBA.

• Defining Backup/Recovery Procedures: The DBA also defines procedures for backup and

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recovery. Defining backup procedure includes specifying what data is to be backed up, the
periodicity of taking backups and also

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the medium and storage place to backup data.
• Monitoring performance: The DBA has to continuously monitor the performance of
the queries and take the measures to optimize all the queries in the application.

Database Manager

Database manager is a program module which provides the interface between the low
level data stored in the database and the application programs and queries submitted to
the system:

– The database manager would translate DML statement into low level file system
commands for storing, retrieving, and updating data in the database.

– Integrity enforcement. Database manager enforces integrity by checking consistency

constraints like the bank balance of customer must be maintained to a minimum of Rs. 1000, etc.

– Security enforcement. Unauthorized users are prohibited to view the information stored in the data
base.

– Backup and recovery. Backup and recovery of database is necessary to ensure that the database
must remain consistent despite the fact of failures.

Database Users

Database users are the people who need information from the database to carry out their
business responsibility. The database users can be broadly classified into two
categories like application programmers and end users.

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 Sophisticated End Users
Sophisticated end users interact with the system without writing programs. They form requests by
writing queries in a database query language. These are submitted to query processor. Analysts who
submit queries to explore data in the database fall in this category.

Specialized End Users

Specialized end users write specialized database application that does not fit into data-processing
frame work. Application involves knowledge base and expert system, environment modeling system,
etc.

Naive End Users

Naive end user interact with the system by using permanent application program Example: Query made by
the student, namely number of books borrowed

in library database.
System Analysts
System analysts determine the requirements of end user, and develop specification for canned transaction
that meets this requirement.

Canned Transaction
Readymade programs through which naive end users interact with the database is called canned
transaction.

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 Database System Concepts and Architecture

Data Models, Schemas, and Instances

One fundamental characteristic of the database approach is that it provides some level of data abstraction
by hiding details of data storage that are irrelevant to database users.

A data model is a collection of concepts that can be used to describe the conceptual/logical structure of a
database.

The structure of a database means that holds the data’s data types, relationships, and constraints.

According to C.J. Date (one of the leading database experts), a data model is an abstract, self-contained,
logical definition of the objects, operators, and so forth, that together constitute the abstract machine with
which users interact. The objects allow us to model the structure of data; the operators allow us to model its
behavior.

Types of Data Models

1. High Level- Conceptual data model.
2. Low Level – Physical data model.
3. Relational or Representational
4. Object-oriented Data Models:
5. Object-Relational Models:

1. High Level-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.

2 .Low level-Physical data model: 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.

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3. 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 tables both data and the relationship among those data. Each table
has multiple columns and each column has a unique name.

Relational database comprising of two tables.

Advantages

1. The main advantage of this model is its ability to represent data in a simplified format.

2. The process of manipulating record is simplified with the use of certain key attributes used to
retrieve data.

3. Representation of different types of relationship is possible with this model.

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 2. Network Model
The data in the network model are represented by collection of records and
relationships among data are represented by links, which can be viewed as pointers.

The records in the database are organized as collection of arbitrary groups.

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.

3. 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 has one parent. All attributes of a specific record are
listed under an entity type.

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 Advantages:

1. The representation of records is done using an ordered tree, which is natural method of
implementation of one–to-many relationships.

2. Proper ordering of the tree results in easier and faster retrieval of records.
3. Allows the use of virtual records. This result in a stable database especially when
modification of the data base is made.

Data Instances and Schemas

Database Instances

Database change over time as information is inserted and deleted. The collection of information stored in
the database at a particular moment is called an instance of the database.

Database Schema
The overall design of the database is called the database schema. A schema is a collection of named
objects. Schemas provide a logical classification of objects in the database. A schema can contain tables,
views, triggers, functions, packages, and other objects.

DBMS Architecture
A commonly used view of data approach is the three-level architecture suggested by the ANSI/SPARC
(American National Standards Institute/Standards Planning and Requirements Committee). ANSI/SPARC
proposed an architectural framework for databases.

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The three levels of the architecture are three different views of the data:
External Schema - individual user view
Conceptual Schema- Logical or community user view Physical Schema -
Internal or storage view

The three level database architecture allows a clear separation of the information meaning (conceptual
view) from the external data representation and from the physical data structure layout. A database system
that is able to separate the three different views of data is likely to be flexible and adaptable.

The External Schema is the view that the individual user of the database has. This view is often a restricted
view of the database and the same database may provide a number of different views for different classes
of users.

The Conceptual schema (sometimes called the logical schema) describes the stored data in terms of the
data model of the DBMS. In a relational DBMS, the conceptual schema describes all relations that are
stored in the database.

It hides physical storage details, concentrating upon describing entities, data types, relationships, user
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operations, and constraints.

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The physical schema specifies additional storage details. Essentially, the physical schema summarizes how
the relations described in the conceptual schema are actually stored on secondary storage devices such as
disks and tapes.

It tells us what data is stored in the database and how.

Data Independence
Data independence can be defined as the capacity to change the schema at one level without changing the
schema at next higher level.

It also means the internal structure of database should be unaffected by changes to physical aspects of
storage. Because of data independence, the Database administrator can change the database storage
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structures without affecting the users view.

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The different levels of data abstraction are:
1. Physical data independence
2. Logical data independence

1. Physical data independence is the capacity to change the internal schema without changing
the conceptual schema(logical).

2. Logical data independence is the capacity to change the conceptual schema without having to
change the external schema(physical).

Database languages and interfaces

A database system provides a data definition language to specify the database schema and a data
manipulation language to express database queries and updates.

In practice, the data definition and data manipulation languages are not two separate languages; instead they
simply form parts of a single database language, such as the widely used SQL language.

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 Data Definition Language
Data Definition Language (DDL) statements are used to define the database structure or schema. Some
examples:

o CREATE - to create objects in the database

o ALTER - alters the structure of the database
o DROP - delete objects from the database
o TRUNCATE - remove all records from a table, including all spaces allocated for the records
are removed

For instance, the following statement in the SQL language is used to create the
account table:
create table account (accountnumber
number(10), balance number(8));

The storage definition language (SDL), is used to specify the internal schema. The mappings between the
two schemas may be specified in either one of these languages.

The view definition language (VDL), to specify user views and their mappings to the conceptual schema,
but in most DBMSs the DDL is used to define both conceptual and external schemas.

In addition, it updates a special set of tables called the data dictionary or data directory.

A data dictionary contains metadata—that is, data about data. The schema of a table is an example of
metadata. A database system consults the data dictionary before reading or modifying actual data.

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 Data Manipulation Language
Data manipulation is
• The retrieval of information stored in the database
• The insertion of new information into the database
• The deletion of information from the database
• The modification of information stored in the database

Data Manipulation Language (DML) statements are used for managing data within schema objects. Some
examples:

o SELECT - retrieve data from the a database

o INSERT - insert data into a table
o UPDATE - updates existing data within a table
o DELETE - deletes all records from a table

A data-manipulation language (DML) is a language that enables users to access or manipulate data as organized by
the appropriate data model.

There are basically two types:

• Procedural DMLs require a user to specify what data are needed and how to get those data, The
DML component of the PL/SQL language is procedural.

• Nonprocedural DMLs require a user to specify what data are needed without specifying how to
get those data. The DML component of the SQL language is nonprocedural.

A query is a statement requesting the retrieval of information. The portion of a DML that involves
information retrieval is called a query language.

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The query in the SQL language finds the name of the customer whose customer-id is 192:

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 select customername
from customer
where customerid = 192;

The query specifies that those rows from the table customer where the customerid
is 192 must be retrieved.

DBMS Interfaces
User-friendly interfaces provided by a DBMS may include the following.
Menu Based Interfaces for Web Clients or Browsing. These interfaces present the user with lists of options,
called menus, that lead the user through the formulation of a request. Menus do away with the need to
memorize the specific commands and syntax of a query language; rather, the query is composed step by step
by picking options from a menu that is displayed by the system. Pull-down menus are a very popular
technique in Web-based user interfaces. They are also often used in browsing interfaces, which allow a user
to look through the contents of a database in an exploratory and unstructured manner.

Forms Based Interfaces. A forms-based interface displays a form to each user. Users can fill out all of the
form entries to insert new data, or they fill out only certain entries, in which case the DBMS will retrieve
matching data for the remaining entries. Forms are usually designed and programmed for naive users as
interfaces to canned transactions.

Graphical User Interfaces. A graphical interface (GUI) typically displays a schema to the user in
diagrammatic form. The user can then specify a query by manipulating the diagram. In many cases, GUIs
utilize both menus and forms.

Most GUIs use a pointing device, such as a mouse, to pick certain parts of the displayed schema diagram.

Natural Language Interfaces. These interfaces accept requests written in English or some other language and
attempt to "understand" them. A natural language interface usually has its own "schema," which is similar to
the database conceptual

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schema, as well as a dictionary of important words. The natural language interface refers to the words in its
schema, as well as to the set of standard words in its dictionary, to interpret the request.

Interfaces for Parametric Users. Parametric users, such as bank tellers, often have a small set of operations
that they must perform repeatedly. Systems analysts and programmers design implement a special
interface for naive users. Usually, a small set of abbreviated commands is included, with the goal of
minimizing the number of keystrokes required for each request.

Interfaces for the DBA. Most database systems contain privileged commands that can be used only by the
DBA's staff. These include commands for creating accounts, setting system parameters, granting account
authorization, changing a schema, and reorganizing the storage structures of a database.

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 The Database System Environment

A DBMS is a complex software system. The database and the DBMS catalog are usually stored on disk.
Access to the disk is controlled primarily by the operating system (OS), which schedules disk read/write.
Many DBMSs have their own buffer management module to schedule disk read/write, because this has a
considerable effect on performance. Reducing disk read/write improves performance considerably. A
higher-level stored data manager module of the DBMS controls access to DBMS information that is
stored on disk, whether it is part of the database or the catalog.

the top part of Figure, It 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 and persons with occasional need for information from the database interact using some form
of interface, which we call the interactive query interface. These queries are parsed and validated for
correctness of the query syntax, the names of files and a query compiler that compiles them into an
internal form. This internal query is subjected to query optimization, the query optimizer is concerned
with the rearrangement and possible reordering of

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operations, elimination of redundancies, and use of correct algorithms and indexes during execution.

The precompiler extracts DML commands from an application program written in a host programming
language. These commands are sent to the DML compiler for compilation into object code for database
access. The rest of the program is sent to the host language compiler. The object codes for the DML
commands and the rest of the program are linked, forming a canned transaction whose executable code
includes calls to the runtime database processor.

It is now common to have the client program that accesses the DBMS running on a separate computer
from the computer on which the database resides. The former is called the client computer running a
DBMS client software and the latter is called the database server. In some cases, the client accesses a
middle computer, called the application server, which in turn accesses the database server.

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 Database System Utilities
In addition to possessing the software modules just described, most DBMSs have database utilities that
help the DBA manage the database system. Common utilities have the following types of functions:

Loading. A loading utility is used to load existing data files—such as text

files or sequential files—into the database. Usually, the current (source) format of the data file and the
desired (target) database file structure are specified

to the utility, which then automatically reformats the data and stores it in the database.

Backup. A backup utility creates a backup copy of the database, usually by dumping the entire database
onto tape or other mass storage medium. The backup copy can be used to restore the database in case of
disk failure.

Database storage reorganization. This utility can be used to reorganize a set of database files into
different file organizations, and create new access paths

to improve performance.
Performance monitoring. Such a utility monitors database usage and provides statistics to the DBA. The
DBA uses the statistics in making decisions

such as whether or not to reorganize files or whether to add or drop indexes to improve performance.

Other utilities may be available for sorting files, handling data compression, monitoring access by users,
interfacing with the network, and performing other functions.

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 Centralized and Client/Server Architectures for DBMSs

Centralized DBMSs Architecture

Architectures for DBMSs have followed trends similar to those for general computer system architectures.
Earlier architectures used mainframe computers to provide the main processing for all system functions,
including user application programs and user interface programs, as well as all the DBMS functionality. The
reason was that most users accessed such systems via computer terminals that did not have processing
power and only provided display capabilities. Therefore, all processing was performed remotely on the
computer system, and only display information and controls were sent from the computer to the display
terminals, which were connected to the central computer via various types of communications networks.

As prices of hardware declined, most users replaced their terminals with PCs and workstations. At first,
database systems used these computers similarly to how they had used display terminals, so that the
DBMS itself was still a centralized DBMS in which all the DBMS functionality,

application program execution, and

user interface processing were carried out on one
machine.

The Figure illustrates the physical components

in a centralized architecture. Gradually,

DBMS systems started to exploit the available

processing power at the user side, which led to
client/server DBMS architectures.

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 Client/Server Architectures for DBMSs
Database architecture essentially describes the location of all the pieces of information that make up the
database application.

Database architecture is logically divided into two types.

a) Logical two-tier Client / Server architecture

b) Logical three-tier Client / Server architecture

Two-tier Client / Server Architecture

Two-tier Client / Server architecture is used for User Interface program and Application Programs that runs
on client side. An interface called ODBC(Open Database Connectivity) provides an API that allow client
side program to call the dbms. Most DBMS vendors provide ODBC drivers. A client program may connect
to several DBMS's. In this architecture some variation of client is also possible for example in some
DBMS's more functionality is transferred to the client including data dictionary, optimization etc. Such
clients are called Data server.

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 Three-tier Client / Server Architecture

Three-tier Client / Server database architecture is commonly used architecture for web applications.
Intermediate layer called Application server or Web Server stores the web connectivity software and the
business logic(constraints) part of application used to access the right amount of data from the database
server. This layer acts like medium for sending partially processed data between the database server and the
client.

Differentiate between centralized and distributed data base

Centralized Distributed

Database is maintained at one site Database is maintained at a number of

different sites

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If centralized system fails, entire system If one system fails, system continues
is halted. work with other sites

Less reliable More reliable

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 Classification of Database Management Systems
Several criteria are normally used to classify DBMSs. The first is the data model on which the DBMS
is based. The main data model used in many current commercial DBMSs is the relational data model.
The object data model has been implemented in some commercial systems but has not had
widespread use. Many legacy applications still run on database systems based on the hierarchical and
network data models.

The second criterion used to classify DBMSs is the number of users supported by the system. Single-
user systems support only one user at a time and are mostly used with PCs. Multiuser systems, which
include the majority of DBMSs, support concurrent multiple users.

The third criterion is the number of sites over which the database is distributed. A DBMS is centralized if
the data is stored at a single computer site. A centralized DBMS can support multiple users, but the DBMS
and the database reside totally at a single computer site. A distributed DBMS (DDBMS) can have the
actual database and DBMS software distributed over many sites, connected by a computer network.
Homogeneous DDBMSs use the same DBMS software at all the sites, whereas heterogeneous DDBMSs
can use different DBMS software at each site.

The fourth criterion is cost. It is difficult to propose a classification of DBMSs based on cost. Today we
have open source (free) DBMS products like MySQL and PostgreSQL that are supported by third-party
vendors with additional services. The main RDBMS products are available as free examination 30-day copy
versions as well as personal versions,

We can also classify a DBMS on the basis of the types of access path options for storing files. One well-
known family of DBMSs is based on inverted file structures. Finally, a DBMS can be general purpose or
special purpose. When performance is a primary consideration, a special-purpose DBMS can be designed
and built for a specific application; such a system cannot be used for other applications without

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major changes. Many airline reservations and telephone directory systems developed in the past are
special-purpose DBMSs. These fall into the category of online transaction processing (OLTP)
systems, which must support a large number of concurrent transactions without imposing excessive
delays.

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