A DBMS is

 The software that manages accesses to the database

 Allows the definition of data
 Allows manipulation of data: creation, modification,...
 Implements security and integrity
 Implements concurrency (multiple accesses) and recovery

DBMS (cont.)

 Implements a Data Dictionary: data about the data in the database

 Provides an acceptable performance
 Said another way, is the interface with users
 Is the main tool of a database

Main abstractions

 Data independence: users can ignore the details of the internal representation; users are not
concerned with how to access data
 Atomicity of transactions: users can safely ignore other users concurrently using the same
data
 Independence of physical location

Main components

 Query component
 Indexing
 Concurrency Control
  Buffer Management
 Logs and Recovery
 Memory Management

DBMS Architecture

Conceptually defined by the ANSI/SPARC Study Group on DBMS  A 3-level architecture: 

internal: physical, low-level  external: what users see  conceptual: middle level, mainly
used by DB Administrators

External level

 Several views, for different users depending on permissions, schemas

 Users have an interface:
– Database browser
– API for several languages

Conceptual level

 Defines the data structure

 It's a complete representation of the information in an abstract form
 This level is mainly used for administration purposes

Internal level

 Low-level representation (physical)

 Applications and users should not operate at this level
 Several memory representation, access and indexing techniques can be used.

Data

 Relational Model is the dominant model

 Basic structure is the relation (table)
 A relation has columns, which define the data
 A column has a domain (char, int, date,….)
 Tuples are the data
 Table STUDENT {Nº, Name, Address}