DBMS - Architecture

The design of a DBMS depends on its architecture. It can be centralized or

decentralized or hierarchical. The architecture of a DBMS can be seen as either single
tier or multi-tier. An n-tier architecture divides the whole system into related but
independent n modules, which can be independently modified, altered, changed, or
replaced.
In 1-tier architecture, the DBMS is the only entity where the user directly sits on the
DBMS and uses it. Any changes done here will directly be done on the DBMS itself. It
does not provide handy tools for end-users. Database designers and programmers
normally prefer to use single-tier architecture.
If the architecture of DBMS is 2-tier, then it must have an application through which the
DBMS can be accessed. Programmers use 2-tier architecture where they access the
DBMS by means of an application. Here the application tier is entirely independent of
the database in terms of operation, design, and programming.

3-tier Architecture
A 3-tier architecture separates its tiers from each other based on the complexity of the
users and how they use the data present in the database. It is the most widely used
architecture to design a DBMS.
  Database (Data) Tier − At this tier, the database resides along with its query
processing languages. We also have the relations that define the data and their
constraints at this level.
 Application (Middle) Tier − At this tier reside the application server and the
programs that access the database. For a user, this application tier presents an
abstracted view of the database. End-users are unaware of any existence of the
database beyond the application. At the other end, the database tier is not aware
of any other user beyond the application tier. Hence, the application layer sits in
the middle and acts as a mediator between the end-user and the database.
 User (Presentation) Tier − End-users operate on this tier and they know nothing
about any existence of the database beyond this layer. At this layer, multiple
views of the database can be provided by the application. All views are generated
by applications that reside in the application tier.
Multiple-tier database architecture is highly modifiable, as almost all its components are
independent and can be changed independently.
 DBMS - Data Models
Data models define how the logical structure of a database is modeled. Data Models
are fundamental entities to introduce abstraction in a DBMS. Data models define how
data is connected to each other and how they are processed and stored inside the
system.
The very first data model could be flat data-models, where all the data used are to be
kept in the same plane. Earlier data models were not so scientific, hence they were
prone to introduce lots of duplication and update anomalies.

Entity-Relationship Model
Entity-Relationship (ER) Model is based on the notion of real-world entities and
relationships among them. While formulating real-world scenario into the database
model, the ER Model creates entity set, relationship set, general attributes and
constraints.
ER Model is best used for the conceptual design of a database.
ER Model is based on −
 Entities and their attributes.
 Relationships among entities.
These concepts are explained below.

 Entity − An entity in an ER Model is a real-world entity having properties

called attributes. Every attribute is defined by its set of values called domain.
For example, in a school database, a student is considered as an entity. Student
has various attributes like name, age, class, etc.
 Relationship − The logical association among entities is called relationship.
Relationships are mapped with entities in various ways. Mapping cardinalities
define the number of association between two entities.
Mapping cardinalities −
o one to one
o one to many
o many to one
o many to many
Relational Model
The most popular data model in DBMS is the Relational Model. It is more scientific a
model than others. This model is based on first-order predicate logic and defines a table
as an n-ary relation.

The main highlights of this model are −

 Data is stored in tables called relations.

 Relations can be normalized.
 In normalized relations, values saved are atomic values.
 Each row in a relation contains a unique value.
 Each column in a relation contains values from a same domain.
 DBMS - Data Schemas
Database Schema
A database schema is the skeleton structure that represents the logical view of the
entire database. It defines how the data is organized and how the relations among them
are associated. It formulates all the constraints that are to be applied on the data.
A database schema defines its entities and the relationship among them. It contains a
descriptive detail of the database, which can be depicted by means of schema
diagrams. It’s the database designers who design the schema to help programmers
understand the database and make it useful.

A database schema can be divided broadly into two categories −

 Physical Database Schema − This schema pertains to the actual storage of
data and its form of storage like files, indices, etc. It defines how the data will be
stored in a secondary storage.
 Logical Database Schema − This schema defines all the logical constraints that
need to be applied on the data stored. It defines tables, views, and integrity
constraints.
Database Instance
It is important that we distinguish these two terms individually. Database schema is the
skeleton of database. It is designed when the database doesn't exist at all. Once the
database is operational, it is very difficult to make any changes to it. A database
schema does not contain any data or information.
A database instance is a state of operational database with data at any given time. It
contains a snapshot of the database. Database instances tend to change with time. A
DBMS ensures that its every instance (state) is in a valid state, by diligently following all
the validations, constraints, and conditions that the database designers have imposed.
 DBMS - Data Independence
Data Independence
A database system normally contains a lot of data in addition to users’ data. For
example, it stores data about data, known as metadata, to locate and retrieve data
easily. It is rather difficult to modify or update a set of metadata once it is stored in the
database. But as a DBMS expands, it needs to change over time to satisfy the
requirements of the users. If the entire data is dependent, it would become a tedious
and highly complex job.

Metadata itself follows a layered architecture, so that when we change data at one
layer, it does not affect the data at another level. This data is independent but mapped
to each other.

Logical Data Independence

Logical data is data about database, that is, it stores information about how data is
managed inside. For example, a table (relation) stored in the database and all its
constraints, applied on that relation.
Logical data independence is a kind of mechanism, which liberalizes itself from actual
data stored on the disk. If we do some changes on table format, it should not change
the data residing on the disk.

Physical Data Independence

All the schemas are logical, and the actual data is stored in bit format on the disk.
Physical data independence is the power to change the physical data without impacting
the schema or logical data.
For example, in case we want to change or upgrade the storage system itself − suppose
we want to replace hard-disks with SSD − it should not have any impact on the logical
data or schemas.
 ER Model - Basic Concepts
The ER model defines the conceptual view of a database. It works around real-world
entities and the associations among them. At view level, the ER model is considered a
good option for designing databases.

Entity
An entity can be a real-world object, either animate or inanimate, that can be easily
identifiable. For example, in a school database, students, teachers, classes, and
courses offered can be considered as entities. All these entities have some attributes or
properties that give them their identity.
An entity set is a collection of similar types of entities. An entity set may contain entities
with attribute sharing similar values. For example, a Students set may contain all the
students of a school; likewise a Teachers set may contain all the teachers of a school
from all faculties. Entity sets need not be disjoint.

Attributes
Entities are represented by means of their properties, called attributes. All attributes
have values. For example, a student entity may have name, class, and age as
attributes.
There exists a domain or range of values that can be assigned to attributes. For
example, a student's name cannot be a numeric value. It has to be alphabetic. A
student's age cannot be negative, etc.
Types of Attributes
 Simple attribute − Simple attributes are atomic values, which cannot be divided
further. For example, a student's phone number is an atomic value of 10 digits.
 Composite attribute − Composite attributes are made of more than one simple
attribute. For example, a student's complete name may have first_name and
last_name.
 Derived attribute − Derived attributes are the attributes that do not exist in the
physical database, but their values are derived from other attributes present in
the database. For example, average_salary in a department should not be saved
directly in the database, instead it can be derived. For another example, age can
be derived from data_of_birth.
 Single-value attribute − Single-value attributes contain single value. For
example − Social_Security_Number.
 Multi-value attribute − Multi-value attributes may contain more than one values.
For example, a person can have more than one phone number, email_address,
etc.
These attribute types can come together in a way like −

 simple single-valued attributes

 simple multi-valued attributes
 composite single-valued attributes
 composite multi-valued attributes
Entity-Set and Keys
Key is an attribute or collection of attributes that uniquely identifies an entity among
entity set.
For example, the roll_number of a student makes him/her identifiable among students.
 Super Key − A set of attributes (one or more) that collectively identifies an entity
in an entity set.
 Candidate Key − A minimal super key is called a candidate key. An entity set
may have more than one candidate key.
 Primary Key − A primary key is one of the candidate keys chosen by the
database designer to uniquely identify the entity set.
Relationship
The association among entities is called a relationship. For example, an
employee works_at a department, a student enrolls in a course. Here, Works_at and
Enrolls are called relationships.
Relationship Set
A set of relationships of similar type is called a relationship set. Like entities, a
relationship too can have attributes. These attributes are called descriptive attributes.
Degree of Relationship
The number of participating entities in a relationship defines the degree of the
relationship.

 Binary = degree 2
 Ternary = degree 3
 n-ary = degree
Mapping Cardinalities
Cardinality defines the number of entities in one entity set, which can be associated
with the number of entities of other set via relationship set.
 One-to-one − One entity from entity set A can be associated with at most one
entity of entity set B and vice versa.
 One-to-many − One entity from entity set A can be associated with more than
one entities of entity set B however an entity from entity set B, can be associated
with at most one entity.

 Many-to-one − More than one entities from entity set A can be associated with at
most one entity of entity set B, however an entity from entity set B can be
associated with more than one entity from entity set A.

 Many-to-many − One entity from A can be associated with more than one entity
from B and vice versa.
 ER Diagram Representation
Entity
Entities are represented by means of rectangles. Rectangles are named with the entity
set they represent.

Attributes
Attributes are the properties of entities. Attributes are represented by means of ellipses.
Every ellipse represents one attribute and is directly connected to its entity (rectangle).

If the attributes are composite, they are further divided in a tree like structure. Every
node is then connected to its attribute. That is, composite attributes are represented by
ellipses that are connected with an ellipse.

Multivalued attributes are depicted by double ellipse.

Derived attributes are depicted by dashed ellipse.

Relationship
Relationships are represented by diamond-shaped box. Name of the relationship is
written inside the diamond-box. All the entities (rectangles) participating in a
relationship, are connected to it by a line.
Binary Relationship and Cardinality
A relationship where two entities are participating is called a binary relationship.
Cardinality is the number of instance of an entity from a relation that can be associated
with the relation.
 One-to-one − When only one instance of an entity is associated with the
relationship, it is marked as '1:1'. The following image reflects that only one
 instance of each entity should be associated with the relationship. It depicts one-
to-one relationship.

 One-to-many − When more than one instance of an entity is associated with a

relationship, it is marked as '1:N'. The following image reflects that only one
instance of entity on the left and more than one instance of an entity on the right
can be associated with the relationship. It depicts one-to-many relationship.

 Many-to-one − When more than one instance of entity is associated with the
relationship, it is marked as 'N:1'. The following image reflects that more than one
instance of an entity on the left and only one instance of an entity on the right can
be associated with the relationship. It depicts many-to-one relationship.

 Many-to-many − The following image reflects that more than one instance of an
entity on the left and more than one instance of an entity on the right can be
associated with the relationship. It depicts many-to-many relationship.
Participation Constraints
 Total Participation − Each entity is involved in the relationship. Total
participation is represented by double lines.
 Partial participation − Not all entities are involved in the relationship. Partial
participation is represented by single lines.