Week 2

Component

Description

Hardware

Physical computers, servers, storage disks, network infrastructure. E.g., the servers in a bank's data centre.

Software

The DBMS software itself (e.g., MySQL, Oracle), operating system, and application programs.

Data

The actual data stored (operational data) and the metadata (schema/catalogue describing the data).

Procedures

Rules and instructions for using and running the database (backup procedures, security policies).

People

Database Administrator (DBA), database designers, application developers, and end-users.

DBMS Function

Explanation

Data Definition

Allows users to define the database structure (schemas, tables, constraints) using a Data Definition Language (DDL).

Data Manipulation

Allows insertion, updating, deletion, and retrieval of data using a Data Manipulation Language (DML).

Data Security

Controls who can access what data. Implements authentication and authorisation.

Data Integrity

Enforces rules (constraints) to ensure data accuracy and consistency.

Concurrency Control

Manages simultaneous access by multiple users to prevent data corruption.

Backup and Recovery

Creates backups and restores the database to a consistent state after failures.

Data Dictionary Management

Maintains metadata (the catalogue) describing the structure of the database.

Transaction Management

Ensures that groups of operations either all succeed or all fail (atomicity).