Database system

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008)

This article may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help by adding relevant internal links, or by improving the article's layout. (June 2008)

A database system is a term that is typically used to encapsulate the constructs of a data model, database Management system (DBMS) and database^[1].

A database is an organised pool of logically-related data. Data is stored within the data structures of the database. A DBMS is a suite of computer software providing the interface between users and a database or databases. A DBMS is a shell which surrounds a database or series of databases and through which all interactions take place with the database. The interactions catered for by most existing DBMS fall into 4 main groups:

• Data Definition. Defining new data structures for a database, removing data structures from the database, modifying the structure of existing data.
• Data Maintenance. Inserting new data into existing data structures, updating data in existing data structures, deleting data from existing data structures.
• Data Retrieval. Querying existing data by end-users and extracting data for use by application programs.
• Data Control. Creating and monitoring users of the database, restricting access to data in the database and monitoring the performance of databases.

Both a database and its DBMS conform to the principles of a particular data model ^[2]. Data models include the hierarchical data model, the network data model, the relational data model and the object-oriented data model.

References