Explain Database architecture
There are following three levels or layers of
DBMS architecture:
• External Level
•Conceptual Level
• Internal Level
Objective of the Three Level Architecture
The objective of the three level architecture
is to separate each user's view of the database from the Way the database is
physically represented. There are several reasons why this separation is
desirable:
• Each user should be able to access the same
data, but have a different customized view of the data. Each user should be
able to change the way he or she views the data, and this change should not
affect other users.
• Users should not have to deal directly with
physical database storage details, such as indexing or hashing. In other words
a user's interaction with the database should be independent of storage
considerations.
• The Database Administrator (DBA) should be
able to change the database storage structures without affecting the user's
views.
. The internal structure of the database should
be unaffected by changes to the physical aspects of storage, such as the
changeover to a new storage device.
. The DBA should be able to change the
conceptual structure of the database without affecting all users.
External Level or View level
It is the users' view of the database. This
level describes that part of the database that is relevant to
each user.
External level is the one which is closest to the end users. This level deals
with the way in which individual users vie\v data. Individual users are given
different views according to the user's requirement.
A view involves only those portions of a
database which are of concern to a user. Therefore same database can have
different views for different users. The external view insulates users from the
details of the internal and conceptual levels. External level is also known as
the view level. In addition different views may have different representations
of the same data. For example, one user may view dates in the form (day, month,
year), while another may view dates as (year, month, day).
Conceptual Level or Logical level
It is the community view of the database. This
level describes what data is stored in the database and the relationships among
the data. The middle level in the three level architecture is the conceptual
level. This level contains the logical structure of the entire database as seen
by the DBA. It is a complete view of the data requirements of the organization
that is independent of any storage considerations. The conceptual level represents:
• All entities, their attributes, and their
relationships;
An Entity is an object whose information is
stored in the database. For example, in student database the entity is student.
An attribute is a characteristic of interest about an entity.
For example, in case of student database Roll
No, Name, Class, Address etc. are attributes of entity student.
• The constraints on the data;
• Semantic information about the data;
• Security and integrity information.
The conceptual level supports each external
view, in that any data available to a user must be contained in, or derivable
from, the conceptual level. However, this level must not contain any storage
dependent details. For instance, the description of an entity should contain
only data types of attributes (for example, integer, real, character) and their
length (such as the maximum number of digits or characters), but not any
stQrage considerations, such as the number of bytes occupied. Conceptual level
is also known as the, logical level.
Internal level or Storage level
It is the physical representation of the
database on the computer. This level describes how the data is stored in the
database. The internal level is the one that concerns the way the data are
physically stored on the hardware. The internal level covers the physical\
implementation of the database to achieve optimal runtime performance and
storage space utilization. It covers the data structures and file organizations
used to store data on storage devices. It interfaces with the operating system
access methods to place the data on the storage devices, build the indexes,
retrieve the data, and so· on.
The internal level is concerned with such
things as:
• Storage space allocation for data and
indexes;
• Record descriptions for storage (with stored
sizes for data items);
• Record placement;
• Data compression and data encryption
techniques.
There will be only one conceptual view,
consisting of the abstract representation of the database in it’s entirely.
Similarly there will be only one internal or physical view, representing the
total database, as it is physically stored.
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