Database management system architecture and organizational levels

¶ … management system (DBMS) is a program that provides the user with access to the data and also helps them in transforming their raw data into meaningful information. The database management system (DBMS) is therefore a collection of programs that helps in the management of data structure as well as in the control of access to the data that is stored in the database. The DBMS systems help users in the creation, updating as well as extracting of information that is stored in the databases. At a time when the mainframes were the dominant computers in enterprise computing, the database management system (DBMS) architecture was never a big concern. This is because all programs depended and ran on the mainframes. Even for the implementation of mainframe DBMS, the overall system architecture would most likely consist of several (multiple) platforms as well as system software for the interpretation of the databases.

Experts in Information Technology must therefore include a robust database management representative organ that includes database administrators, data administrators as well as system administrators.

It is however crucial that the selected DBMS is the appropriate one for the kind of business as well as the processing type that is to be implemented. In essence, there are four main levels of database management system (DBMS) architecture that one can chose from and they include enterprise DBMS, departmental DBMS, personal DBMS as well as mobile DBMS.

The levels or types of DBMS

Enterprise DBMS

An enterprise level DBMS is a kind of a DBMS that is designed for both scalability and excellent performance. The DBMS system must be capable of seamlessly supporting very large and extensive databases with large number of users accessing the database concurrently while running multiple applications.

The enterprise DBMS systems will typically be deployed on a large-scale machine/server such as a mainframe or a machine that runs a high-end Linux, UNIX or Windows Untraditionally, an enterprise DBMS system offers the user all kinds of "bells and whistles" that should be offered from any DBMS vendor. The core components of any enterprise DBMS system are multi-processor support, clustering, support for parallel information queries as well as other more advanced features.

Departmental DBMS

A departmental DBMS system which is also known as work group DBMS is one that supports the running of a medium sized workgroups that are located within a given organization. They basically run on a Linux, Unix as well as Windows 2000 or NT servers. A software or hardware upgrade can allow the departmental DBMS systems to perform tasks that earlier could only be performed by the more powerful enterprise DBMS systems.

Mobile DBMS

The mobile DBMS systems form a specialized version of the departmental or the enterprise DBMS systems. They are designed to be of great use to remote users who are never connected to the departmental or enterprise DBMS systems. The mobile DBMS allows for the access of the local database as well as its modification via a handheld or laptop device. The mobile BDMS also has a mechanism to be used for synchronizing the remote database modifications to a much more centralized departmental or enterprise database servers.

The Advantages as well as Disadvantages of Enterprise DBMS

Advantages

The enterprise DBMS has several advantages. These advantages include the possession of an established structure of the database system that allows for the organization of data that is stored within into a variety of users for the ease of record storage as well as updating of information that is contained within the database. The information that is stored can be easily retrieved by the technical and non-technical personnel.

Multiuser support

The database can be accessed concurrently by multiple users without any problems.

Disadvantages

Data security issues

The fact that Enterprise DBMS allows for the remote accessing of information means that there are higher chances of information disclosure as well as leakage. The basic tenets of data or information assurance are therefore breached. The situation is further complicated by the fact that most enterprise DBMS systems contain highly sensitive data like sales information, customer information as well as financial data. The other disadvantages are risk of data quality as well as data integrity compromise, dependence risk, complexity as well as high costs.

The risks associated with Enterprise Dependence

An enterprise DBMS has a centralized database system that means that the availability of the database is very critical to the smooth operation of the enterprise. The enterprise is therefore vulnerable to issue such as disclosure, damage as well as alteration of the database.

Costs and complexity

An enterprise database management system is known to produce extra costs as well as complexity. The control as well as administration of the enterprise DBMS system is quite challenging and is costly. It is also expensive to hire administrators whose work is to manipulate the database when necessary. The running of the enterprise DBMS system also requires very complex and competitive hardware systems in terms of processor speeds as well as memory levels.

Complicated development environment

The building of an initial conceptual model for a database system for the enterprise DBMS is quite complex and usually leads to a development environment which is quite complicated.

Conclusion

The process of implementing an enterprise DBMS involves quite a number of risks. Therefore, it is crucial that the enterprise DBMS implementation authority implement a rigorous risk assessment as well as mitigation strategy that would allow the system to be fully operational even in times of upgrades and general downtimes. The general level of savings would also be greater.