DBMS

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DBMS Concepts
Contents
1. Basic Terms
2. Database Models
3. RDBMS
4. Database Keys
5. Database Users
6. Normalization
7. E-R Diagram
8. Generalization & Specialization
9. SQL Basics
10. Data Languages
11. SQL Queries
12. Transactions-ACID Properties
This document contains DBMS concepts for various Competitive Exams. The key concepts of DBMS
are explained in a very precise & lucid way to assist the aspirants in their preparation. If you have
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Engistan.com [DBMS CONCEPTS]
Data: Data is the quantities, characters, or symbols on which operations are performed by a
computer.
Data (or) Information Processing: The process of converting the facts into meaningful
information is known as Data processing. It is also known as Information processing.
Meta Data: The term Metadata refers to "data about data. Metadata is defined as the data
providing information about one or more aspects of the data, such as:
Means of creation of the data
Purpose of the data
Time and date of creation
Creator or author of the data
Location on a computer network where the data were created
Standards used
Database: A database is a structured collection of data, which is organized into files called
tables.
o A logically coherent collection of related data that (i) describes the entities and
their inter-relationships, and (ii) is designed, built & populated for a specific
reason.
Database Model
A Database model defines the logical design of data. The model describes the relationships
between different parts of the data. In history of database design, three models have been
in use.
Hierarchical Model
Network Model
Relational Model
Hierarchical Model: In this model each entity has only one parent but can have
several children. At the top of hierarchy there is only one entity which is called Root. 1
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Engistan.com [DBMS CONCEPTS ]
Network Model: In the network model, entities are organised in a graph, in which
some entities can be accessed through several path
Relational Model: In this model, data is organised in two-dimesional tables

called relations. The tables or relation are related to each other.

Engistan.com [ DBMS CONCEPTS ]
RDBMS Concepts
A Relational Database management System (RDBMS) is a database management system
based on relational model introduced by E.F Codd. In relational model, data is represented
in terms of tuples (rows).
RDBMS is used to manage Relational database. Relational database is a collection of

organized set of tables from which data can be accessed easily. Relational Database is most
commonly used database. It consists of number of tables and each table has its own primary
key.
What is Table ?
In Relational database, a table is a collection of data elements organised in terms of rows

and columns. A table is also considered as convenient representation of relations. But a
table can have duplicate tuples while a true relation cannot have duplicate tuples. Table is
the most simplest form of data storage. Below is an example of Employee table.
ID Name Age Salary 3

1 Adam 34 13000
2 Alex 28 15000
3 Stuart 20 18000
4 Ross 42 19020
What is a Record ?
A single entry in a table is called a Record or Row. A Record in a table represents set of
related data. For example, the above Employee table has 4 records. Following is an example
of single record.
1 Adam 34 13000
What is Field ?
A table consists of several records (row), each record can be broken into several smaller
entities known as Fields. The above Employee table consist of four
fields, ID, Name, Age and Salary.
What is a Column ?
In Relational table, a column is a set of value of a particular type. The term Attribute is also
used to represent a column. For example, in Employee table, Name is a column that
represent names of employee.
Name 4

Adam
Alex
Stuart
Ross
Database Management System (DBMS):

- A collection of programs that enables users to perform certain actions on a
particular database:
define the structure of database information (descriptive attributes,

data types, constraints, etc), storing this as metadata
populate the database with appropriate information
manipulate the database (for

retrieval/update/removal/insertion of information)
protect the database contents against accidental or deliberate

corruption of contents (involves secure access by users and automatic
recovery in the case of user/hardware faults)
share the database among multiple users, possibly

concurrently
Examples of DBMS are Oracle, Sybase, MySQL, DB/2, SQLServer, Informix, MS-Access,
FileMaker etc
Sample Databases 5
Shown below is an extract from a (relational) database that might be part of a

Universitys Academic Information System:

Terminology:
relation = table (file)
attribute = column (field)
tuple = row (record)

6

Database Keys:
Keys are very important part of Relational database. They are used to establish and identify
relation between tables. They also ensure that each record within a table can be uniquely
identified by combination of one or more fields within a table.
Super Key: Super Key is defined as a set of attributes within a table that uniquely
identifies each record within a table. Super Key is a superset of Candidate key.
Candidate Key: Candidate keys are defined as the set of fields from which primary
key can be selected. It is an attribute or set of attribute that can act as a primary key
for a table to uniquely identify each record in that table.
7
Primary Key: Primary key is a candidate key that is most appropriate to become
main key of the table. It is a key that uniquely identify each record in a table.

Foreign Key: A foreign key is generally a primary key from one table that appears as
a field in another where the first table has a relationship to the second. In other
words, if we had a table A with a primary key X that linked to a table B where X was a
field in B, then X would be a foreign key in B.
Composite Key: Key that consists of two or more attributes that uniquely identify an
entity occurrence is called Composite key. But any attribute that makes up the
Composite key is not a simple key in its own.
Secondary or Alternative key: The candidate key which are not selected for primary 8
key are known as secondary keys or alternative keys

Non-key Attribute: Non-key attributes are attributes other than candidate key
attributes in a table.
Non-prime Attribute: Non-prime Attributes are attributes other than Primary

attribute.
Database Users:
Database Administrators (DBA):
o individual(s) that determine & implement policy regarding users,

their permissions on a database and the design & construction of
that database
Database Designers:
o individual(s) possibly also software engineers who apply design

techniques to produce database structures pertinent to a specific
application
End Users:
o People who, from time to time, access the contents of a database:

Casual end users may submit ad-hoc queries as the need
arises, using a high-level query language
nave, or parametric, end-users access the database

through pre-written programs that effect an appropriate
interface to the database
database programmers write code, using a relevant

programming language and the high-level query language, that
can later be used by parametric users
Normalization 9
Normalization is a systematic approach of decomposing tables to eliminate data redundancy
and undesirable characteristics like Insertion, Update and Deletion Anomalies. It is a two-

step process that puts data into tabular form by removing duplicated data from the relation
tables.
Normalization is used for mainly two purposes,
Eliminating redundant (useless) data.

Ensuring data dependencies make sense i.e data is logically stored.
Problem Without Normalization
Without Normalization, it becomes difficult to handle and update the database, without
facing data loss. Insertion, Updation and Deletion Anomalies are very frequent if Database is
not Normalized. To understand these anomalies let us take an example of Student table.
S_id S_Name S_Address Subject_opted
401 Adam Noida Bio
402 Alex Panipat Maths
403 Stuart Jammu Maths
404 Adam Noida Physics
Updation Anomaly : To update address of a student who occurs twice or more than
twice in a table, we will have to update S_Address column in all the rows, else data will
become inconsistent. 10

Insertion Anomaly: Suppose for a new admission, we have a Student id(S_id), name and
address of a student but if student has not opted for any subjects yet then we have to
insert NULL there, leading to Insertion Anamoly.
Deletion Anomaly: If (S_id) 401 has only one subject and temporarily he drops it, when
we delete that row, entire student record will be deleted along with it.
Normalization Rule
Normalization rule are divided into following normal form.
1. First Normal Form

2. Second Normal Form
3. Third Normal Form
4. BCNF
1. First Normal Form (1NF): A row of data cannot contain repeating group of data
i.e each column must have a unique value. Each row of data must have a unique
identifier i.e Primary key. For example consider a table which is not in First normal
form
Student Table :
S_id S_Name subject
401 Adam Biology
401 Adam Physics
402 Alex Maths
403 Stuart Maths
11
You can clearly see here that student name Adam is used twice in the table and
subject math is also repeated. This violates the First Normal form. To reduce above
table to First Normal form breaks the table into two different tables

New Student Table :
S_id S_Name
401 Adam
402 Alex
403 Stuart
Subject Table :
subject_id student_id subject
10 401 Biology
11 401 Physics
12 402 Math
12 403 Math
In Student table concatenation of subject_id and student_id is the Primary key. Now
both the Student table and Subject table are normalized to first normal form
2. Second Normal Form (2NF): A table to be normalized to Second Normal

Form should meet all the needs of First Normal Form and there must not be any
partial dependency of any column on primary key. It means that for a table that has
concatenated primary key, each column in the table that is not part of the primary
key must depend upon the entire concatenated key for its existence. If any column 12
depends oly on one part of the concatenated key, then the table fails Second normal
form. For example, consider a table which is not in Second normal form.

Customer Table:
customer_id Customer_Name Order_id Order_name Sale_detail
101 Adam 10 order1 sale1
101 Adam 11 order2 sale2
102 Alex 12 order3 sale3
103 Stuart 13 order4 sale4
In Customer table concatenation of Customer_id and Order_id is the primary key.

This table is in First Normal form but not in Second Normal form because there are
partial dependencies of columns on primary key. Customer_Name is only dependent
on customer_id, Order_name is dependent on Order_id and there is no link between
sale_detail and Customer_name.
To reduce Customer table to Second Normal form break the table into following
three different tables.
Customer_Detail Table :
customer_id Customer_Name
101 Adam
102 Alex
103 Stuart
13
Order_Detail Table :

Order_id Order_Name
10 Order1
11 Order2
12 Order3
13 Order4
Sale_Detail Table :
customer_id Order_id Sale_detail
101 10 sale1
101 11 sale2
102 12 sale3
103 13 sale4
Now all these three table comply with Second Normal form.
3. Third Normal Form (3NF): Third Normal form applies that every non-prime
14
attribute of table must be dependent on primary key. The transitive functional
dependency should be removed from the table. The table must be in Second Normal
form. For example, consider a table with following fields.

Student_Detail Table:
Student_id Student_name DOB Street city State Zip
In this table Student_id is Primary key, but street, city and state depends upon Zip.
The dependency between zip and other fields is called transitive dependency. Hence
to apply 3NF, we need to move the street, city and state to new table, with Zip as
primary key.
New Student_Detail Table :
Student_id Student_name DOB Zip
Address Table :
Zip Street city state
The advantage of removing transitive dependency is,
Amount of data duplication is reduced.

Data integrity achieved.
4. Boyce and Codd Normal Form (BCNF): Boyce and Codd Normal Form is a 15
higher version of the Third Normal form. This form deals with certain type of
anamoly that is not handled by 3NF. A 3NF table which does not have multiple
overlapping candidate keys is said to be in BCNF.

E-R Diagram
ER-Diagram is a visual representation of data that describes how data is related to each
other.
Symbols and Notations
16

Components of E-R Diagram

The E-R diagram has three main components.
1) Entity
An Entity can be any object, place, person or class. In E-R Diagram, an entity is represented
using rectangles. Consider an example of an Organisation. Employee, Manager, Department,
Product and many more can be taken as entities from an Organisation.
Weak Entity
Weak entity is an entity that depends on another entity. Weak entity doen't have key
attribute of their own. Double rectangle represents weak entity.
2) Attribute
An Attribute describes a property or characterstic of an entity. For example, Name, Age,

Address etc can be attributes of a Student. An attribute is represented using eclipse.
17

Key Attribute
Key attribute represents the main characteristic of an Entity. It is used to represent Primary
key. Ellipse with underlying lines represent Key Attribute.
Composite Attribute
An attribute can also have their own attributes. These attributes are known
as Composite attribute.
3) Relationship
A Relationship describes relations between entities. Relationship is represented using

diamonds.
There are three types of relationship that exist between Entities.
Binary Relationship
Recursive Relationship
Ternary Relationship
Binary Relationship 18
Binary Relationship means relation between two Entities. This is further divided into three
types.

1. One to One : This type of relationship is rarely seen in real world.
The above example describes that one student can enroll ony for one course and a
course will also have only one Student. This is not what you will usually see in
relationship.
2. One to Many : It reflects business rule that one entity is associated with many number
of same entity. For example, Student enrolls for only one Course but a Course can have
many Students.
The arrows in the diagram describes that one student can enroll for only one course.
3. Many to Many :
The above diagram represents that many students can enroll for more than one courses.
Recursive Relationship
When an Entity is related with itself it is known as Recursive Relationship.
19
Ternary Relationship
Relationship of degree three is called Ternary relationship.

Generalization and Specialization

Generalization: Generalization is a bottom-up approach in which two lower level entities
combine to form a higher level entity. In generalization, the higher level entity can also
combine with other lower level entity to make further higher level entity.
Specialization: Specialization is opposite to Generalization. It is a top-down approach in

which one higher level entity can be broken down into two lower level entity. In
specialization, some higher level entities may not have lower-level entity sets at all.
Aggregation: Aggregation is a process when relation between two entity is treated as a

single entity. Here the relation between Center and Course is acting as an Entity in relation
with Visitor.
20

SQL Basics
Introduction to SQL
Structure Query Language (SQL) is a programming language used for storing and managing
data in RDBMS. SQL was the first commercial language introduced for E.F
Codd's Relational model. Today almost all RDBMS (MySql, Oracle, Infomix, Sybase, MS
Access) uses SQL as the standard database language.
SQL is used to perform all type of data operations in RDBMS.
SQL Command
SQL defines following data languages to manipulate data of RDBMS.
DDL : Data Definition Language
All DDL commands are auto-committed. That means it saves all the changes
permanently in the database.
Command Description
create to create new table or

database
alter for alteration
truncate delete data from table
drop to drop a table
rename to rename a table
DML : Data Manipulation Language 21
DML commands are not auto-committed. It means changes are not permanent to
database, they can be rolled back.

Command Description
insert to insert a new row
update to update existing row
delete to delete a row
merge merging two rows or two tables
TCL : Transaction Control Language
These commands are to keep a check on other commands and their affect on the
database. These commands can annul changes made by other commands by rolling
back to original state. It can also make changes permanent.
Command Description
commit to permanently save
rollback to undo change
savepoint to save temporarily
DCL : Data Control Language
Data control language provides command to grant and take back authority.
Command Description
grant grant permission of right

22
revoke take back permission.

DQL : Data Query Language
Command Description
select retrieve records from one or more

table
Basic Structure of SQL Queries:

The basic structure of an SQL query consists of three clauses: SELECT, FROM, and WHERE.
1. SELECT Statement: SELECT Statement Defines WHAT is to be returned (separated by

commas)
Database Columns (From Tables or Views)
Constant Text Values
Formulas
Pre-defined Functions
Group Functions (COUNT, SUM, MAX, MIN, AVG)
* Means All Columns From All Tables In the FROM Statement

Example: SELECT state_code, state_name
2. FROM Statement: Defines the Table(s) or View(s) Used by the SELECT or WHERE
Statements
You MUST Have a FROM statement
Multiple Tables/Views are separated by Commas
3. WHERE Clause: Defines what records are to be included in the query

It is Optional.
Uses Comparison Operators (=, >, >=, <, <=,!=,<>
Multiple Conditions Linked with AND & OR Statements
Strings Contained Within SINGLE QUOTES.
23
- AND & OR Statements:
Multiple WHERE conditions are Linked by AND / OR Statements
AND Means All Conditions are TRUE for the Record

OR Means at least 1 of the Conditions is TRUE

You May Group Statements with ( )
BE CAREFUL MIXING AND & OR Conditions
Examples:
1. SELECT * FROM annual_summaries WHERE sd_duration_code = 1
2. SELECT state_name FROM states WHERE state_population > 15000000
3. SELECT state_name, state_population FROM states WHERE state_name LIKE

%NORTH%
4. SELECT * FROM annual_summaries WHERE sd_duration_code IN (1, , W, , X)
AND annual_summary_year = 2000
Transaction Management:
Transaction: A transaction is a unit of program execution that accesses and possibly updates
various data items. Or in simple words A transaction is an event which occurs on the
database. Generally a transaction reads a value from the database or writes a value to the
database.
Goal Of Transactions: The ACID properties
Atomicity: Either all actions are carried out, or none are.
Consistency: If each transaction is consistent, and the database is initially consistent,

then it is left consistent.
Isolation: Transactions are isolated, or protected, from the effects of other

scheduled transactions.
Durability: If a transaction completes successfully, then its effects persist.
1. Atomicity: A transaction can

Commit after completing its actions, or
Abort because of
- Internal DBMS decision: restart
- System crash: power, disk failure, 24
- Unexpected situation: unable to access disk, data value,
A transaction interrupted in the middle could leave the database inconsistent

DBMS needs to remove the effects of partial transactions to ensure

atomicity: either all a transactions actions are performed or none.
2. Consistency: Database consistency is the property that every transaction sees a

consistent database instance. It follows from transaction atomicity, isolation and
transaction consistency
Users are responsible for ensuring transaction consistency
- when run to completion against a consistent database instance, the
transaction leaves the database consistent
For example, consistency criterion that my inter-account-transfer transaction
does not change the total amount of money in the accounts!
3. Isolation: Guarantee that even though transactions may be interleaved, the net
effect is identical to executing the transactions serially
For example, if transactions T1 and T2 are executed concurrently, the net
effect is equivalent to executing
- T1 followed by T2, or
- T2 followed by T1
NOTE: The DBMS provides no guarantee of effective order of execution.
4. Durability: DBMS uses the log to ensure durability.

If the system crashed before the changes made by a completed transaction
are written to disk, the log is used to remember and restore these changes
when the system is restarted.
Again, this is handled by the recovery manager
25

DBMS

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Means of creation of the data

Purpose of the data

Time and date of creation

Creator or author of the data

Location on a computer network where the data were created

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Relational Model: In this model, data is organised in two-dimesional tables

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

RDBMS is used to manage Relational database. Relational database is a collection of

In Relational database, a table is a collection of data elements organised in terms of rows

ID Name Age Salary 3

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Database Management System (DBMS):

define the structure of database information (descriptive attributes,

populate the database with appropriate information

manipulate the database (for

protect the database contents against accidental or deliberate

share the database among multiple users, possibly

Shown below is an extract from a (relational) database that might be part of a

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

relation = table (file)

attribute = column (field)

tuple = row (record)

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Non-prime Attribute: Non-prime Attributes are attributes other than Primary

Database Administrators (DBA):

o individual(s) that determine & implement policy regarding users,

o individual(s) possibly also software engineers who apply design

o People who, from time to time, access the contents of a database:

nave, or parametric, end-users access the database

database programmers write code, using a relevant

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Normalization is used for mainly two purposes,

Eliminating redundant (useless) data.

Problem Without Normalization

S_id S_Name S_Address Subject_opted

401 Adam Noida Bio

402 Alex Panipat Maths

403 Stuart Jammu Maths

404 Adam Noida Physics

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1. First Normal Form

S_id S_Name subject

401 Adam Biology

401 Adam Physics

402 Alex Maths

403 Stuart Maths

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New Student Table :

subject_id student_id subject

2. Second Normal Form (2NF): A table to be normalized to Second Normal

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customer_id Customer_Name Order_id Order_name Sale_detail

101 Adam 10 order1 sale1

101 Adam 11 order2 sale2

102 Alex 12 order3 sale3

103 Stuart 13 order4 sale4

In Customer table concatenation of Customer_id and Order_id is the primary key.

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