Database Manager
It is the interface among low-level data, queries and application programs. Databases typically need a large amount of storage space. It is kept on disks, as the main memory of computers has not store this information. Data is moved among disk storage and main memory as needed. Hence the movement of data to and from disk is slow relative to the speed of the control processing unit of computers; it is essential that database system structure data so as to decrease the need to move data between main memory and disk.
A database manager is a program module liable for interfacing with the database file system to the user questions. In addition, the tasks of enforcing constraints to keep the consistency and integrity of the data as well as its security are also done by database manager. Synchronising the concurrent operations performed by concurrent users is under the control of the data manager. It also done backup and recovery operations. Let us summarise now the vital responsibilities of Database manager.
- Interaction with file manager: The raw data is kept on the disk using the file system which is usually given by a conventional operating system. The database manager changes the various DML statements into low-level file system commands. Therefore, the database manager is responsible for the real storing, retrieving and updating of data in the database.
- Integrity enforcement: The data values stored in the database must assure certain types of consistency constraints. For instance, the balance of a bank account may never drop below a prescribed amount (for example, Rs. 1000/-). Likewise the number of holidays per year an employee may be having should not go over 8 days. These constraints must be specified explicitly by the DBA. If such constraints are given, then the database manager can check whether updates to the database result in the violation of any of these constraints and if so appropriate action may be imposed.
- Security enforcement: As talk about above, not every user of the database wants to have access to the entire content of the database. It is the job of the database manager to enforce these security needs.
- Backup and recovery: A computer system like any other electrical or mechanical device is subject to failure. There are a several of causes of such failure, including power failure, disk crash, and software errors. In each of these cases, information regarding the database is lost. It is the liability of database manager to detect such failures and restore the database to a state that existed prior to the occurrence of the failure. This is generally accomplished through the backup and recovery procedures.
- Concurrency control: When various users update the database simultaneously, the consistency of data may no longer be preserved. It is required for the system to control the interaction between the concurrent users, and reaching such a control is one of the responsibilities of database manager.