DBMS

A DBMS is best described as a collection of programs that manage the database structure and that control shared access to the data in the database. Current DBMSes also store the relationships between the database components; they also take care of defining the required access paths to those components

      A database management system (DBMS) is the combination of data, hardware, software and users to help an enterprise manage its operational data.

      The main function of a DBMS is to provide efficient and reliable methods of data retrieval to many users. Efficient data retrieval is an essential function of database systems. DBMS must be able to deal with several users who try to simultaneously access several items and most frequently, the same data item A DBMS is a set of programs that is used to store and manipulation data that include the following:

      • Adding new data, for example adding details of new student.

      • Deleting unwanted data, for example deleting the details of students who have  

       completed course.

      • Changing existing data, for example modifying the fee paid by the student.

      A database is the information to be stored whereas the database management system is the system used to manage the database. . This structure may be regarded in terms of its hardware implementation, called the physical structure, or this structure may be regarded independently of its hardware implementation, called the logical structure. In either case, the data structure is regarded as static because a database cannot ‘process anything. The DBMS is regarded as dynamic because it is through the DBMS that all database processing takes place. How the DBMS presents data to the user is called the view structure.

      There are two general modes for data use: queries and transactions. Both forms use the DBMS for processing. The query is processed for presentation in views and none of these processes are written to the database. The transactional is processed for updating values in the database variables. These updates are written to the database. A DBMS provides various functions like data security, data integrity, data sharing, data concurrence, data independence, data recovery etc. However, all database management systems that are now available in the market like Sybase, Oracle, and MS-Access do not provide the same set of functions, though all are meant for data management.