Database Administration

John A. Springer, PhD

Assistant Professor

Department of Computer and Information Technology

College of Technology

Motivation• Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) initiatives

frequently make extensive use of Product Data Management (PDM) systems to manage product informationinformation

• A PDM system typically uses a relational database to store its information

• Software known as a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) manages access to the relational database

• This module discusses the tasks and procedures typically performed by a database administrator (DBA)

Traditional Life Cycle

Database Administration

in Traditional Life Cycle

Database Development

Life Cycle

Database Development

Life Cycle

Types of Database Users

• The types of users and their roles and responsibilities at a site can vary.

• Types of users:• Types of users:– Database Administrators

– Security Officers

– Network Administrators

– Application Developers

– Application Administrators

– Database Users

Types of DBA Tasks

• Installing and upgrading DBMS software

• Planning, creating, and maintaining storage allocationsstorage allocations

• Creating and maintaining database objects such as tables

• Creating and maintaining users

Additional Types of DBA Tasks

• Maintaining database security

• Complying with license agreements

• Optimizing database performance• Optimizing database performance

• Backup and recovery of database

Installing and upgrading DBMS

• DBA must have intimate knowledge of DBMS software

• DBA must also have thorough knowledge • DBA must also have thorough knowledge of operating system on which the DBMS resides

• Migration procedures are necessary to ensure minimal downtime

Role of Operating System

• DBMS is installed on an operating system (OS)

• DBMS “lives” as a process or set of • DBMS “lives” as a process or set of related processes running on the operating system

– DBMS likely to be multithreaded

• Thus DBMS must use OS efficiently and effectively

Storage Requirements

• DBMS uses storage resources extensively

• Actual database files reside on disk

• The actual disk configuration may be one • The actual disk configuration may be one of a number of arrangements

• Typically concerned about the number of disk spindles available for use

• Storage planning includes projecting number of rows in tables and considering primary key sizes and indexing needs

User Management

• Must consider access and security needs when

devising user management approach

• Must also consider the manner in which • Must also consider the manner in which

authentication will occur

– DBMS vendors provide various methods for handling

authentication

• Role-based Access Controls use roles to control

users’ access rights

– Roles are given privileges and then users are

assigned roles

Optimization

• Critical task of DBA is to ensure that database access is occurring in an optimal mannermanner

• May involve optimizing individual queries

• May also involve adding indexes to improve performance

• Careful consideration of application domains is also necessary

Backup and Recovery• Critical task of DBA is to ensure durability of

database

• Thus necessary to have frequent backups of database components that are crucial to database components that are crucial to restoring database

• Database Management Systems often record all database changes in log file– Do not consider a transaction complete until the

changes have been recorded in log file

– Consequently, such log files are essential to recovery process

References

• Elmasri, R., & Navathe, S. B. (2006).

Fundamentals of Database Systems. Boston:

Addison Wesley.Addison Wesley.

• Garcia-Molina, H., Ullman, J. D., & Widom, J.

(2001). Database Systems: The Complete Book.

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice-Hall.

• Ramakrishnan, R., & Gehrke, J. (2002).

Database Management Systems. New York:

McGraw-Hill.

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to acknowledge the support from the Society for Manufacturing Engineers - Education Foundation, SME-EF Engineers - Education Foundation, SME-EF Grant #5004 for “Curriculum Modules in Product Lifecycle Management.”