Introduction to Advantages of DBMS
Before understanding about advantages of DBMS, let us have a brief look at Data. Any sort of information that comes out, it is tagged with this name “Data”. What I am typing right now have already become the data for me and once it is published to the World Wide Web (WWW), it will become a data for everyone else as well. Now, these data play a key role in making the most out of our available systems, Software, Companies, Enterprises, Governments, Hospitals, Research Centers, Astronomy Organizations, NGO’s and many more spread across our planet. A brief look at today’s IT Operations:
Source: https://goo.gl/images/FEsMvi
But how data would probably benefit today’s Enterprises? The developer builds an application or software, but Software need Data to perform day to day operations and analytics over processed data is something which is driving the business nowadays to excel in their respective areas of operations.
So as a developer, we need a Data Base Management System where we can create, update, delete, administer and moreover to do an analysis on the data. We basically have two most popular ways of storing and managing Data Base. These are DBMS and RDBMS:
- DBMS(Database Management System) – Stores Data as files
- RDBMS(Relational Database Management System) – Stores Data in a tabular format.
Source: https://goo.gl/images/Ce5BqF
Advantages of DBMS
Following are the top 15 advantages of DBMS which are as follows:
1. Data Redundancy
Unlike traditional file-system storage, Data Redundancy in DBMS is very less or not present. Data Redundancy occurs when the same data are stored unnecessarily at different places. Data Redundancy is reduced or eliminated in DBMS because all data are stored at a centralized location rather than being created by individual users and for each application.
For e.g: Application A and Application B have the same user MARVEL, and we need to store personal information about the user such as Name, age, address, Date of Birth etc. Not to mention, this user has also access to different application, so in traditional file-based system, there is a need to maintain separate file system for each of the application to store user’s information while in DBMS approach, there could be just one centralized location where information can be down streamed to different application as and when needed.
2. Data Inconsistency
In traditional file system storage, the changes made by one user in one application doesn’t update the changes in other application, given both have the same set of details. While this is not the case with DBMS systems as there is a single repository of data that is defined once and is accessed by many users, and data are consistent.
3. Data Sharing
Data Sharing is the primary advantage of Database management systems. DBMS system allows users and applications to share Data with multiple applications and users. Data are stored in one or more servers in the network and that there is some software locking mechanism that prevents the same set of data from being changed by two people at the same time. While the file system doesn’t have this capability.
4. Data Searching
Searching and retrieving of data is very easy in DBMS systems. The need to write separate programs for each of the search is eliminated as in the case with a traditional file-based approach. In DBMS, we can write small queries to search for multiple information at a time from the data from DB servers.
5. Data Security
DBMS systems provide a strong framework to protect data privacy and security. DBMS ensures that only authorized users have access to data and there is a mechanism to define access privileges.
6. Data Concurrency
In DBMS, Data are stored in one or more servers in the network and that there is some software locking mechanism that prevents the same set of data from being changed by two people at the same time.
7. Data Integration
Data integration is a process of combining the data residing at different locations and present the user with a unified view of data. DBMS systems allow Data Integration with much feasibility.
8. Data Access
While in traditional file-based approach, it might take hours to look for very specific information that might be needed in the context of some business emergency, while DBMS reduces this time to a few seconds. This is a great advantage of DBMS because we can write small queries which will search the Database for you and it will retrieve the information in the fastest way possible due to its inbuilt searching operations.
9. Decision making
Improved Data Sharing and better-managed data allow business to make quality business decisions which will promote the growth of the organization.
10. Data Backup and Recovery
This is another advantage of DBMS as it provides a strong framework for Data backup, users are not required to back up their data periodically and manually, it is automatically taken care by DBMS. Moreover, in case of a server crash, DBMS restores the Database to its previous condition.
11. Data Migration
There are some data which are access very frequently while there are few that aren’t. So, DBMS provides the capability to access the frequently accessed data as quickly as possible.
12. Data Tuning
DBMS allows the user to fine-tune their data i.e. to improve performance.
13. Low Maintenance Cost
Though DBMS systems might be costly at the time of purchase but their maintenance involves a very minimal cost.
14. Data Loss is almost eliminated
With DBMS, one can keep information for thousands of years, provided we don’t see the doomsday. Data security and very low storage cost (as compared to our previous generations) in the current century cut any possibility of Data Loss.
15. Data Atomicity
An atomic transaction is one in which all of the database actions occur or none of them do. It is the duty of DBMS to store a complete transaction in the database. If any transaction is partially completed, then it rolls backs them.
For e.g: If we make an online purchase, money is deducted from our account while if the purchase is somehow failed, then no money is deducted or if it gets deducted, it gets returned within few days.
Source: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/acid-properties-in-dbms/
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This has been a guide to the advantages of DBMS. Here we have discussed the advantages of using DBMS in the real world. You can also look at the following article to learn more –
