Multi-User DBMS Architectures – Lecture 14

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, components, and pros/cons of teleprocessing, file-server, and client–server architectures in multi-user DBMS environments.

Multi-User DBMS Architecture

The overall structural design used to allow several users to access and manipulate the same database concurrently.

Teleprocessing Architecture

Traditional single-computer setup where one central CPU runs the application, DBMS, and terminal support for multiple "dumb" user terminals.

Dumb Terminal

A user workstation in teleprocessing that has no independent processing power and relies entirely on the central computer.

File-Server Architecture

A LAN-based setup in which a dedicated file server stores database files while each workstation runs its own DBMS and application software.

Local Area Network (LAN)

A network that connects computers in a limited area—essential for distributing processing in file-server and client–server systems.

Network Traffic

The volume of data transmitted over a network; heavy in file-server architectures because full files are moved across the LAN.

Disadvantages of File-Server Architecture

(1) Large network traffic, (2) Need for a full DBMS copy on every workstation, (3) Complex concurrency, recovery, and integrity control.

Client-Server Architecture

A distributed system in which client processes request resources and server processes provide them, usually across a network.

Client Process

The software component that manages the user interface, checks input syntax, processes application logic, and sends database requests to the server.

Server Process

The component that authorizes requests, enforces integrity constraints, handles query/update processing, maintains the catalog, and provides concurrency and recovery control.

Concurrency Control

Mechanisms that coordinate simultaneous database access so that data integrity is preserved—more difficult in file-server setups with multiple DBMS instances.

Recovery Control

Procedures a DBMS uses to restore a consistent database state after a failure; centralized within the server in client-server systems.

Integrity Constraints

Rules that ensure correctness and validity of data; enforced mainly by the server in a client-server architecture.

DBMS Copy on Workstation

Requirement in file-server architecture that each client machine run its own full database management system software.