Database Design free essay sample

In order for a database to be truly functional, it must not only store large amounts of record, but also be able to access those records fast and efficiently. In addition, new information and changes should also be easy to input. † (tech-faq. com) To be useful over a long term the database should be able to store all the records necessary for the business to function as well as be able to get all of this information back in case of a system failure or a crash. If all the information is loss a business could go bankrupt so the database is a fail safe for all the information the company has. In the case of an Art Museum that tracks all of its artwork, artists, and locations where all their art is displayed or stored within the museum they would defiantly need a database with a failsafe to store all their information. If the Museum for any reason was every hacked and all their information was deleted or corrupted they would need to know where all their art was without having to physically go through every building and relocate each art piece. This is the same with their artist information (phone number, amount owed to the artist, painting the artist gave to the museum, ect). Without the database all of this information could be easily lost or misplaced if it was all stored on a piece of paper like in the older days. Or if the building burnt down they would also lose all this valuable information. When it is stored in a database it can be kept in a separate location and even kept offline to make sure it wasn’t hacked or the information wasn’t manipulated in anyway. The database architecture a set of specific rules, processes, and specifications that dictate how data is accessed by components of the system and how this data is stored in the database. † (wingenious. com) There are three types of architecture that the database can be processed on and that is what tier of architecture the database is. â€Å"Imagine a person on a desktop computer who uses Microsoft Access to load up a list of personal addresses and phone numbers that he or she has saved in MS Windows â€Å"My Documents† folder. This is an example of a one-tier database architecture† (Windowsecutity. com) â€Å"A two tier client/server architecture is one in which a user interacts through a Graphical User Interface to communicate with the database server across a network via Structured Query Langauage. † (Windowsecurity. com) Last is an N-Tier Clinet/Server Architecutre. â€Å"Most n-tier database architectures exist in a three-tier configuration. In this architecture the client server model expands to include a middle tier (business tier) which is an application server that houses the business logic. This middle tier relieves the client application and the database server of some of their processing duties by translating client calls into database queries and translating data from the database into client data in return. † (windowsecurity. com) The one tier is best suited for single users that have a small amount of information to store. It will run on the machine the user is using and will store it on the machines (computer, tablet, cellphone, ect) and has to use a physical resource to access and process this information. If you have multiply users and a small scale of applications you would use the two tier client/server architecture. This would be an example of anyone that uses the internet and access some information off of a server. This information is stored on a server and not on their local machine as in an one tier architecture. For larger scale applications you would have to use a N Tier client/server architecture. An example of this would be a shopping cart on any website that you can order a product off of. â€Å"The user will pick what they want to buy which they do so by interacting with the Graphic User Interface and with the application and the application server. † (exforsys. om) The database the museum would use is a two tier client/server architecture. They could keep all their information on a server and actually use an intranet instead of the internet to locate all the information they need for their everyday use. The challenges would be that the system could be overloaded if too many requests were made at one time. This could be overcome by increasing the bandwidth of the network you are working on though. The other thing that could cause challenges is all the processing is done on a few central computers. The use of this two ier system for the museum would be to have a specific location of each piece of art and where it is located in the museum. They could know where they had all their art located from world renowned artist all the way to the ones they kept from local artist. If they wanted to replace some art they were displaying with art they were storing they could check to see where they were storing the piece easily go and find it and replace it with the one they are displaying. When this is done they could go into the system and replace both art with where they are now stored/displayed at. The scope of the system would be mainly word information, visual information, and numerical information. It would be stored by artist/painting/location for the actual paintings themselves along with the year it was painted and any information associated with the painting. For the artist you would have to display not only textual information, but also numerical information (phone numbers, addresses, ect) so you could contact the artist at any time. The only boundaries to the system would be how large your database was and what the system you were using on this database.