Advantages of DBMS

Controlling Redundancy

The main idea behind redundancy is the storing of the same data many times.This leads to several problems. First if you want to perform a single logical update such as entering data of a student basic detail, due to redundancy the user has to enter the same details several times. This will lead to a duplication of effort. Secondly, storage space will be wasted when identical data is stored repeatedly. Thirdly as different files have the same data, it may become inconsistent, and will happen since an update will be applied to some of the files, and not others.

But by using, DBMS redundancy is controlled, as in the database approach, the views of different user groups are integrated during the database design. Therefore, data of a specific item is stored only in one place in the database.But sometimes the same data will be stored in a different location to increase the performance of a query. For example, for report generation purposes the students’ name and course name will be stored in a different file for easy accessibility. Otherwise, we have to go though several files to access the same details. Therefore in such a case, the DBMS should have the capability to control this redundancy to prohibit inconsistencies among the files.

Restricting Unauthorized Access

Multiple users will share the same database. But each user does not have the same right to access all the information to stored in the database, so only authorized people can be allowed access such data.

Provide Persistent Storage for Program Objects

Databases can be used to provide persistent storage for program objects and data structures. This will be the main reason for object oriented database systems. Normally the values of program variables are deleted once the program terminates, or the programmer explicitly stores them in permanent files. But object oriented database systems are compatible with programming languages such as C++, Java. Therefore a complex object in C++ can be stored permanently in an object-oriented DBMS, and this is an important function in database systems.

Provide Storage Structure for Effective Query Processing

It will provide a better storage structure for effectively executing queries and updates. Special files called indexes help to speed up the searching process. Indexes are based on tree data structures or hash data structures. The type indexes to create and maintain is a part of physical database design and tuning.

Provide Backup & Recovery

A mechanism should be provided by the DBMS to recover from any hardware or software failure. Hence the backup and recovery subsystem of the DBMS is responsible for it. For example, if the system corrupts in the middle of a transaction, the backup and recovery subsystem takes necessary action to make sure that the database is restored to the state it was in, before the transaction started to execute.

Provide Multiple User Interface

DBMS provide various user interfaces for different users. For example there is a language interface for application programmers and menu drive interfaces for stand-alone users. Menu drive interfaces are commonly known as Graphical User Interfaces (GUI). Special languages exist to specify the GUIs.

Enforcing Integrity Constraints

DBMS provides the capability to define and enforce integrity constraints which exist in the database application, and database designers identify the integrity constraints at the database design process.