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Introduction to Database Systems

DBMS Architecture

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Three-Schema Architecture

DBMS Architecture

Three-Schema Architecture (ANSI/SPARC)

Schema Levels

LevelDescriptionExample
ExternalUser-specific viewsSales department sees only sales data
ConceptualCommunity view of dataTables, relationships, constraints
InternalPhysical storageFiles, indexes, storage allocation

Data Independence

Logical Data Independence

Change conceptual schema without affecting external views:

  • Add new table → existing views unchanged
  • Add column → views that don't use it unchanged

Physical Data Independence

Change internal schema without affecting conceptual schema:

  • Change storage structure
  • Add/remove indexes
  • Change file organization