Database Architecture Basics, Terms and Definitions

Database Arhitecture

Database architecture is a model describing the logic of distribution of database objects throughout the system. It is usually designed in accordance with the business logic of a particular application that will use the database.

Database Architecture Principles

Generally, the architecture takes into account three aspects of the application’s logic:

  • What objects are stored in the database
  • How the objects are accessed and updated
  • How the objects interact with each other

In an ideal situation, information required by an application should be extracted from the database as quickly and with as little consumption of system resources as possible.

The better database architecture is, the faster application can obtain the necessary and sufficient amount of data, and the faster it can help the user.


Database Construction Basics

Databases store information in tables. Each table can have its own storage engine, and different storage engines perform differently. Their performance depends on algorithms handling HDD read-write requests, working with memory, data caching, and other features.

Therefore, the design of database architecture is inseparably connected with development of an application. A practical approach is to divide business objects in groups by their properties, access rates, and types of operations that will be performed upon them.


How an Application Masters the Database Content

When an application works with a database, it addresses database objects through primary and foreign keys. A good database architecture enables applications to take advantage of cascading relationships and retrieve the data in the most effective way.

The less database load created with each query, the more concurring operations you can do simultaneously. As an example, you can not only provide data workflow for some application, but also create database backups in a “hot” mode (without stopping the database engine).


Handy Backup and the Database Architecture

Our software can back up and restore databases independently of the storage engines used. For example, the MySQL Backup plug-in supports MyISAM, InnoDB and all other engines available in the system. Learn more about MySQL Backup...

In Oracle, backing up and restoring databases is operating through the dedicated Oracle backup utility called RMAN. This allows Handy Backup to support any version of Oracle (currently it is a version 12c), providing the utmost efficiency of any backup job.

Handy Backup Small Business

We welcome you to try the Small Business edition of our software - it’s a professional backup and recovery tool for Oracle, MySQL, MS SQL and other DBMS. Try free for 30 days!

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