Hey guys I have this CS class and I\'m not really sure how to answer this questi
ID: 3857649 • Letter: H
Question
Hey guys I have this CS class and I'm not really sure how to answer this question. Can someone provide some insight/how you would answer it?
This is a continuation of the discussion question from Unit 4 (we all know that databases supply the fuel for the productivity engine in the information age, but at what cost). Now that you have considered the building cost, and the DBA activities needed to maintain an actual database, consider the additional effort needed to input data into the database by users to keep the contents of the database current and error free(these are users tasked with inputting data, not regular users who only want to get and use the data) in your corporate (where you work now or have worked in the past) and personal databases (resources – dollars or people hours and other input? Getting this quantitative information may be difficult, but I want you to provide at least an estimate if historical records are not available)?This discussion question is the other part of database maintenance picture which is often overlooked when estimating the resources actually used to maintain a database (the remaining part of the discussion that we have been considering the last couple of units). Provide this information for either one example of a personal database, or one example of a corporate database that you are familiar with. Even if you are not experienced with databases yourself, the idea is to go find out about the effort needed to maintain the data current through inputting new and updated data, and make sure you provide appropriate releasable citations for your references. This question in not concerned with the effort to initially build/develop and populate a database, or the DBA activities, but instead the ongoing/long term effort to keep the data in the DBMS current (up to date and accurate). As always, for those of you in the military, if you use one of your database systems, make sure the information is releasable. And for those who will interview someone to get the information to answer this question, make sure you provide a personal reference for that person (see the course FAQs for examples [include name, position, organization, etc.]).
Explanation / Answer
To move ahead on the actual question that how the database can be kept up to date and accurate first we need to understand the personal database and corporate database and one example of it.
Personal Database - Sometimes it called desktop database which is used for supporting desktop application like games,some accounting based application etc. Only limited user ( 1 or 2 ) are using it through application.
Corporate Database - These database are used at sever side application where millions of users use it. various examples we have like Google,e-commerce application like amazon , Government bodies like Metros system,Police Records etc.
so here point is to maintain the desktop database is easy task and no maintenance actually needed because we can take always backup of it and we can restore the same again due to limited data present in database. but for corporate database we have huge amount of data in database so to take backup of restore is very tedious task. cannot achieve easily so we have to take care of following things to maintain up to date and accurate data.
1. Secure the physical environment.
2. Strengthen network security.
3. Limit access to the server.
4. Cut back or eliminate unneeded features.
5. Apply patches and updates immediately.
6. Encrypt sensitive data such as credit cards, bank statements, and passwords.
7. Document baseline configurations, and ensure all database administrators follow the policies.
8. Encrypt all communications between the database and applications, especially Web-based programs.
9. Match internal patch cycles to vendor release patterns.
10.Make consistent backups of critical data, and protect the backup files with database encryption.
11.Create an action plan to implement if data is lost or stolen. In the current computing environment, it is better to think in terms of when this could happen, not if it will happen.
Database Clustering,Replicas And Secure the physical environment.
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Applications like Facebook, Google and Amazon rely on advanced databases and high-level computer languages to
handle millions of customers accessing their information at the same time.All the application are cloud based application or we can say
a centerlized database is accessed from serveal countries. To maintain the huge amount of data clustering and replicas concept is used.
replicas means if a particular server is down tehn we have same type of server or database and our whole applciation immdetaily moved to that one.
so that user cannot face the server down problem. To support the replicas ( database copy ) we have to update the database i n every specific cycle called routine maintianece.
so that all the replicas shoudl be in sync.
Now Clustering is another fuctionality which says that whenever the insertion or updation happens through application the all the records should not be inserted in single database instance.
it can be inserted at out of any databse instance within the defined cluseter which are provided for application. By doing this we reduce the operation load called load balancing from one
server and we equally distribute the transaction on different server.
If our application supports clustering then there should be a maintence required to check the health of servers which are deployed in specific cluster.