11.4. Classification database management systems

Any software product capable of supporting the processes of designing, administering, and using a database can fall under the definition of a DBMS; therefore, a classification of the DBMS by program type has been developed:

1) full-featured - the most numerous and powerful programs in their capabilities, such as Microsoft Access, Microsoft FoxPro, Clarion Database Developer, etc .;

2) database servers - used to organize data centers in computer networks. Among them are Microsoft SQL Server, Novell NetWare SQL ;

3) database clients - various programs (full-featured DBMS, spreadsheets, word processors, etc.) that provide greater performance of the computer network if the client and server parts of the database are produced by the same company, but this condition is not mandatory;

4) database development tools — designed to develop software products such as client programs, database servers and their individual applications, as well as custom applications. Tools for developing custom applications are programming systems, libraries of programs for various programming languages, development automation kits. The most commonly used custom application development tools are Borland’s Delphi tools and Microsoft’s Visual Basic tools.

By type of application DBMS are divided into personal and multi-user.

Personal DBMS (for example, Visual FoxPro, Paradox, Access) are used in designing personal databases and low-cost applications that work with them, which, in turn, can be used as the client part of a multi-user DBMS.

Multiuser DBMSs (for example, Oracle and Informix) consist of a database server and a client part and are able to work with various types of computers and operating systems of various manufacturers.

Most often, information systems are built on the basis of the client-server architecture , which includes a computer network and a distributed database. The computing network is used to organize scientific work on PCs and in networks. A distributed database consists of a multi-user database located on a server computer and a personal database located on workstations. The database server performs the bulk of data processing.