Databases

Databases: the backbone of enterprise applications

Large databases can dramatically affect the performance of IT systems

If you have an enterprise application, you will per force need a database. That’s a given. The choice of database may again depend upon the enterprise application that you deploy. EWA vendors generally recommend one or more database as running well with their software. Generally any ERP system will play well with Oracle, DB2 or SQL Server.

Large databases can dramatically affect the performance of IT systems, slowing down queries and reports, unless database speed and optimization abilities do not keep pace. In the face of today’s data trends from speed to granularity to mobility, the only true solution is to make sure that software and technology at work in an organization meets users’ needs. All of this starts with a database.

Vendors have long recognized that there are different applications, and therefore customers have different needs for database technology, and the degree of difference cannot be met with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. That is the primary reason why vendors continue to invest in developing code lines for achieving superior performance in each of the database technologies that they possess.

Different databases such as Sybase, Oracle and SQL Server have different strong points. For example Sybase is good for data warehousing, Oracle for Indexing and SQL for cost ownership and query.

The most important considerations for a database are performance and reliability. Therefore, when looking at database platforms, and making choices around selecting a database, it is important to look at the functional requirements within the database that the customer will need, and match that to what the database delivers right from the start, without requiring additional customization of professional services.

Another key area of separation is the ability of the technology to provide data services within the database platform, so as to be able to disseminate information within different applications without requiring additional consulting efforts.

Information security or data security is more important today than it ever was. A security breach today has the potential to hit hard on a business’s profitability and in some cases even impact business viability.

A good DBMS can prevent unauthorized users from viewing or updating the database. Using passwords, users are allowed access to the entire database or a subset of it. For example, in an employee database, some users may be able to view salaries while others may view only work history and medical data. To protect content from unauthorized users, and to control access to administrative functions, enterprise search supports user authentication and access control.

Authentication is the process by which a system verifies that users are who or what they declare themselves to be. Because access is typically based on the identity of the user who requests the resource, authentication is essential to effective security.

Access control refers to limiting what users can do after they identify themselves and are authenticated. An Access Control List (ACL) is the most common way in which access to resources is limited. An ACL is a list of user identifications (user names, group names, user roles, and so on). Each user’s identification is associated with a set of permissions that define the user’s rights and privileges.

Huge databases have to be restored in case sudden hardware or system crash, preferably without needing to resort to the usage of third party software applications. Most databases come with inbuilt data recovery facilities.

Databases