Database Reference
In-Depth Information
with the database through the local network or through the Internet, the database must be built
to support remote access. With cloud computing, a collaboration environment can also be built to
allow the developers to participate in the application development remotely throughout the world.
To keep the database running and providing services continuously, the database should be
managed by a group of experienced DBAs. he DBAs perform tasks such as creating user accounts,
performing data transformation, database backup, restoration, and doing performance tuning. It
is the DBAs' responsibility to enforce security measures. For a large corporation, the DBAs may
also perform tasks such as database partitioning and managing network utilities for distributed
databases. A cloud platform can signiicantly reduce the workload of the DBAs since the tasks
such as database backup can be taken care of by a cloud provider.
he data stored in a database can be used to provide useful information for decision making.
To extend the usage of data stored in a database, an enterprise-level DBMS provides data analysis
services to support business decision making. hrough the analysis services, an information ana-
lyst can develop data analysis projects with online analytical processing (OLAP), data mart or data
warehouse, and data mining. he information analyst supports the decision-making team with
necessary analytical information such as customer behaviors, market trends, and patterns hidden
in the daily business operation data.
he above paragraphs give a brief description of the database development process. More spe-
ciic coverage on database development will be covered in the following chapters. Each major step
of the database development process will be discussed in detail. Examples and hands-on practice
will be used to enhance the understanding of the theories and techniques involved in the database
development process. In this topic, some of the examples and hands-on practice are for learning
purposes, and they may not be necessarily the best solution for some speciic business tasks.
1.5 Overview of Cloud Computing
It is mentioned above that the cloud computing environment is ideal for developing a database
system that is dynamically scalable depending on the needs. Cloud computing has the potential to
signiicantly reduce the cost for developing and managing a database as well. he cloud computing
technology can be a great solution for those small businesses that lack resources to support their
own IT infrastructure.
Cloud computing is an Internet-based computing platform that provides services and com-
puting resources to subscribers who only pay for the services and computing resources they use.
In such a way, a small company does not have to develop its own IT infrastructure to support its
e-commerce activities. All the company needs to do is to subscribe some services and comput-
ing resources from a cloud provider to get a quick start. Instead of constructing a network and
a server to host the DBMS package, the company can create database objects with the DBMS
package right after the computing resources have been subscribed from the cloud provider. here
will be no upfront expenditure on IT infrastructure. As the business grows, the company can
subscribe more services and computing resources. he daily IT infrastructure maintenance will
be handled by the cloud provider. his means that the cost for IT service personnel can be sig-
niicantly reduced. E-commerce can fully take advantage of cloud computing since the services
and computing resources provided by the cloud provider can be accessed anywhere and anytime.
here are three types of cloud computing platforms: private cloud, public cloud, and hybrid
cloud. Based on the business requirements, the company can create its own cloud services. A pri-
vate cloud is constructed on the existing IT infrastructure owned by a company. Both the cloud
