Discovering SQL: A Hands-On Guide for Beginners

DATA DELUGE AND INFORMATIONAL OVERLOAD

One of the reasons behind building a database of your information is to filter the information specific to your needs, to separate the wheat from the chaff. Anybody who uses Internet search engines such as Google or Bing can attest that results brought back are far from being unambiguous because the search engine tries to find the best matches in the sea of relevant, tangentially relevant, and absolutely irrelevant information. Your database is created to serve your unique needs: to track your sales, your employees, and your book collection. In doing so, it might reach out and get some additional information (for example, getting a book's information from Amazon.com), but it will be information specific to your particular needs.

Another important aspect of the database is security. How secure do you need your data? Can anybody see it and modify? Does it need to be protected from unauthorized access due to compliance requirements and simply common sense?

Database management systems, otherwise known as DBMSs, answer all these questions, and more.

Database Management Systems (DBMSs)

What makes a database management system a system? It's a package deal: You get managed storage for your data, security, scalability, and facilities to get data in and out, and more. These are things to keep in mind when selecting a DBMS. The following sections describe a few of the factors that you should consider.

Storage Capacity

Will the selected DBMS be sufficient ...