Database management

Terms related to databases, including definitions about relational databases and words and phrases about database management.

3-tier application architecture - A 3-tier application architecture is a modular client-server architecture that consists of a presentation tier, an application tier and a data tier.
99.999 (Five nines or Five 9s) - In computers, 99.
active directory - Active Directory (AD) is Microsoft's proprietary directory service.
Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) - Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is a managed database service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
artifact (software development) - An artifact is a byproduct of software development that helps describe the architecture, design and function of software.
Azure Data Studio (formerly SQL Operations Studio) - Azure Data Studio is a Microsoft tool, originally named SQL Operations Studio, for managing SQL Server databases and cloud-based Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Data Warehouse systems.
Basic Assembler Language (BAL) - BAL (Basic Assembler Language) is a version of IBM's assembler language (sometimes called assembly language) for its System/360 and System/370 mainframe operating system.
C++ - C++ is an object-oriented programming (OOP) language that is viewed by many as the best language for creating large-scale applications.
CICS (Customer Information Control System) - CICS (Customer Information Control System) is middleware that sits between the z/OS IBM mainframe operating system and business applications.
cold backup (offline backup) - A cold backup is a backup of an offline database.
columnar database - A columnar database is a database management system (DBMS) that stores data in columns instead of rows.
conformed dimension - In data warehousing, a conformed dimension is a dimension that has the same meaning to every fact with which it relates.
CRM (customer relationship management) analytics - CRM (customer relationship management) analytics comprises all of the programming that analyzes data about customers and presents it to an organization to help facilitate and streamline better business decisions.
cryptographic nonce - A nonce is a random or semi-random number that is generated for a specific use.
customer data integration (CDI) - Customer data integration (CDI) is the process of defining, consolidating and managing customer information across an organization's business units and systems to achieve a "single version of the truth" for customer data.
customer segmentation - Customer segmentation is the practice of dividing a customer base into groups of individuals that have similar characteristics relevant to marketing, such as age, gender, interests and spending habits.
data - In computing, data is information that has been translated into a form that is efficient for movement or processing.
data abstraction - Data abstraction is the reduction of a particular body of data to a simplified representation of the whole.
data aggregation - Data aggregation is any process whereby data is gathered and expressed in a summary form.
data analytics (DA) - Data analytics (DA) is the process of examining data sets to find trends and draw conclusions about the information they contain.
data availability - Data availability is a term used by computer storage manufacturers and storage service providers to describe how data should be available at a required level of performance in situations ranging from normal through disastrous.
data center infrastructure management (DCIM) - Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) is the convergence of IT and building facilities functions within an organization.
data cleansing (data cleaning, data scrubbing) - Data cleansing, also referred to as data cleaning or data scrubbing, is the process of fixing incorrect, incomplete, duplicate or otherwise erroneous data in a data set.
Data Definition Language (DDL) - Data Definition Language (DDL) is used to create and modify the structure of objects in a database using predefined commands and a specific syntax.
data fabric - A data fabric is an architecture and software offering a unified collection of data assets, databases and database architectures within an enterprise.
data integrity - Data integrity is the assurance that digital information is uncorrupted and can only be accessed or modified by those authorized to do so.
data management as a service (DMaaS) - Data management as a service (DMaaS) is a type of cloud service that provides enterprises with centralized storage for disparate data sources.
data mart (datamart) - A data mart is a repository of data that is designed to serve a particular community of knowledge workers.
data mining - Data mining is the process of sorting through large data sets to identify patterns and relationships that can help solve business problems through data analysis.
data modeling - Data modeling is the process of creating a simplified diagram of a software system and the data elements it contains, using text and symbols to represent the data and how it flows.
data preprocessing - Data preprocessing, a component of data preparation, describes any type of processing performed on raw data to prepare it for another data processing procedure.
data profiling - Data profiling refers to the process of examining, analyzing, reviewing and summarizing data sets to gain insight into the quality of data.
data quality - Data quality is a measure of a data set's condition based on factors such as accuracy, completeness, consistency, reliability and validity.
data set - A data set is a collection of data that contains individual data units organized (formatted) in a specific way and accessed by one or more specific access methods based on the data set organization and data structure.
data source name (DSN) - A data source name (DSN) is a data structure containing information about a specific database to which an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver needs to connect.
data splitting - Data splitting is when data is divided into two or more subsets.
data structures - A data structure is a specialized format for organizing, processing, retrieving and storing data.
data warehouse - A data warehouse is a repository of data from an organization's operational systems and other sources that supports analytics applications to help drive business decision-making.
database (DB) - A database is a collection of information that is organized so that it can be easily accessed, managed and updated.
database as a service (DBaaS) - Database as a service (DBaaS) is a cloud computing managed service offering that provides access to a database without requiring the setup of physical hardware, the installation of software or the need to configure the database.
database automation - Database automation is the use of unattended processes and self-updating procedures for administrative tasks in a database.
database management system (DBMS) - A database management system (DBMS) is system software for creating and managing databases, allowing end users to create, protect, read, update and delete data in a database.
database marketing - Database marketing is a systematic approach to the gathering, consolidation and processing of consumer data.
database normalization - Database normalization is intrinsic to most relational database schemes.
database replication - Database replication is the frequent electronic copying of data from a database in one computer or server to a database in another -- so that all users share the same level of information.
Db2 - Db2 is a family of database management system (DBMS) products from IBM that serve a number of different operating system (OS) platforms.
deep analytics - Deep analytics is the application of sophisticated data processing techniques to yield information from large and typically multi-source data sets comprised of both unstructured and semi-structured data.
denormalization - Denormalization is the process of adding precomputed redundant data to an otherwise normalized relational database to improve read performance of the database.
dimension - In data warehousing, a dimension is a collection of reference information that supports a measurable event, such as a customer transaction.
distributed database - A distributed database is a database that consists of two or more files located in different sites either on the same network or on entirely different networks.
distributed ledger technology (DLT) - Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is a digital system for recording the transaction of assets in which the transactions and their details are recorded in multiple places at the same time.
document-oriented database - A document-oriented database is a type of NoSQL database in which data is stored in binary document files.
Dublin Core - Dublin Core is an international metadata standard formally known as the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set and includes 15 metadata (data that describes data) terms.
ebXML (Electronic Business XML) - EbXML (Electronic Business XML or e-business XML) is a project to use the Extensible Markup Language (XML) to standardize the secure exchange of business data.
Eclipse (Eclipse Foundation) - Eclipse is a free, Java-based development platform known for its plugins that allow developers to develop and test code written in other programming languages.
employee self-service (ESS) - Employee self-service (ESS) is a widely used human resources technology that enables employees to perform many job-related functions, such as applying for reimbursement, updating personal information and accessing company benefits information -- which was once largely paper-based, or otherwise would have been maintained by management or administrative staff.
encoding and decoding - Encoding and decoding are used in many forms of communications, including computing, data communications, programming, digital electronics and human communications.
encryption key management - Encryption key management is the practice of generating, organizing, protecting, storing, backing up and distributing encryption keys.
Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) - An entity relationship diagram (ERD), also known as an entity relationship model, is a graphical representation that depicts relationships among people, objects, places, concepts or events within an information technology (IT) system.
Excel - Excel is a spreadsheet program from Microsoft and a component of its Office product group for business applications.
extension - An extension typically refers to a file name extension.
failover - Failover is a backup operational mode in which the functions of a system component are assumed by a secondary component when the primary becomes unavailable.
field - A field is an area in a fixed or known location in a unit of data such as a record, message header, or computer instruction that has a purpose and usually a fixed size.
file extension (file format) - In computing, a file extension is a suffix added to the name of a file to indicate the file's layout, in terms of how the data within the file is organized.
flat file - A flat file is a collection of data stored in a two-dimensional database in which similar yet discrete strings of information are stored as records in a table.
foreign key - A foreign key is a column or columns of data in one table that refers to the unique data values -- often the primary key data -- in another table.
framework - In general, a framework is a real or conceptual structure intended to serve as a support or guide for the building of something that expands the structure into something useful.
Google BigQuery - Google BigQuery is a cloud-based big data analytics web service for processing very large read-only data sets.
Google Bigtable - Google Bigtable is a distributed, column-oriented data store created by Google Inc.
graph analytics - Graph analytics is a category of software tools and data mining techniques that help an analyst understand the relationship between entries in a graph database.
graph database - A graph database is a type of NoSQL database that uses graph theory to store, map and query relationships.
Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) - The Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) is the primary data storage system used by Hadoop applications.
hashing - Hashing is the process of transforming any given key or a string of characters into another value.
IBM IMS (Information Management System) - IBM IMS (Information Management System) is a database and transaction management system that was first introduced by IBM in 1968.
in-database analytics - In-database analytics is a scheme for processing data within the database, avoiding the data movement that slows response time.
in-memory database - An in-memory database is a type of analytic database designed to streamline the work involved in processing queries.
information - Information is stimuli that has meaning in some context for its receiver.
ISAM (Indexed Sequential Access Method) - ISAM (Indexed Sequential Access Method) is a file management system that allows records to be accessed either sequentially or randomly.
Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) - Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) is an API packaged with the Java SE edition that makes it possible to connect from a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to external, relational database systems.
job scheduler - A job scheduler is a computer program that enables an enterprise to schedule and, in some cases, monitor computer 'batch' jobs (units of work).
job step - In certain computer operating systems, a job step is part of a job, a unit of work that a computer operator (or a program called a job scheduler) gives to the operating system.
JOLAP (Java Online Analytical Processing) - JOLAP (Java Online Analytical Processing) is a Java application-programming interface (API) for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) environment that supports the creation, storage, access, and management of data in an online analytical processing (OLAP) application.
key-value pair (KVP) - A key-value pair (KVP) is a set of two linked data items: a key, which is a unique identifier for some item of data, and the value, which is either the data that is identified or a pointer to the location of that data.
knowledge base - In general, a knowledge base is a centralized repository of information.
knowledge graph in ML - In the realm of machine learning (ML), a knowledge graph is a graphical representation that captures the connections between different entities.
knowledge management (KM) - Knowledge management is the process by which an enterprise gathers, organizes, shares and analyzes its knowledge in a way that is easily accessible to employees.
Lisp (programming language) - Lisp, an acronym for list processing, is a functional programming language that was designed for easy manipulation of data strings.
MariaDB - MariaDB is an open source relational database management system (DBMS) that is a compatible drop-in replacement for the widely used MySQL database technology.
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) - Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) is the full version of a portal-based platform for collaboratively creating, managing and sharing documents and Web services.
Microsoft SQL Server - Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system, or RDBMS, that supports a wide variety of transaction processing, business intelligence and analytics applications in corporate IT environments.
Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) - Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is an integrated environment to manage a SQL Server infrastructure.
Microsoft SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) - Microsoft SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) is an enterprise data integration, data transformation and data migration tool built into Microsoft's SQL Server database.
Microsoft Visual FoxPro (Microsoft VFP) - Microsoft Visual FoxPro (VFP) is an object-oriented programming environment with a built-in relational database engine.
middleware - Middleware is software that is used to bridge the gap between applications and operating systems.
MongoDB - MongoDB is an open source NoSQL database management program.
MPP database (massively parallel processing database) - An MPP database is a database that is optimized to be processed in parallel for many operations to be performed by many processing units at a time.
multidimensional database (MDB) - A multidimensional database (MDB) is a type of database that is optimized for data warehouse and online analytical processing (OLAP) applications.
multimodel database - A multimodel database is a data processing platform that supports multiple data models, which define the parameters for how the information in a database is organized and arranged.
national identity card - A national identity card is a portable document, typically a plasticized card with digitally embedded information, that is used to verify aspects of a person's identity.
NoSQL (Not Only SQL database) - NoSQL is an approach to database management that can accommodate a wide variety of data models, including key-value, document, columnar and graph formats.