COSC4606 Assignment 5 Covering Chapters 9 and 10 in prep for Quiz 5, Thursday, March 27

True/False
Indicate whether the statement is true or false.
____

1. Database designs that fail to recognize that the database is part of a larger information system are not likely to
be successful.

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2. Systems analysis is used to determine the need for an information system and to establish its limits.

____

3. The term database development is used to describe the process of database design and implementation.

____

4. The primary objective in database design is to create complete, denormalized, redundant, and fully integrated
conceptual, logical, and physical database models.

____

5. The implementation phase of database design includes creating the database storage structure and loading the
database, but does not provide for data management.

____

6. The SDLC traces the history of an information system.

____

7. The SDLC provides the big picture within which the database design and application development can be
mapped out and evaluated.

____

8. The SDLC's planning phase yields a general overview of the company and its objectives.

____

9. Problems defined during the planning phase are examined in greater detail during the analysis phase.

____ 10. The existing hardware and software systems are studied during the planning phase.
____ 11. The result of analysis should be a better understanding of the system's functional areas, actual and potential
problems, and opportunities.
____ 12. In the detailed systems design phase, the designer starts the design of the system's processes.
____ 13. In the detailed systems design phase, steps are laid out for conversion from the old system to the new system.
____ 14. Training principles and methodologies are planned during the implementation phase.
____ 15. The detailed systems design phase includes all the necessary technical specifications for the screens, menus,
reports, and other devices used to make the system more efficient.
____ 16. During the implementation phase, the hardware, the DBMS software, and application programs are installed
and the database design is implemented.
____ 17. During the testing phase, the system is subjected to exhaustive testing until it is ready for use.
____ 18. After testing is concluded, end-user training is not necessary.

____ 19. Because every request for structural changes requires retracing the SDLC steps, the system is always at some
stage of the SDLC.
____ 20. A system maintenance activity generated in response to changes in the business environment is referred to as
corrective maintenance.
____ 21. To analyze the company situation, the database designer must discover what the company's operational
components are, how they function, and how they interact.
____ 22. After the initial declarations in a study, the database designer must carefully probe in order to generate
additional information that will help define the problem within the larger framework of company operations.
____ 23. In most modern relational DBMSs, a new database implementation requires the creation of special
storage-related constructs to house the end-user tables.
____ 24. Data integrity is enforced by the DBMS through the proper use of primary and foreign key rules.
____ 25. The testing and evaluation phase occurs after applications programming.
____ 26. Database performance is one of the least important factors in all database implementations.
____ 27. Performance evaluation is rendered more difficult by the fact that there are standard measurements for
database performance.
____ 28. The database administrator must be prepared to perform routine maintenance activities within the database.
____ 29. Physical design becomes simpler when data is distributed at different locations.
____ 30. Decentralized design is typical of relatively simple and/or small databases and can be successfully done by a
single person.
____ 31. Most real-world database transactions are formed by only one database request.
____ 32. To ensure consistency of the database, every transaction must begin with the database in an unstable state.
____ 33. Although the DBMS is designed to recover a database to a previous consistent state when an interruption
prevents the completion of a required set of transactions, the transactions themselves are defined by the end
user or programmer and must be semantically correct.
____ 34. The DBMS guarantees that the semantic meaning of a transaction truly represents the real-world event.
____ 35. Atomicity indicates the permanence of the database's consistent state.
____ 36. Serializability means that data used during the execution of a transaction cannot be used by a second
transaction until the first one is completed.
____ 37. Incomplete or improper transactions can have a devastating effect on database integrity.

____ 38. The multiuser DBMS must implement controls to ensure serializability and isolation of transactions, in
addition to atomicity and durability, in order to guard the database's consistency and integrity.
____ 39. Durability requires that all portions of the transaction must be treated as a single, logical unit of work in
which all operations are applied and completed to produce a consistent database.
____ 40. The phenomenon of uncommitted data occurs when two transactions are executed concurrently and the first
transaction is rolled back after the second transaction has already accessed the uncommitted datathus
violating the isolation property of transactions.
____ 41. The scheduler establishes the order in which the operations within concurrent transactions are executed.
____ 42. In a page-level lock, the DBMS will lock an entire diskpage.
____ 43. A shared lock produces no conflict as long as all the concurrent transactions are read-write only.
____ 44. A field-level lock allows concurrent transactions to access the same row, as long as they require the use of
different fields within that row.
____ 45. A growing phase in a two-phase lock is when a transaction acquires all the required locks without locking any
data.
____ 46. When using an optimistic approach, a transaction reads the database, executes the needed computations, and
makes the updates to a private copy of the database values.
____ 47. An optimistic approach is based on the assumption that the majority of the database operations do not
conflict.
____ 48. When using an optimistic approach, during the write phase, the transaction is validated to ensure that the
changes made will not affect the integrity and consistency of the database.
____ 49. The transaction recovery write-ahead-log protocol ensures that transaction logs are always written before any
database data are actually updated.
____ 50. The last step in the write-through technique recovery procedure is to identify the last checkpoint in the
transaction log.
Completion
Complete each statement.
51. Although the DBMS is designed to recover a database to a previous consistent state (when an interruption
prevents the completion of a required set of transactions), the transactions themselves are defined by the end
user or programmer and must be ____________________ correct.
52. If a(n) ____________________ is issued before the termination of a transaction, the DBMS will restore the
database only for that particular transaction, rather than for all transactions, in order to maintain the durability
of the previous transactions.

53. The objective of ____________________ control is to ensure the serializability of transactions in a multiuser
database environment.
54. ____________________ control is important because the simultaneous execution of transactions over a
shared database can create several data integrity and consistency problems.
55. The ____________________ interleaves the execution of database operations to ensure serializability.
56. To determine the appropriate order of the operations, the scheduler bases its actions on concurrency control
algorithms, such as ____________________ or time stamping methods.
57. Most multiuser ______________________________ automatically initiate and enforce locking procedures,
where all locking information is managed by the lock manager.
58. ____________________ can take place at any of the following levels: database, table, page, row, or field.
59. ____________________-level locks are less restrictive than database-level locks, but they create traffic jams
when many transactions are waiting to access the same table.
60. As a rule, a(n) ____________________ must unlock the object after its termination.
61. The ____________________ rule states that only one transaction at a time can own an exclusive lock on the
same object.
62. If T1 has not unlocked data item Y, T2 cannot begin; if T2 has not unlocked data item X, T1 cannot continue.
Consequently, T1 and T2 each wait for the other to unlock the required data item. Such a deadlock is also
known as a(n) ____________________.
63. Uniqueness ensures that no equal time stamp values can exist, and ____________________ ensures that time
stamp values always increase.
64. The DBMS keeps several copies of ____________________ to ensure that a disk physical failure will not
impair the DBMS's ability to recover data.
65. Database transaction ____________________ restores a database from an inconsistent state to a previously
consistent state.
Short Answer
66. List and briefly describe the three types of system maintenance activities.
67. Database backups can be performed at different levels. List and describe these.
68. What are the factors affecting the purchasing decision for DBMS software?
69. What are the classical approaches to database design?
70. Explain the differences between a centralized and decentralized approach to database design.

71. What is transaction isolation and why it is important?

72. Explain the transaction log. What is its function?
73. How does a shared/exclusive lock schema increase the lock managers overhead?
74. What are the three basic techniques to control deadlocks?
75. What are database checkpoints?