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Advanced Database Systems(Bbit 423) Question Paper

Advanced Database Systems(Bbit 423)

Course:Computer Information Systems And Business Information Technology

Institution: Kenya Methodist University question papers

Exam Year:2010

TIME : 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS Answer Question ONE and any Other TWO Questions

Question 1
a) i) For a transaction to either abort or commit there are other transition states that it must undergo. Briefly explain the states that a transaction must undergo.
ii) What are the necessary conditions that necessitate a rollback or a rollforward be done on an executing transaction? (4marks)
b) i) What is a database object in relation to SQL Server?
ii) Give four database objects in SQL Server. (6marks)
c) Briefly explain the importance of four system database that are in every SQL Server DBMS. (8marks)
d) Outline the four classes of SQL commands, and in each class give the SQL statements used. (8marks)
e) It is a fact that TSQL is a “procedural language” supported by SQL Server and SQL is a “declarative language” supported by all RDBMS. To assert this fact, explain the two types of languages in summary. (4marks)

Question 2
a) i) Explain what is meant by a transaction. Why are transactions important units of operation in a DBMS?
ii) The consistency and reliability aspects of transactions are due to the ‘ACIDity’ properties of transactions. Discuss each of these properties and how they relate to the concurrency control and recovery mechanisms. Give examples to illustrate your answer. (8marks) iii) What is a transaction log? Briefly explain the function of the transaction log in SQL Server. With the aid of a diagram and using the SQL Server architecture, briefly explain the process of executing an SQL statement. (12marks)

Question 3
a) Define the term deadlock and outline the two main methods of dealing with a deadlock problem. (3marks)
b) For a system to detect and recover from a deadlock situation, the system has to deal with several issues. Outline the issues and briefly discuss how the issues affect this process.(5marks)
c) With the aid of an example briefly describe the components that make up the wait – for graph and explain how the graph can be used in deadlock detection. (5marks)
d) i) Define the term timestamp in relation to a transaction.
ii) With the aid of an example briefly discuss the two deadlock prevention schemes that use timestamping.
iii) Give the significant differences on how the schemes discussed in (ii) above operate. (7marks)

Question 4
a) i) Define the term distributed database.
ii) Outline the major objectives of distributed databases.
iv) Outline the main motivating factors of using distributed databases. (8marks)
b) Briefly discuss the rules that one has to satisfy when performing fragmentation. (7marks)
c) Distinguish between conventional and derived horizontal fragmentation. (5marks)

Question 5
a) Describe, with examples, the types of problems that can occur in a mutli-user environment when concurrent access to the database is allowed. (10marks)
b) Explain the concepts of serial, nonserial, and serializable schedules. State the rules for equivalence of schedules. (10marks)

Advanced Database Systems(Bbit 423) Question Paper

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