Database management

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

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 (column-oriented) is a database management system (DBMS) that stores data on disk 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.
data abstraction - Data abstraction is the reduction of a particular body of data to a simplified representation of the whole.
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 engineer - A data engineer is an IT professional whose primary job is to prepare data for analytical or operational uses.
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 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 visual 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, also spelled 'dataset,' is a collection of related data that's usually organized in a standardized format.
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 structure - 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 a software system for creating and managing databases.
database marketing - Database marketing is a systematic approach to the gathering, consolidation and processing of consumer data.
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.
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.
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.
ensemble modeling - Ensemble modeling is the process of running two or more related but different analytical models and then synthesizing the results into a single score or spread.
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 in 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.
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, also referred to as a semantic database, is a software application designed to store, query and modify network graphs.
Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) - The Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) is the primary data storage system Hadoop applications use.
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 the output that results from analyzing, contextualizing, structuring, interpreting or in other ways processing data.
ISAM (Indexed Sequential Access Method) - ISAM (Indexed Sequential Access Method) is a file management system developed at IBM that enables records to be accessed either sequentially, in the order they were entered or randomly with an index.
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 management (KM) - Knowledge management is the process an enterprise uses to gather, organize, share and analyze its knowledge in a way that's 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 (RDBMS) that supports a wide variety of transaction processing, business intelligence (BI) and data 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.
middleware - Middleware is software that bridges the gap between applications and operating systems by providing a method for communication and data management.
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.
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.
object-oriented database management system (OODBMS) - An object-oriented database management system (OODBMS), sometimes shortened to ODBMS for object database management system, is a database management system (DBMS) that supports the modelling and creation of data as objects.
OLAP (online analytical processing) - OLAP (online analytical processing) is a computing method that enables users to easily and selectively extract and query data in order to analyze it from different points of view.
OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) - An OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) is an online bibliography of a library collection that is available to the public.
Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) - Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is an open standard application programming interface (API) that allows application programmers to easily access data stored in a database.
operational data store (ODS) - An operational data store (ODS) is a type of database that's often used as an interim logical area for a data warehouse.
Oracle RMAN (Oracle Recovery Manager) - Oracle RMAN (Oracle Recovery Manager) is a utility built into Oracle databases to automate backup and recovery; it includes features not available in third-party backup tools.
personal health record (PHR) - A personal health record (PHR) is an electronic summary of health information that a patient maintains control of themselves, as opposed to their healthcare provider.
PL/SQL (procedural language extension to Structured Query Language) - In Oracle database management, PL/SQL is a procedural language extension to Structured Query Language (SQL).
predictive modeling - Predictive modeling is a mathematical process used to predict future events or outcomes by analyzing patterns in a given set of input data.
primary key (primary keyword) - A primary key, also called a primary keyword, is a column in a relational database table that's distinctive for each record.
query - A query is a question or a request for information expressed in a formal manner.
raw data (source data or atomic data) - Raw data is the data originally generated by a system, device or operation, and has not been processed or changed in any way.
RDBMS (relational database management system) - A relational database management system (RDBMS) is a collection of programs and capabilities that enable IT teams and others to create, update, administer and otherwise interact with a relational database.