CLOUD DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (CDBMS)

Cloud computing refers to delivery of computing resources over the internet, that is, using the
services over internet at another location to store information instead of keeping data on your
own hard-disk or application for your need.

In cloud computing the database outsourcing has become very important component nowadays.
To the third parties there is very growing interest in outsourcing database management task,
which provide task at a lower cost due to economy scale. Outsourcing model reduces cost for
running DBMS.

A cloud DBMS (CDBMS) is distributed database that delivers computing as a service instead of
product, which allow sharing of resources and information between multiple devices over
internet. CDBMS provide managed backup, restore and automated scheduling.

A cloud database management system is a database that typically runs on a cloud computing
platform, such as Amazon EC2, GoGrid, Salesforce and Rackspace. There are two methods to
run a database on the cloud:

a. Virtual machine: A cloud platform allows users to purchase virtual machine instances for
a limited time and also possible to run a database on these virtual machines. The users
uses their own machine image with a database installed on it as well as use ready-made
machine images that already include an optimized installation of a database. For example
Oracle provides ready-made machine image which have an installation of Oracle
Database 11g Enterprise Edition on Amazon EC2
b. Database as a service: Some of the cloud platforms offer options for using a database as a
service but without physically launching a virtual machine instance for the database and
its configuration. They do not have to install and maintain the database on their own. The
provider which provides database service takes responsibility for installing and
maintaining the database and the application owners pay according to their use. For
example, Amazon Web Services provides three database services as part
of its cloud service, an SQL-based database service with a MySQL interface.

CLOUD SERVICE IN DBMS

The DBMS is a software that user use to create, delete and maintain a database. Due to
introduction of cloud computing, DBMS has emerged into a new type of a service having its own
benefit. A cloud database is a database that involves variety of designing, developing of
hardware and software. It is a system in which variety of computers are connected through
network such as internet. Traditional DBMS are not well versed to deal with the growing
demands of cloud computing. If DBMS is used as service for a larger package, it is likely to be
effective in its duties and cheaper in long run.
Cloud based DBMS works on large volume of data that would exhaust a classical DBMS.
However in spite of being scalable cloud DBMS are still somewhat lacking ability to process
extreme large data. This is expected to be dealt in the coming years. Currently the cloud DBMS
are used for testing and development of new cloud processes and application. Cloud DBMS
combines data structures and the data query language and utilize all of DBMS components or
may devise new strategies that combine one or more elements.

DBMS IN CLOUD ARCHITECTURE

Data Center level

This level represents the actual physical storage location of data in cloud and consists of several
servers catering for the needs of cloud users. This level is a representative of a cloud database. In
cloud computing data are stored as a virtualized pool of storage. Cloud providers operate these
data centers as per the requirements of the clients. The data center operators provide the cloud
users with a virtualized illusion of the resources according to their requirements, and expose
them with storage pools where the customers can store their files and data.

Cloud Service provider level

At this level building and management of cloud applications is done. This is a middleware level
and consists of several distributed servers catering for the needs of cloud users. It is these servers
that are responsible for providing all the facilities promised by a cloud service provider to its
users. It ensures the availability of cloud data at all times, provides facility of multitenancy, on
demand self-service, elasticity and various other characteristics of a cloud. It adds the feature of
data abstraction in a cloud .It hides the details of data storage at the datacenter level and makes
the underlying software and database transparent to its client users. It provides customized cloud
facilities as per the customer’s requirements. It’s this part which makes decisions regarding
access rights of users etc.
The cloud service provider level can in turn be divided into two sublevels on the basis of
functionalities at each of these levels. This level is subdivided as administrative level and
security level
1) Administrative level- At this level database instances are controlled using a service
API. This API is available to the end users and enables database users to scale and maintain their
database instances. For example, the Amazon Relational Database Service's service API allows
creation and deletion of database instances. It also has equipped with the power of modifying
resources available to database instances, creating a backup of data and also restoring the
database instance in case of failure. It is responsible for providing scalability of resources by
adding more resources as per the user requirements. Scalability can either be provided
automatically or users may have the privilege to scale up or down as per their requirements
through an API.
High availability of database which is a commitment of cloud service providers is also taken care
of at this level.
2) Security level- This level is responsible for providing security control to the cloud user’s data
and to assure continuous correctness of their stored data without any local copies. It ensures end
to end data confidentiality, prevents data loss. User authentication, data encryption, intrusion
detection are some of the measures adopted to ensure cloud security.

Client level
This level consists of cloud users or client computers. It is the most visible level to the clouds
end users. At this level cloud users have the view of that part of cloud database that a particular
user is interested while all the other details of cloud service provider level and data center level
remain hidden from the end users. At this level, data center operators provide the cloud users
with a virtualized illusion of the resources as per their requirements, and expose them with
storage pools where the customers can store their files and data. End users of a cloud are client
computers that access the cloud data. Client of a cloud infrastructure is not necessarily a
computer but it can also be any other computing device such as web browser, mobile apps,
mobile phone, tablet etc. End users make use of cloud computing infrastructure on the basis
of pay per cost model thereby reducing the overall costs of developing their applications.

Advantages of cloud databases

The cloud computing has given a new dimension to IT industry and the companies are looking to
adopt cloud services rather than investing a huge money in getting the infrastructure for own
database system. This advent in computing and cloud computing, the cloud database is also
picking up its pace in making its permanent place in IT world. There are a number of advantages
that make it preferable and adoptable by a huge number of companies for its matchless services
in a very cost saving manner. If the companies do not get the services of a cloud database, then
they will have to invest huge money for setting up their own data centers and then hiring separate
staff to manage and take care of all the data center processes. Here are few advantages of
adopting cloud database.

a. Saves time of having to install the database software but rather use the readily available
resources.
b. Using a cloud database saves a lot of money. Companies don’t have to invest money in
setting up their own data centers and then managing it by hiring extra staff for this
purpose. Moreover, after setting up a data center, the company will need to buy other
support softwares as well as cater for maintenance costs.
c. Database as a service( DBaaS) providers free the customers from the tensions of making
any immediate changes in the database. They also offer scalability on the peak times that
does not let the performance of the company godown.
d. Cloud computing has given the freedom to access the information from anywhere without
any boundaries of getting to your personal computer at home or office. This makes it a
very powerful technology and the companies prefer it as the customers, employees or the
authorities of the companies can get the information they want from anywhere at any
time.

Disadvantages of cloud databases

a. The companies have to pay for the usage of the cloud database as per decided. Every time
the data is transferred from the database, the company will have to pay each time. If the
traffic of the company for transferring data is high then the company may be paying than
its expectations.
b. There is no full control over the server where the database is being held. There is no
control over the softwares installed on those computers. You cannot do anything to make
the security of cloud database strong. The client will have to rely on the provider only.
The security issues can be a big problem for the companies.
c. The data you have hosted on the cloud database is totally dependent on the service
provider. The data and information about a company are the most important asset for the
organization. The organizations cannot afford to lose its information about its customers
and company policies. If the information is given to wrong hands then the company or
the organization may face heavy losses.
d. As there are masses of data hosted on the cloud database so it is very difficult to transfer
that data to your computer. For this purpose, internet speed must be high. On the other
hand, the traditional database can transfer data at a very high speed.
e. If the client wants to switch database from one service provider to new one, then they
may face problems. The reason is that each service provider use their own methods and
techniques for storing data. The organization must be very careful about the selection of
DBaaS provider.
f. In case of cloud database, the data is to be fetched via internet, so if the server is down,
then it may cause inability to access the data from the server. This causes huge losses
when the information is not available when needed.