The seven layers of wisdom

Abstract

OK, that covers how we design a database. The next point to consider is how and where you deploy it. In other words we haven’t talked about where the components that make up the database — the database engine, the data and the database application etc. — are going to be placed. There’s a huge range of possibilities. We don’t move the parts around for fun (although the process is intellectually challenging and therefore enjoyable), we do it because each database architecture has a distinctly different set of pros and cons. You may well be called upon to make decisions about which architecture is appropriate for a given database implementation so it is worth understanding the advantages and disadvantages associated with each one. In order to understand these differences, we need to look at the parts into which a database can be dissected, then, in the next chapter, we’ll examine where those parts can be located.