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Database Systems From The Point Of View Of The Architecture

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2.9 CLIENT/SERVER ARCHITECTURE
So far in this chapter we have been discussing database systems from the point of view of the architecture in Fig. 2.3. In this section we offer a slightly different perspective on the subject.
The overall purpose of a database system is to support the development and execution of database application. From a high-level point of view, therefore, such a system can be regarded as having a very simple two-part structure, consisting of a server, also called the back end, and a set of clients, also called the front end (refer to Fig. 2.5). Explanation:
1. The server is just the DBMS itself. It supports all of the basic DBMS functions discussed in Section 2.8-data definition, data manipulation, data security and integrity, and so on. In other words, “server” in this context is just another name for the DBMS.
2. The clients are the various applications that run on top of the DBMS-both user-written applications and built-in application (i.e., applications provided by the DBMS vendors or some third party). As far as the server is concerned, of course, there is no difference between user-written and built-in applications; they all use the same interface to the server-namely, the external-level interface discussed in Section 2.3. (We note as an aside that, as mentioned in Section 2.5, certain special “utility” applications might constitute an exception to the fore going, inasmuch as they might sometimes need to operate directly at the internal level of

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