Interoperability of multiple autonomous databases

• interoperability 2

1990 acm copy

Abstract: Database systems were a solution to the problem of shared access to heterogeneous files created by multiple autonomous applications in a centralized environment. To make data usage easier, the files were replaced by a globally integrated database. should one reapply the database approach to create globally integrated distributed database systems or should a new approach be introduced? …

we argue for a new approach to solving such problems … These systems make database interoperable, that is, usable without a globally integrated schema. They preserve the autonomy of each database yet support shared access.

to provide inter-file consistency and overall privacy … the autonomous files were replaced by centrally defined database, free of duplication and heterogeneity … The database was managed under the centralized control a database management system (DBMS), giving applications the illusion of being the sole user of the data while providing overall consistency, privacy, and efficiency.

interoperable databases, federated systems: multidatabase manipulation may involve interdatabase joins, updates spanning several databases, or data interchange between databases. … to remain autonomous, and even compete for customers, centralized control and global integration are higly unlikely.

multidatabase view definition, using the (multidatabase) query modification technique: a multidatabase view is a virtual relation that is derived from multiple databases and belongs to a database (implicit in SQL).

federated database, a protocol, like the one in, for negotiation between databases.

A database is a logical collection of data bearing a semantically meaningful name.

non-procedural manipulation of data that may be replicated between databases and may differ with respect to …

2.1 Multidatabase approach

• The idea: An autonomous database should have data definition autonomy, including name independence, data duplication autonomy, data restructuring autonomy at the logical and physical level, …. All these types of autonomy are desired by users and are missing when they are forced to share a global database schema.
• Concept of a multidatabase system: the concept of a multidatabase language is central to the notion of a multidatabase system. Such a language should provide all the functions of a database language and allow for database interoperability. The latter requirement means that the user should be able to formulate nonprocedural multidatabase manipulation in spite of … autonomy and the absence of a global schema.

the multidatabase language must allow users to define and manipulate a collection of autonomous databases in a nonprocedural way.

autnomous while supporting cooperation between the administrators.

references

• Heimbigner 1987 A Federated System for Software Management. IEEE Data Engineering IO,3 (Sept. 1987),39-45.