Benefits of 3-Tier Architecture

The 3-tier architecture in DBMS provides several benefits, including:

• Scalability: The architecture separates the application processing and data management layers, which allows for easy scalability of each layer independently.
• Flexibility: The architecture allows for the replacement or upgrade of one layer without affecting the other layers.
• Security: The architecture provides an additional layer of security, as the data management tier can be isolated from the application and presentation tiers, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

Overall, the 3-tier architecture in DBMS is a flexible, scalable, and secure approach to building modern web applications and enterprise systems. It separates the user interface, application processing, and data management into distinct layers, providing clear boundaries between each layer and improving system performance, reliability, and maintainability.

The 3-tier architecture is a commonly used architectural approach in Database Management Systems (DBMSs) for the design and development of applications that work with databases. The 3-tier architecture divides an application’s components into three tiers or layers. Each layer has its own set of responsibilities.

DBMS 3-Tier architecture divides the complete system into three inter-related but independent modules as shown below:

• Physical Level: At the physical level, the information about the location of database objects in the data store is kept. Various users of DBMS are unaware of the locations of these objects.In simple terms,physical level of a database describes how the data is being stored in secondary storage devices like disks and tapes and also gives insights on additional storage details.

• Conceptual Level: At conceptual level, data is represented in the form of various database tables. For Example, STUDENT database may contain STUDENT and COURSE tables which will be visible to users but users are unaware of their storage.Also referred as logical schema,it describes what kind of data is to be stored in the database.

• External Level:  An external level specifies a view of the data in terms of conceptual level tables.  Each external level view is used to cater to the needs of a particular category of users. For Example, FACULTY of a university is interested in looking course details of students, STUDENTS are interested in looking at all details related to academics, accounts, courses and hostel details as well. So, different views can be generated for different users. The main focus of external level is data abstraction.