Where conceptual data modeling is used primarily for the envisioning requirements for your database, a logical data model is used to explore the entity types and their relationships to other entities. A physical data model is what we use to truly design traditional projects. The internal database schema design is helpful for an application developer to better understand the functionality of data oriented objects of a project and therefore important for this developer to know how best to program a business application that must interact with a complex business database.

Suppose you want to extract specific data from a collection of data entities from an order entry system and have it organized in one logical platform such as tables or columns. For example, customers place orders on a specific data and time, customers live at addresses that you will ship to and the billing address may be different for the shipping address. The relationships between these entities are “Placed by”, “Billed to”, “Shipped to” & “Lives at”. The entities themselves are the customer names, products ordered and address within the customer class. In the database ER design, there are about five factors to follow through in database modeling.

1. The relevant entities: Entities are simply the individual data objects within the database that has importance or a value. An entity type could represent a collection of people, places, things and events.

2. Relevant Attributes of Entities: Say the entity is an employee. Some of the attributes of that employee is that they have a “FIRST_NAME” and a “LAST_NAME”. Some other attributes are his log-in information into a timesheet reporting system. Getting the level of detail right can have a significant impact on your database development efforts. Entity naming conventions should be established and followed to avoid any confusion as you add data fields over the course of time.

3. Relationship between Entities: As you are about to identify the needed entities, you will be able to draw out a similarity or a common concept among each element. This is called the relationship or better yet, a linking idea that determines the similarity of two or more entities from each other. Example, employee A and employee B work on the same shift, which is a dayshift. The “Dayshift” is the apparent relationship.

4. Data Tables: Tables store data as collections of entities. Entities are similar to rows. An entity has a primary key and a set of properties.

5. Keys Representing Relationship: Assigning a Key is probably the most crucial step a programmer would take. The process entails the creation of would-be queries that represents relationships as it would be the only way that users will be able to access data from the database.

These five elements are just an overview of the basics associated with a more complex process. ER diagrams for entity relationship models is the most commonly used principles for database modeling.

There are actually many diagramming tools on the market. Some of these db design tools are more robust than others. Most programmers have a preference to their database ER design software of choice. This preference of design software for a database often varies greatly between database designers.

If I had a Pound (or dollar) every time I heard that Microsoft Access is not good enough when dealing with multiple ‘concurrent’ users and that performance degradation and locking issues are the main symptoms when trying to share an Access database; I’d be able to retire and give more of my time back into society which really needs my help!

In 2004, I was asked to build an Access Database that would handle over 30 users to utilise and place orders, processing them and have other members fulfil the goods in a manufacturing module, First of all, I had to establish not how many users but how many concurrent users would be expected to use the Microsoft Access database application which the client confirmed 25-30 users would were needed to hit the same database at the same time.

There are a lot of opinions whether Microsoft Access can actually handle multiple users and large volumes of data and for sure there are pros and cons (which is not going to be covered here), There’s a saying in any field of expertise “Put 7 experts in a room and ask them for an opinion and you will get 21 different answers.“

My view is simple; try Microsoft Access first and then at least if you need to move to a bigger application then you can move on knowing that at least you gave it a go!

So in order to help you along, there are 5 reasons to deal and dispense with the myth why Access can be used in a multi-user environment.

1. The most popular action to take is to split the Access database into two parts. Have all the tables in one database and the remaining objects in another. Make sure you store the ‘Tables’ database (commonly known as BE- Back End) on the server or shared network folder with the other database (commonly known as FE – Front End) on each user’s desktop which has a link to the BE database.
2. When designing your tables, learn to set indexing to the commonly used fields and not just set the ‘Primary’ key in a table. The other type of key often overlooked is known as the ‘Foreign’ key. This all helps with performance and speeds up the queries in Microsoft Access.
3. Loading forms can be memory intensive and to help the performance and avoid locking consider opening a form as ‘unbound’ to the data source. You can then populate the data via a macro or VBA code to handle the data when required.
4. Using forms and reports is an overhead that can be easily controlled (and is one reason why they are stored on the desktop). Keep the number of controls to a minimum which means fewer tab pages and unnecessary text-boxes to hold calculations and other hidden values. There are better ways to handle this but will require some simple VBA code knowledge.
5. Use ‘local‘ temporary tables to handle offline processing which can then be sent to the BE database as and when required helping to keep traffic as free as possible.

There are other techniques that can be added to help handle multiple ‘concurrent‘ users but first had experience says you can use a Microsoft Access database across a network as a simulated Client/Server database application.

Compromised data integrity may be harmful to any sized business. Besides, database management is an assignment that has become more and more complicated. There are many database tools available in the technology market. Many reliable data’s are provided by technology market. Reliable data using process is very challenging. To maintain the database a great budget is used in businesses. A great part of their budget can maintain the database properly. IT management is the very important service in the technology market. To manage and organize data they work hard. IT management services can work hard by the most efficient way. However, database is a tool. It holds customer, business and product information. For many purposes, this information may be recovered from the database. If a business database holds sensitive information, the integrity issue comes into play. Access must be set up to permit only system functions and specific people can recover this information. Your company’s reputation will be bad if the information were to enter the wrong hands. Besides, very bad things may happen. IT management services have necessary experience to monitor your databases and choose set up for the most dependability.

Managed IT Services – Selecting the appropriate fitting database model

Setting up and choosing the companies database management systems takes careful planning and a little work; however, the increased reliability is worth every sweat bit. The 1st part of this assignment is determining what types of data will be stored and how they will be stored. Besides, there are many database models available in the technology market. This type of models is used for database management system. The data is accessed and stored differently for every model. Some usual database models include hierarchical, hash based, and relational. Managed IT services can use a combination of these types of a model for the better organizations. So, many factors decide which models or model work best. That is why a bit deliberation goes a long way. Besides, the selected models also affect the software used. The way data is viewed by affecting chosen model. If a model is put into a place, it does not change later time. It is a very difficult work. The task would require recreating the whole database management system. You will get right choice first time by managed IT services.

IT’s Management – Implementing the Database and Cleaning up Data

Initial database management systems require a lot more than setting up and choosing a model and inundation it with data. Besides, data can be stored by other methods or on prior back-ups. This data needs to be conveyed into the new database management systems and cleaned. Specific knowledge and tool are required for cleaning. Bad or incomplete data must be removed or corrected. Duplicate records must be resolved and spotted. This method can take lots of time and have to be done right in order for your company’s data to be dependable. An efficient database keeps IT management cost low. It can practically maintain itself. It does not require lots of time for maintenance. IT management will make your database reliable, secure, and perform better.

How to audit while data thefting using DBA password.

How to audit while hacker is able to delete auditing data from database.

How to check while hacker from remove data from operating system using oracle software owner password.

When default auditing of Oracle database is enabled then audited data is stored in AUD$ table in database. Data deletation and updation of AUD$ table as “sysdba” privileges, audited data will be stored in operating system’s files which has ownership of Oracle software owner. This audit tracing can be enabling using AUDIT_SYS_OPERATIONS parameter.

But any hacker can be theft data from database while he can crack password of database and also can delete data from AUD$ tables for deleting auditing data also. If hacker can able to crack (or know) password of Oracle software owner, then he can able to remove data of sys audited operation data from operating system.

In Oracle 11g great new security auditing feature is introduced, a new parameter named AUDIT_SYSLOG_LEVEL

Auditing Oracle software owner’s activities. It traces all events and commands of sysdba, sysoper privileges.Generaly SYS.AUD$ table contains auditing activities. But as Oracle software owner (SYSDBA owned) can easily remove auditing data from this SYS.AUD$ table.

Auditing Oracle software owner’s activities. It traces all events and commands of sysdba, sysoper privileges and users. Generally SYS.AUD$ table contains auditing activities. But as Oracle software owner (SYSDBA owner) he can able to remove auditing data from this SYS.AUD$ table.

This parameter also prevent from hacker’s activity if it stolen password of oracle software owner. When AUDIT_SYSLOG_LEVEL and AUDIT_SYS_OPERATIONS both are applied in database, then any SQL and PL/SQL run as user SYS would be traced using the syslog and operating system utility. Owner of syslog and operating system tracing is ROOT, and a DBA has not access and privilege of root user account, DBAs will not be able to remove audited data or files of their activity from operating system. Means if any hacker can able to crack password of Oracle software owner and try to mischief then also he can’t able to remote auditing data of oracle’s super user (sysdba or sysoper) even he has password of Oracle account ownership.

AUDIT_SYSLOG_LEVEL enables OS audit logs to be written to the system via the syslog utility, if the AUDIT_TRAIL parameter is set to os. The value of facility can be any of the following: USER, LOCAL0- LOCAL7, SYSLOG, DAEMON, KERN, MAIL, AUTH, LPR,NEWS, UUCP or CRON. The value of level can be any of the following: NOTICE, INFO, DEBUG, WARNING, ERR, CRIT, ALERT, EMERG.

In short while AUDIT_SYSLOG_LEVEL parameter is enabled using above parameter then AUDIT_FILE_DEST would be ignored and audited files will be generated using operating system utility (like syslog) in ROOT owner in server.

Off course this parameter is partially documented and not published by Oracle. But indeed it is very best useful audit option for database. It is great new security feature of Oracle 11g. Thanks a lot to Oracle people.

SQL> show parameter audit_syslog_level

NAME                    TYPE   VALUE

----------------------------------------------------------------

audit_syslog_level     string  USER

Author:

Gitesh Trivedi

Dbametrix Solutions

MSACCESS is probably one of the most under utilized packages in MS office suite. The main reason being lack of knowledge on how to use the system.

MSACCESS is one of the most important packages that enables the user to create databases and analyze information quickly and reliably.

In this article, we will be exploring the different ways available for you to bring the data into an MSACCESS database. It is obvious that data can be keyed into the database record by record but this is not what we want to talk about. What we want to cover is how to get the data into the database if we have it stored somewhere outside the database, in a text file, excel sheet or may be in another database.

Some of the different ways available to get the data into the database include:

1. Linking Tables – If the data is stored outside the database in an excel sheet or a text file or even another MSACCESS database, then you might consider linking the data. To do that, click on the Tables object from the general database interface. Right mouse click inside the database window in any empty space, a menu will be displayed. Choose Link Tables and then follow the wizard steps to link the data into the database. It is worth mentioning that once you finish, MSACCESS will create a linked table that you can give a suitable name of your own. The linked table can be used as any other table, so you can build queries, reports or forms based on the linked table. However, the main distinction between a normal table and a linked table is that the linked table data does not reside in the database. It is outside the database and the linked table merely functions as a tunnel towards that data wherever it is stored.

2. Importing the data – You can import the data from wherever it is into your database. From the menu discussed in step one above, choose Import instead of Link Tables. Follow the wizard steps and the data will finally be copied from its current source into a newly created table in the database. This table differs from the Linked Table as it is a normal table created inside the database and filled with the data that was imported.

3. Copying the data manually into the database – You can create a new table inside the database that matches the structure of the data that you want to import. Then open this new table in datasheet view, of course it has no records yet. Go to the data source, if it is an excel sheet or another table in another database, copy the records that you want to import into your own database and then go back to the table and insert the records into the new table.

4. Create ODBCs – ODBCs acts as links to other databases whether MSACCESS Databases or SQL Server databases or other types of databases. Once an ODBC is created, a tunnel opens between the two databases that enables the exchange of data between tables in the two databases.

MSACCESS is one of the most powerful systems available for information analysis. Once mastered, powerful applications can be built.

If you want to look someone up you might think that the public phone directory you have in your house is a great resource. Unfortunately, the reality is that this book will be of little, if any, use to you. The reason is so many people nowadays own cellular phones and private lines, which won’t be published. Not to mention, the only way you will be able to track someone down via a public address book is if they live in the same area as you. Moreover, you will need to know their last name, as you can only look for a person by searching for their surname alphabetically.

Thus, stop making the investigation so complicated and leave behind the regular world for a much more advanced one called the Internet. The World Wide Web is a much more productive environment where you can actually seek out the answers you want in a reasonable manner and time.

The first place you should take all of your telephone number quests isn’t a search engine but a phone number finder database, otherwise known as a reverse phone lookup. This is an online resource that contains a directory of ten-digit numbers and the information that corresponds to the owners of these codes.

To gain entry into the information bank, you enter the area code and seven digits you wish to lookup into the designated searching field. You can then expect one of three outcomes to occur:

1 – Success! You are provided with full results and learn the name, address, phone provider and line type linked to the number.

2 – Partial success. You learn the line type, phone provider and geographical area information (city and state) linked to the digits.

3 – Failure. No results are returned because nothing can be found either because of an error in the code or it simply doesn’t exist.

If you have partial success, usually this occurs when the number you are searching for belongs to a mobile. You may still be able to achieve your goal in finding a cell phone number in this case, but you will be required to pay a minimal fee in order to access the database. This cost is not meant to cheat you out of your money, but to cover the charge the website must pay to the party providing them with the data you seek.

Large business organizations have huge data to manage and manipulate data on a regular basis. A repository of data, where they store and retrieve information involved in their business is called a database. Administering the database is an ever growing issue in today’s industry and the database administrator plays a very crucial role for the efficient usage of enterprise applications of the business organization which are dependent on the databases.

The database administrator performs the job of managing the environmental aspects of the data tables and databases. He ensures that everything is running smoothly in the databases and the systems without any errors and handles many challenging tasks like security of the data, recovery from failure, fine tuning the database and trouble-shooting more and less frequent errors etc. While larger institutions employ a team of database administrators, the smaller ones have one or two skillful database administrators working for them.

Below is a bulleted list of the important functions of a oracle administrator for a business organization:

• Disaster Management: The database architect must me very skilled in avoiding and preventing any kinds of disasters to data which is an important asset of the business. In case of any major failure, he must be capable of recovering the disaster without much loss to the company, for example by keeping a backup on a regular basis.

• Analysis of databases: He must make sure that the databases provide optimum performance and enhance the profit margin for the business. It is his duty to configure the hardware and install and update the software whenever needed.

• Ensure security and saving cost: Cost and security are two important traits of business. Oracle administrator plays a crucial role in ensuring the security of databases by the use of advanced monitoring tools. He audits and tracks the database management work on a large scale.

For a large business organization, the oracle administrator is like a left hand, whose role has both immediate and long term effects to the business. The database administrator is considered to provide additional support for increasing profits. While some organizations are following in-house database administration, many others today prefer outsourced database administration owing to the cost effectiveness and quality of service. Whatever the case, the tail piece is the database administrator has got not one but numerous roles in database management for the uplift of the business.

It goes without saying that security is the most important thing in our life. The security of computer data is one of the main concerns for a computer user. Microsoft Office Access is one of the popular database applications among database users. It offers various advanced features to users and one them is database security, which can be done by applying password. Password protection is very helpful for a computer user. It ensures the security of our confidential data stored in the files, there is no doubt about it. But this is our responsibility as a file user, to set a very difficult password that cannot be guessed by any password cracker. Another responsibility is to change the password in a regular manner.

The feature of password protection plays an important role in the MS Access program. The MDB files which are used in MS Access, contains a large amount of information. The information stored in the database files of Microsoft Access is undoubtedly invaluable for a user. They contain highly confidential data of an individual or organization. In these days data hacking has become a very serious problem for any individual and organization. If the data or file is not secured, then anyone can access or get the information from it. This is called the unauthorized use of data. But this situation can be easily overcome by using password protection feature. If the database files of Microsoft Access are password protected, then no unauthorized user can access any information from them.

Unfortunately, this password protection feature may sometimes create critical situations. Have you ever imagined what would happen if you forget or lose the password of your MDB file? All your MDB files will become inaccessible and you will not be able to access them. I think it is a common human tendency to forget something at any time, and forgetting a password is one of them. This situation may take place at any time, hence it is always suggested to write all the important passwords in a diary. If we forget the passwords, then we can easily recall them with the help of this diary. But sometimes it may become more unpleasant situation if the password has been forgotten or the password diary has been lost somewhere.

In such a critical state we can use a third-party password recovery tool for MS Access database files. It is an advanced solution to restore lost or forgotten passwords within a few mouse clicks. The software is an easy-to-use application that requires no technical knowledge. This makes it highly beneficial for both technical and non-technical users. The non-destructive feature of the software allows users to safely restore the password of MDB files. It does not make any changes to original MDB files. It supports all types of password recovery of MDB files. Users can check its free demo version before buying the full software.

So you think you want to be an Oracle DBA?   Well, first of all, let’s examine the reality of the profession…

Yes, the salaries for a seasoned Oracle DBA can be very attractive.  This has advantages and disadvantages for the DBA.  24X7 on-call duty is the norm, getting calls during vacation, weddings, baptisms, surgery, etcetera, is to be expected.  If the DBA is saavy and automates much of their job, they had better find other ways to *visibly* add value to the company, or they will be out of a job.

On the upside, the profession is always changing and always challenging, and that, for many keeps it from ever being boring.  The salary can be very good for an experienced database administrator with specialized skills and a degree (six figures), and even better, leadership/management credentials and experience.

A database administrator is not just a mechanic who keeps the database engine tuned and running.  She is involved with capacity planning, which has a financial impact for the company.  In many cases the DBA has a lot of direct customer contact if the company manages other companies data in anyway, and thus has a huge role in the relationship the company has with it’s customers.  The DBA is responsible for safe-guarding the security and integrity of enterprise data.  Negligence on the part of the DBA can tank a healthy company very quickly.

Ok, ready to get started?  If you have finished school and Computer Science was not your degree, it’s still possible to break into the field. I have a masters in animal physiology, and started studying Oracle because when I took over the environmental data management program at McNeese State University (mumble) years ago, the budget I inherited did not Here are some initial steps:

First, if possible, position yourself in your present job where you will have an opportunity to work with the current DBA(s), or set up a small database environment from scratch.  Perhaps you can propose a small project that won’t generate so much data (at least at the outset) that a lot of extra, expensive hardware will be needed.  If you propose a pilot project, you may be able to justify getting a small server nearing the end of it’s warranty from the spare parts pool.  Make friends with the company sysadmin(s). If you are already familiar with Unix, get a Unix/Linux machine. If you are not familiar with Unix, try to get a Windows box to flatten your learning curve. You’ll eventually want to learn Linux though, as more Oracle databases run on Linux in the real world than Windows.

Next, go sign up for an account (OTN) at Oracle Corporation’s Technet site, otn.oracle.com (I am not affiliated with Oracle and do not benefit from any traffic going there!).  It’s free, and you’ll need this to download software under Oracle’s development license (training is a legitimate use of Oracle software under this license agreement). Use this account to get access to the installation documents for the latest Oracle database release.  Pay specific attention to hardware requirements.

If the above is not possible, your next option is to purchase some hardware to create a sandbox for yourself.   If you can’t afford very much, you might want to start with the Oracle XE database.  It’s small and sleek and can be installed on most laptops.  The administration is slightly different on XE, but it’s fine for learning SQL, stopping and starting a database, configuring listeners, etcetera.

Once you have your hardware, I recommend you start with the 2-DBA document, the “Adminstrator’s Guide,” “Concepts” and “SQL Language Reference”.

Oracle Database Administration is one heck of a big elephant to eat.  It’s a large body of knowledge, and it’s a moving target.  You are not going to learn it two days, in spite of the title of some of the documentation.  Take it one small bite at a time.  When you encounter problems during your self-training, do a websearch to find how others have fixed the problem. If your company uses Oracle and has an Oracle Support agreement, I highly recommend going to your DBA team and asking them if you can be added to the company’s CSI as a metalink user. You’ll have to go to metalink and request an account on a specific CSI, so you’ll have to obtain that number from the DBA team.  After you’ve made the request, Metalink sends an email to whomever is the administrator for that CSI (Customer Service Identifier), and they have to approve it, so it’s better to talk to the DBA(s) first.  Just tell them that you want to learn Oracle on your own and would like to be able to read Metalink Notes.

If you have deep pockets, or your company is willing to pay for training, look into taking some courses with Oracle University.  My experience is that I get a lot more out of Oracle courses if I’ve done a little legwork first to get some exposure to what is being taught.  Since the courses are not cheap, it’s a good investment of your time.  Oracle certification, by itself will *not* generally land you a job as an Oracle DBA; however, in a pool of equivalent candidates, it might be the “extra” thing that gets you to an interview.  Most companies perform a technical interview when hiring, often the interview is fairly rigorous.  Occasionally the interview is overly-rigorous, that is, someone in HR who knows nothing about Oracle has a set of questions they looked up on the internet, and they neither understand the question, nor the answer.  This can be in your favor in the sense that you probably won’t get many tough follow-up questions… it can work against you though if there is more than way to do something, and the HR person only has one way listed in the expected answers.  For example, there are many ways to clone a database… cloning from a cold copy, rman duplicate, export/import… etcetera…

Who Are You Trying to Contact?

The importance of database cleansing is something which can’t be underestimated. When you try to sell something to someone and get their name, number or address wrong then you are simply wasting your time. Even if you maintain your records pretty well you will still find that some are wrong because people have moved, changed phone number or even died. There is no easy way round this other than getting some database cleansing work carried out before you start contacting your leads with offers.

How Will You Do It?

Do you prefer to use email, the phone or conventional letters? More importantly, what do the people you are going to contact prefer? In some cases this is relatively easy to calculate. If you are targeting a certain sector of the community then this can give you the information you need. For example, young people will probably prefer email, while older people might like to get a letter through their door. An intelligent move is to use the cross channel approach. This means that you could send out an email first and then follow it up with a phone call, or vice versa.

What Will You Say?

Having a powerful and compelling message to give to your leads is the best way to try and get some positive results. This comes naturally to some people but not to others. You might like to give a few of your colleagues a shot at coming up with the perfect wording. You can then all get together and decide which ones to use. If you do it this way then you need to make it clear to everyone involved that it is all about getting the right results and that no one should take rejection of their ideas too badly. Once you have the message crafted, it is a question of getting it out there. For emails you can use bulk email sending software which helps you send them out really quickly while avoiding getting sent to the recipients’ spam folders. For phone calls and letter sending the process will be a bit more labour intensive.

How Did It Work Out?

So you have done your database cleansing, thought long and hard about your communication method and then even longer and even harder about what you will say. Did it work? With a little bit of luck it worked perfectly the first time around. If it didn’t then you just need to sit down again and try to work out where you went wrong. If you do keep on doing the right things then everything will click into place for you sooner or later.