{"id":20123,"date":"2020-01-28T16:19:22","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T16:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/database"},"modified":"2026-09-16T21:32:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T21:32:03","slug":"database","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/database","title":{"rendered":"Database"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"boxpad alignright wp-image-13952 size-full\" style=\"margin-top: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/34.-1.jpg\" alt=\"Database\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/> <strong>Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A <strong>database<\/strong> is an organised collection of data stored electronically to make it easier to query, manage and update. It is administered through a database management system or DBMS, which controls operations such as reading, writing, security and data integrity.<\/p>\n<p>The way data is organised depends on the model used. In a relational database, for example, information is arranged in tables made up of rows and columns and can be connected through keys. A telephone directory is a simple example: each record may contain fields such as name, address and telephone number, related to the concept of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/nap\">NAP<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h2>What databases are for<\/h2>\n<p>Databases provide a structure for working with information in applications, web services and business processes. Their common functions include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Information storage:<\/strong> They retain structured or semi-structured data to facilitate its management.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Data management:<\/strong> They allow information to be created, queried, updated and deleted according to the system&#8217;s rules.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fast retrieval:<\/strong> They use queries and indexes to locate records without reviewing the entire data set.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Data analysis:<\/strong> They provide information for examining trends, producing reports and supporting decisions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Information security:<\/strong> They can include access controls, permissions, encryption and audit mechanisms depending on the technology and configuration.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Application integration:<\/strong> They support information exchange between applications and services through connectors, queries or APIs.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Transaction support:<\/strong> They can execute operations while maintaining integrity and consistency properties, particularly in financial and ecommerce systems.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Scalability:<\/strong> They support different strategies for responding to growth in data volume, queries or users.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Process automation:<\/strong> They allow tasks such as backups, maintenance, report generation and record updates to be scheduled.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Classification of databases<\/h2>\n<p>The same database may belong to several categories because different classification criteria can be applied.<\/p>\n<h3>According to data variability<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Static:<\/strong> They retain historical information or data sets that change infrequently and are used mainly for queries and analysis.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dynamic:<\/strong> They support frequent additions, modifications and deletions as new operations occur.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>According to content<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bibliographic:<\/strong> They contain references and descriptions of documents, such as author, title or publication date.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Full-text:<\/strong> They store the complete content of documents to support retrieval and queries.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Directories:<\/strong> They organise data about people, companies, resources or locations, such as telephone directories and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/web-directory\">web directories<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Chemical or biological:<\/strong> They contain specialised scientific information, such as molecular structures or genetic sequences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>According to the data model<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Relational:<\/strong> They organise information in related tables and are commonly queried with SQL. MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle Database and Microsoft SQL Server are examples.<\/li>\n<li><strong>NoSQL:<\/strong> They cover non-relational models such as document, key-value, wide-column and graph databases. MongoDB, Redis, Apache Cassandra and Neo4j represent different families.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>According to access and distribution<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Centralised:<\/strong> They keep data under the control of a main system or location, although it may be queried from other devices.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Distributed:<\/strong> They spread data or replicas across several coordinated nodes or locations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>According to purpose<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>OLTP, online transaction processing:<\/strong> They are optimised for many short operations, such as orders, payments or inventory updates.<\/li>\n<li><strong>OLAP, online analytical processing:<\/strong> They are designed for complex queries, aggregations and analysis of large data sets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>According to the licence model<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Open source:<\/strong> Their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/open-source\">open-source<\/a> code can be used, studied and modified under the applicable licence. PostgreSQL, MySQL and MariaDB are examples.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Proprietary:<\/strong> They are distributed by a company under conditions that restrict access to or modification of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/source-code\">source code<\/a>. Oracle Database and Microsoft SQL Server have proprietary editions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Most widely used database technologies<\/h2>\n<p>Technologies are selected according to the data model, consistency requirements, workload, availability and query needs. Well-known examples include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysql.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MySQL<\/a>:<\/strong> An open-source relational database management system used in web applications and business systems.<\/li>\n<li><strong>PostgreSQL:<\/strong> An open-source relational system with advanced features, extensibility and support for ACID transactions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Oracle Database:<\/strong> A proprietary relational system used, among other purposes, for enterprise applications requiring advanced availability, security and administration features.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Microsoft SQL Server:<\/strong> Microsoft&#8217;s relational system, integrating administration, analytics and reporting tools.<\/li>\n<li><strong>MongoDB:<\/strong> A document database that stores records in flexible documents and supports horizontal scaling.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Redis:<\/strong> An in-memory data store used for caching, sessions, queues and other operations requiring low latency.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Apache Cassandra:<\/strong> A distributed wide-column database designed to operate across multiple nodes and maintain high availability.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Elasticsearch:<\/strong> A distributed search and analytics engine that stores indexed documents. It can complement an operational database when text search and fast aggregations are required.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Definition: A database is an organised collection of data stored electronically to make it easier to query, manage and update. It is administered through a database management system or DBMS, which controls operations such as reading, writing, security and data integrity. The way data is organised depends on the model used. In a relational database, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[305],"class_list":["post-20123","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-data-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/20123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=20123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}