RDBMS (Relational Data Base Management System)

RDBMS (Relational Data Base Management System)

Relational Database Management System is a software package which manages a relational database, optimized for rapid and flexible retrieval of data; also called a database engine.

Relational Data Base Management Systems (RDBMS) are database management systems that maintain data records and indices in tables. Relationships may be created and maintained across and among the data and tables. In recent years, database management systems (DBMS) have established themselves as the primary means of data storage for information systems ranging from large commercial transaction processing applications to PC-based desktop applications. At the heart of most of today's information systems is a relational database management system (RDBMS). RDBMSs have been the workhorse for data management operations for over a decade and continue to evolve and mature, providing sophisticated storage, retrieval, and distribution functions to enterprise-wide data processing and information management systems. Compared to the file systems, relational database management systems provide organizations with the capability to easily integrate and leverage the massive amounts of operational data into meaningful information systems. The evolution of high-powered database engines such as Oracle7 has fostered the development of advanced "enabling" technologies including client/server, data warehousing, and online analytical processing, all of which comprise the core of today's state-of-the-art information management systems.

In other words  Relational Database Management System is a computer program that lets you store, index, and retrieve tables of data. The simplest way to look at an RDBMS is as a spreadsheet that multiple users can update. The most important thing that an RDBMS does is provide transactions.

Relational Database Management System is used to store, process and manage data arranged in relational tables. Often used for transaction processing and data warehouses. RDBMS has ability to access data organized in tabular files that can be related to each other by a common field (item). An RDBMS has the capability to recombine the data items from different files, providing powerful tools for data usage. Relational databases are powerful because they require few assumptions about how data is related or how it will be extracted from the database. As a result, the same database can be viewed in many different ways. Almost all full-scale database systems are RDBMS's.

A database management system (like Oracle) in which the database is organized and accessed according to the relationships between data items. In a relational database, relationships between data items are expressed by means of tables. Interdependencies among these tables are expressed by data values rather than by pointers. This allows a high degree of data independence. Some of the best-known RDBMS's include Oracle, Informix, Sybase, PostgreSQL and Microsoft Access.