DBMS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Q1. What are the differences between a DBMS and RDBMS?

DBMS RDBMS
Provides an organized way of
managing, retrieving, and storing from Provides the same as that of DBMS,
a collection of logically related but it provides relational integrity
information

Q2. Explain the terms database and DBMS. Also, mention the different
types of DBMS.

A software application that interacts with databases, applications, and users to

capture and analyze the required data. The data stored in the database can be
retrieved, deleted and modified based on the client’s requirement.

The different types of DBMS are as follows:

 Relational DBMS (RDBMS): This type of DBMS, uses a structure

which allows the users to access data in relation to another piece of data
in a database. In this type of DBMS, data is stored in the form of tables.
 Hierarchical DBMS: As the name suggests, this type of DBMS has a
structure similar to that of a tree, wherein the nodes represent records and
the branches of the tree represent fields.
 Network DBMS: This type of DBMS supports many-to-many relations
wherein multiple member records can be linked.
 Object-oriented DBMS: Uses small individual software called object to
store pieces of data and the instructions for the actions to be done with
the data.

Q3. What are the advantages of DBMS?

The advantages of DBMS are as follows:

 Sharing of Data: Multiple users can use data from the same database
simultaneously.
 Integrity constraints: These constraints allow the data to be stored in a
database in a refined manner.
 Redundancy control: Supports a mechanism to control the redundancy
of data by integrating all the data into a single database.
  Data Independence: Allows to change the structure of the data without
affecting the structure of any of the running application programs.
 Provide backup and recovery facility: Provides a feature of ‘backup
and recovery’ to automatically create the data backup and restore the data
as and when required.

Q4. Mention the different languages present in DBMS

The different languages present in DBMS are as follows:

 DDL(Data Definition Language) – Consists of commands which are

used to define the database.
 DML(Data Manipulation Language) – Consists of commands which
are used to manipulate the data present in the database.
 DCL(Data Control Language) – Consists of commands which deal with
the user permissions and controls of the database system.
 TCL(Transaction Control Language) – Consist of commands which
deal with the transaction of the database.

Q5. What do you understand by query optimization?

Query optimization is the phase that identifies a plan for evaluation query that
has the least estimated cost. This phase comes into the picture when there are a
lot of algorithms and methods to execute the same task.

The advantages of query optimization are as follows:

 The output is provided faster

 A larger number of queries can be executed in less time
 Reduces time and space complexity

Q6. Do we consider NULL values the same as that of blank space or zero?

A NULL value is not at all same as that of zero or a blank space. The NULL
value represents a value which is unavailable, unknown, assigned or not
applicable whereas zero is a number and blank space is a character.

Q7. What do you understand by aggregation and atomicity?

Aggregation Atomicity
This is a feature of the E-R model This property states that a database
which allows a relationship set to modification must either follow all the
participate in another relationship set. rules or nothing at all. So, if one part
of the transaction fails, then the entire
 transaction fails.
Q8. What are the different levels of abstraction in the DBMS?

There are three levels of data abstraction in DBMS. They are:

 Physical Level: It is the lowest level of abstraction and describes how the
data is stored.
 Logical Level: This is the next level of abstraction after the Physical
level. This layer determines what data is stored in the database, and what
is the relationship between the data points.
 View Level: The View Level is the highest level of abstraction and it
describes only a part of the entire database.

Q9. What is an entity-relationship model?

It is a diagrammatic approach to database design, where you represent real-

world objects as entities and mention relationships between them. This
approach helps the team of DBAs’ to understand the schema easily.

Q10. What do you understand by the terms Entity, Entity Type, and Entity
Set in DBMS?

 Entity: An entity is a real-world object having attributes, which are

nothing but characteristics of that particular object. For example, an
employee can be an entity. This particular entity can have attributes such
as empid, empname, etc.
 Entity Type: Entity type is nothing but a collection of entities, having
the same attributes. Generally, an entity type refers to one or more related
tables in a particular database. So, you can understand, entity type as a
characteristic which uniquely identifies the entity. For example, An
employee can have attributes such as empid, empname, department, etc.
 Entity Set: An entity set is the collection of all the entities of a particular
entity type in a database. For example, a set of employees, a set of
companies, and a set of people can come under an entity set.

Q11. What are relationships and mention different types of relationships in

the DBMS

A relationship in DBMS is the scenario where two entities are related to each
other. In such a scenario, the table consisting of foreign key references to that of
a primary key of the other table.
The different types of relationships in DBMS are as follows:

 One-to-One Relationship – Used when a single row in Table A is

related to a single row in Table B.
 One-to-Many Relationship – Used when a single row in Table A is
related to many rows in table B.
 Many-to-Many Relationship – Used when many rows in table A can be
related to many rows in table B.
 Self -Referencing Relationship – Used when a record in table A is
related to the same table itself.

Q12. What is concurrency control?

This is a process of managing simultaneous operations in a database so that

database integrity is not compromised. The following are the two approaches
involved in concurrency control:

 Optimistic approach – Involves versioning

 Pessimistic approach – Involves locking

Q13. What are the ACID properties in DBMS?

ACID stands for Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability. It is used to

ensure that the data transactions are processed reliably in a database system.

 Atomicity: Atomicity refers to those transactions which are completely

successful or failed. Here each transaction refers to a single logical
operation of a data. So, even if one part of any transaction fails, the entire
transaction fails and the database state is left unchanged.
 Consistency: Consistency ensures that the data must meet all the
validation rules. In simple words, you can say that your transaction never
leaves the database without completing its state.
 Isolation: The main goal of isolation is concurrency control.
 Durability: Durability means that if a transaction has been committed, it
will occur whatever may be the scenario.

Q14. What is normalization and what are the different types of

normalization?

The process of organizing data to avoid any duplication of data and redundancy
is known as Normalization. There are many successive levels of normalization
which are known as normal forms. Each consecutive normal form depends on
the previous one. The following are the first three normal forms. Apart from
these, you have higher normal forms such as BCNF.
  First Normal Form (1NF) – No repeating groups within rows
 Second Normal Form (2NF) – Every non-key (supporting) column
value is dependent on the whole primary key.
 Third Normal Form (3NF) – Dependent solely on the primary key and
no other non-key (supporting) column value.

Q15. What are the different types of keys in the database?

There are mainly 7 types of Keys, that can be considered in a database. I am

going to consider the below tables to explain to you the various keys.

Fig 1: Different Types of Keys in Database – DBMS Interview Questions

 Candidate Key – This is a set of attributes which can uniquely identify a

table. Each table can have more than a candidate key. Apart from this, out
of all the candidate keys, one key can be chosen as the Primary key. In
the above example, since CustomerID and PanNumber can uniquely
identify every tuple, they would be considered as a Candidate Key.
 Super Key – This is a set of attributes which can uniquely identify a
tuple. So, a candidate key, primary key, and a unique key is a superkey,
but vice-versa isn’t true.
 Primary Key – This is a set of attributes which are used to uniquely
identify every tuple. In the above example, since CustomerID and
 PanNumber are candidate keys, any one of them can be chosen as a
Primary Key. Here CustomerID is chosen as the primary key.
 Unique Key – The unique key is similar to the primary key, but allows
NULL values in the column. Here the PanNumber can be considered as a
unique key.
 Alternate Key – Alternate Keys are the candidate keys, which are not
chosen as a Primary key. From the above example, the alternate key is
PanNumber
 Foreign Key – An attribute that can only take the values present as the
values of some other attribute, is the foreign key to the attribute to which
it refers. in the above example, the CustomerID from the Customers
Table is referred to the CustomerID from the Customer_Payment Table.
 Composite Key – A composite key is a combination of two or more
columns that identify each tuple uniquely. Here, the CustomerID and
Date_of_Payment can be grouped together to uniquely identify every
tuple in the table.

Q16. What do you understand by correlated subqueries in DBMS?

A correlated subquery is also a sort of subquery reliant on another query. So,

when subqueries are executed for each of the rows of outer queries, then they
are termed as correlated subqueries. Each subquery is executed a single time for
every row of the outer query.

You can also understand correlated subqueries as those queries, which are used
for row-by-row processing by the parent statement. Here, the parent statement
can be SELECT, UPDATE or DELETE statement.

Q17. Explain Database partitioning and its importance.

Data partitioning is the process of dividing a logical database into independent

units for the betterment of availability, performance, and manageability.

The importance of database partitioning is as follows:

 Enables you to access large parts of a specific partition

 Cheap and slower storage can be used to store data
 Improves query performance

Q18. What do you understand by functional dependency and transitive

dependency in DBMS?

Functional Dependency: A functional dependency is a constraint that is used

in describing the relationship among different attributes in a relation.
Example: Consider a relation “A1” having attributes X and Y. The functional
dependency among these two attributes will be X -> Y, this implies that Y is
functionally dependent on X.

Transitive Dependency: A transitive dependency is a constraint that can only

occur in a relation of three or more attributes.

Example: Consider a relation “A1” having attributes X, Y and Z. Now, X->Z is

said to hold transitive dependency, only if the following functional
dependencies holds true:

 X -> Y
 Y doesn’t ->X
 Y -> Z

Q19. What is the difference between two and three-tier architectures?

Two-tier architecture Three-tier architecture

This is similar to the client-server This architecture contains an extra
architecture. layer between the client and the server.
Clients communicate with an
application(GUI) on the server-side,
Clients directly communicate with the that makes the system more secure and
database at the server-side accessible. This application thereafter
communicates with the database
system.

Fig 2: Two-Tier vs Three-Tier Architecture – DBMS Interview Questions

Q20. Mention the differences between Unique Key and Primary Key

Unique Key Primary Key

The primary key cannot have a NULL
Unique Key can have a NULL value
value
Each table can have more than one Each table can have only one primary
unique key key
Q21. What is a checkpoint in DBMS and when does it occur?

A checkpoint is a mechanism where all the previous logs are removed from the
system and are permanently stored on the storage disk. So, basically,
checkpoints are those points from where the transaction log record can be used
to recover all the committed data up to the point of crash.

Next, le us discuss one of the most commonly asked DBMS interview

questions, that is:

Q22. Mention the differences between Trigger and Stored Procedures

Triggers Stored Procedures

A special kind of stored procedure that A group of SQL statements which can
is not called directly by a user. In fact, be reused again and again. These
a trigger is created and is programmed statements are created and stored in the
to fire when a specific event occurs. database.
A trigger cannot be called
or execute directly by a user. Only Can execute stored procedures by using
when the corresponding events are the exec command, whenever we want.
fired, triggers are created.
You can schedule a job to execute the
You cannot schedule a trigger.
stored procedure on a pre-defined time.
Cannot directly call another trigger Call a stored procedure
within a trigger. from another stored procedure.
Parameters cannot be passed as input Parameters can be passed as input
Cannot return values. Can return zero or n values.
Transactions are not allowed within a You can use transactions within a
trigger. stored procedure.
Q23. What are the differences between Hash join, Merge join and Nested
loops?

Hash join Merge join Nested loops

Merge join is used when
The hash join is used The nested loop consists
projections of the joined
when you have to join of an outer loop and an
tables are sorted on the
large tables. inner loop.
join columns.

Q24. What do you understand by Proactive, Retroactive and Simultaneous

Update?
  Proactive Update: These updates are applied to the database before it
becomes effective in the real-world environment.
 Retroactive Update: These retroactive updates are applied to a database
after it becomes effective in the real-world environment.
 Simultaneous Update: These updates are applied to the database at the
same instance of time as it becomes effective in a real-world
environment.

Q25. What are indexes? Mention the differences between the clustered and
non-clustered index

Indexes are data structures responsible for improving the speed of data retrieval
operations on a table. This data structure uses more storage space to maintain
extra copies of data by using additional writes. So, indexes are mainly used for
searching algorithms, where you wish to retrieve data in a quick manner.

The differences between clustered and non-clustered index are as follows:

Clustered Index Non-clustered Index

Non clustered index is relatively
A clustered index is faster
slower
Alters the way records are stored in a Does not alter the way it was stored
database as it sorts out rows by the but it creates a separate object within a
column which is set to be clustered table which points back to the original
index table rows after searching
One table can only have one clustered One table can only have many non
index clustered indexes

Q26. What do you understand by intension and extension?

Intension: Intension or most commonly known as Database schema defines the

description of the database. This is specified during the database design and
mostly remains unchanged.

Extension: Extension is the number of tuples available in the database at any

instance of time. This value keeps changing as and when the tuples are created,
updated and destroyed. So, the data present in the database at a specific instance
of time is known as the extension of the database or most commonly known as
the snapshot of the database.

Q27. What do you understand by cursor? Mention the different types of

cursor
A cursor is a database object which helps in manipulating data, row by row and
represents a result set.

The types of cursor are as follows:

 Implicit cursor: This type of cursor is declared automatically as soon as

the execution of SQL takes place. Here, the user is not indicated about
the declaration of the cursor.
 Explicit cursor: This type of cursor is defined by the PL/ SQL, as it
handles a query in more than a single row.

Q28. Explain the terms specialization and generalization

 Specialization: Specialization is a process of defining a set of subclasses

of the entity type. Here, each subclass will contain all the attributes and
relationships of the parent entity. Apart from this, the subclasses may
contain additional attributes and relationships specific to itself.
 Generalization: Generalization is a process of finding relations, common
attributes for a particular set of entities; and finally defining a common
superclass for them.

Q29. What do you understand by Data Independence?

When you say an application has data independence, it implies that the
application is independent of the storage structure and data access strategies of
data.

Q30. What are the different integrity rules present in the DBMS?

The different integrity rules present in DBMS are as follows:

 Entity Integrity: This rule states that the value of the primary key can
never be NULL. So, all the tuples in the column identified as the primary
key should have a value.
 Referential Integrity: This rule states that either the value of the foreign
key is NULL or it should be the primary key of any other relation.

Q31. What does Fill Factor concept mean with respect to indexes?

Fill Factor is used to mention the percentage of space left on every leaf-level
page, which is packed with data. Usually, the default value is 100.

Q32. What is Index hunting and how does it help in improving query
performance?
The process of boosting a collection of indexes is known as Index hunting. This
is done as indexes improve the query performance and the speed at which they
are processed.

It helps in improving query performance in the following way:

 The best queries are suggested using the query optimizer.

 Index, query distribution and their performance are used as metrics to
check the effect
 Databases are tuned into a small collection of problem queries.

Q33. What are the differences between network and hierarchical database
model?

Network Database Model Hierarchical Database Model

A top-down structure where each
Each parent node can have multiple parent node can have many child
children nodes and vice versa. nodes. But, a child node can have only
a single parent node.
Supports one-to-one, one-to-many, and Supports one-tone and one-to-many
many-to-many relationships relationships

Q34. Explain what is a deadlock and mention how it can be resolved?

Deadlock is a situation which occurs when two transactions wait on a resource

which is locked or other transaction holds. Deadlocks can be prevented by
making all the transactions acquire all the locks at the same instance of time.
So, once deadlock occurs, the only way to cure is to abort one of the
transactions and remove the partially completed work.

Q35. What are the differences between an exclusive lock and a shared
lock?

Exclusive Lock Shared Lock

An exclusive lock is a lock on a data
A shared lock allows more than one
item when a transaction is about to
transaction to read the data items.
perform the write operation.