Centralised vs Distributed Databases

March 22, 2019 antony Managing Data 0

Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) support centralised and distributed databases. A centralised database system is in one location (head office, data centre) and accessed from multiple sites (departments on a campus, shops, warehouses). A distributed database system has databases at multiple (2 or more) sites and is syncronised at regular intervals (e.g. at the end of each day).

Centralised

  • Advantages
    • Provides a live view of the business data
    • Easily maintained, updated, and backed up by IT department
  • Disadvantages
    • Requires constant internet/network connection
    • If the database suffers an outage if affects all the sites

Distributed

  • Advantages
    • Not reliant on a constant internet connection
    • Faster to access
    • If one database suffers an outage it does not affect any other site
  • Disadvantages
    • Does not reflect a live view of the businesses data
    • Syncronisation can produce data anomalies

With broadband internet the centralised model is more common as there is lower latency in accessing the most up to date data. Centralised and distributed can sometimes work together for redundancy.