Autonomic Success in Database Management Systems

One of the primary uses of computer is to reduce cost and manage complexity with increase in efficiency and performance. Now system complexity is reaching a level that is beyond human ability. With the development of technology, people want to manage complex systems in an efficient and reliable manner. Development of raw computing power and proliferation of computer devices and usage of internet has grown up to exponential rates. This growth and unprecedented levels of complexity is leading towards new direction - autonomic computing. Autonomic features in system increase speed, efficiency, reliability and accuracy with less or no human interaction, ultimately providing error free environment. These autonomic capabilities are important in database management systems (DBMSs). The DBMSs which have the capability to manage and maintain themselves are called autonomic database management systems (ADBMS). The ADBMSs are evolving from last many years. At present most of the activities in DBMS are performed autonomically and have achieved certain level of autonomicity. The paper identified some autonomic shortcomings in commercial DBMSs up to 2002. We made a survey on achievements of autonomic computing against these shortcomings in current DBMSs. For this purpose, we have studied and analyzed IBM DB2, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server.