Modern Database Management: Chapter 11 Review Question 22

Question

List and describe four common types of database failure.

Answer

Failure of the database will occur in many ways while processing. These failures can damage the databases. There are four common types of database failures. They are explained as follows:

• Aborted transaction
• Incorrect data
• System failure
• Database destruction

Their details are explained below:

Aborted Transaction

A transaction in a business activity consists of series of clearly defined steps to be executed. When the database terminates abnormally during an ongoing transaction, it is called an aborted transaction. The reason for aborted transactions is when the data becomes unavailable, damaged or lost due to some application failure, electrical disaster, human error, or transmission loss during the transaction process in a communication link.

Incorrect Data

If the database is updated with incorrect data, but the entry is a valid one, it causes a more complex situation in the database. For example, entering the wrong salary amount for an employee.

System Failure

When a transaction under progress is disrupted by a system crash or some component failure in the system, it causes system failure. The system failure may be caused by power loss, loss of communication during transactions, or system software failure. In this, the database will not get damaged, and only the component gets affected.

Database Destruction

The failure of the hard disk causes this. In this case, the database itself will get lost, or it may be severely damaged.