Editing Relational database (section)

==RDBMS==
[[File:RDBMS structure.png|thumbnail|right|The general structure of a relational database]]
Connolly and Begg define database management system (DBMS) as a "software system that enables users to define, create, maintain and control access to the database".<ref name="Begg-p64">{{cite book |last1=Connolly |first1=Thomas M. |last2=Begg |first2=Carolyn E. |date=2014 |title=Database Systems – A Practical Approach to Design Implementation and Management |edition=6th |publisher=Pearson |isbn=978-1292061184 |page=64}}</ref> RDBMS is an extension of that initialism that is sometimes used when the underlying database is relational.

An alternative definition for a '''relational database management system''' is a database management system (DBMS) based on the [[relational model]]. Most databases in widespread use today are based on this model.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pratt |first1=Philip J. |last2=Last |first2=Mary Z. |date=2014-09-08 |title=Concepts of Database Management |edition=8 |publisher=Course Technology |isbn=9781285427102 |page=29 }}</ref>

RDBMSs have been a common option for the storage of information in databases used for financial records, manufacturing and logistical information, personnel data, and other applications since the 1980s. Relational databases have often replaced legacy [[hierarchical database]]s and [[network database]]s, because RDBMS were easier to implement and administer. Nonetheless, relational stored data received continued, unsuccessful challenges by [[object database]] management systems in the 1980s and 1990s, (which were introduced in an attempt to address the so-called [[object–relational impedance mismatch]] between relational databases and object-oriented application programs), as well as by [[XML database]] management systems in the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Feuerlich |first=George |url=https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=a61bad77f48d8438f47393c720292f5dc33a4c0d#page=169 |title=Dateso 10; Database Trends and Directions: Current Challenges and Opportunities |date=21 April 2010 |publisher=MATFYZPRESS |isbn=978-80-7378-116-3 |edition=1st |location=Prague, Sokolovsk |pages=163–174}}</ref> However, due to the expanse of technologies, such as [[horizontal scaling]] of [[computer cluster]]s, [[NoSQL]] databases have recently become popular as an alternative to RDBMS databases.<ref>{{cite web |title=NoSQL databases eat into the relational database market |date=4 March 2015 |url=https://www.techrepublic.com/article/nosql-databases-eat-into-the-relational-database-market |access-date=2018-03-14}}</ref>