A database machines or back end processor is a

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

or special hardware that stores and retrieves data from a database. It is specially designed for database access and is tightly coupled to the main ( front-end) computer(s) by a high-speed channel, whereas a database server is a general-purpose computer that holds a database and it's loosely coupled via a local area network to its clients. Database machines can retrieve large amount of data using hundreds to thousands of microprocessors with database software. The front end processor asks the back end (typically sending a query expressed in a query language) the data and further processes it. The back end processor on the other hand analyzes and stores the data from the front end processor. Back end processors result in higher performance, increasing host

main memory Computer data storage is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media that are used to retain digital data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers. The central processing unit (CPU) of a computer ...

, increasing database recovery and

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...

, and decreasing cost to manufacture. NCR_Teradata_Worldmark_5100_Unix_Storage

Britton-Lee (IDM), Tandem ( Non-Stop System), and Teradata ( DBC) all offered early commercial specialized database machines. A more recent example was Oracle Exadata.

Criticism and suggested remedy

According to Julie McCann,

References

* Berra, P. Bruce. “Data base machines.” ''SIGIR Forum'' 12, 3 (Winter 1977), 4–23. https://doi.org/10.1145/1095317.1095318 * Banerjee, Jayanta. “Data structuring and indexing for data base machines.” In ''Proceedings of the fifth workshop on Computer architecture for non-numeric processing (CAW '80).'' Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 11–16. https://doi.org/10.1145/800083.802687 * Song, Siang Wun. �
A Survey and Taxonomy of Database Machines.
�� ''IEEE Database Eng. Bull.'' 4 (1981): 3-13. * Hoffer, Jeffrey A.; Alexander, Mary B. “The diffusion of database machines.” ''SIGMIS Database'' 23, 2 (Spring 1992): 13–19. https://doi.org/10.1145/141342.141352

Criticism and suggested remedy

References

Further reading

See also