Database Systems: Database Administration System - Architecture and DesignIssues

The Data Base Administration System (DBAS) is a PDP 11/70 computer system under the control of a real-time UNIX* operating system designed for the Bell Operating Companies (BOCS) to administer several remote, on-line, call-processing-related databases. These remote databases, among others, include the billing validation application (BVA) files located at different network control points for the purpose of providing mechanized calling card service.* Briefly, DBAS * UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories. Other remote databases, administered by the DBAS, are not-in-service telephone number data located at the automatic intercept centers and originating (telephone) station treatment data located at the traffic service position systems. + 2439 accepts service-order inputs and forwards them to the BVA databases. Because the BVA databases are queried under real-time constraints for processing telephone calls, direct access to them by the BOCS would degrade the performance of the BVAS. DBAS serves as a buffer between the high-speed, real-time-conscious BVAS and the low-speed, nonuniform, service-order inputs. An on-line database at the DBAS site is introduced to further relieve the load of the BVAS from most associated administrative functions: for each telephone station with data located at a BVA, a DBAS on-line database contains a superset of the data about that station. This superset data includes what is needed for providing mechanized calling card service and much more indirectly related data needed by the BOCS for administrative purposes.