Disadvantages of DBMS

A database management system or DBMS is a software program that stores, retrieves, and manipulates data from a database. DBMS tools such as Oracle, MySQL, and others are well-known. There are many Advantages of DBMS but there are also some Disadvantages of Database Management Systems, will discuss the disadvantages of DBMS in detail.

What is DBMS?

A database management system is software that manages a database by storing, retrieving, and manipulating the data from a database. Oracle, MySQL etc are well-known DBMS tools. Some functions of a Database Management System are:

• A database management system (DBMS) provides an interface for performing various activities such as the creation, deletion, and modification of data.
• A database management system (DBMS) allows users to design databases that meet their specific needs.
• A database management system (DBMS) is a collection of programs that respond to user commands.
• It ensures the database's safety by providing security patterns like password protection and verification to ensure access to only authorized users.
• It can be easily used using the queries.

Check out this article to learn more about what is DBMS.

Disadvantages of DBMS

There are many disadvantages that can be faced while using a Database Management System:

Increased Cost

High cost is one of the main disadvantages of DBMS, the cost can be of many types like hardware or software costs, data storage costs, etc. Let's take a look at them in detail

• Hardware and Software Costs: It is the main disadvantage of a DBMS system, a database management system database requires processing power which needs high-speed processors and these processors use hardware that is expensive and increases the cost of the overall system. Database management systems need a lot of storage and expensive software for storing data and this storage memory needs to be fast for faster output. Hence, the storage adds to overall costs. Hence, there are a lot of costs required for setting up and maintaining a database management system.
• Staff Training and Expense: A huge amount of cost is also required for training and educating staff that maintains the database, Hiring new staff and giving them also increases the overall expense.
• Cost of Data Conversion: we have to convert all our data into a database management system, and for that skilled database designers are required to design the entire database, Hence a large amount of money is required for their salaries and the software required to design the database. all these add up to increased costs.

Complexity

The database management system is very complex to use and normal people cannot understand how to use its software before proper training. So, for proper design of the database and management of the database skilled engineers, developers, and database administrators are required. The database structure can also be Complex and if it is designed or mapped in the wrong way it can lead to data loss or wrong management of data which could affect the organization’s data, it is a complex task to maintain data in the database management system, it requires a lot of manpower, staff, and software needed to do so.

Database Failure

Database Failure is one of the biggest disadvantages of a database management system. it requires a lot of maintenance and constant power. Data stored on DBMS is centralized in nature, if the database server fails, the whole system will fail and the organization will be affected.

Performance

The database management system works very fast when the data is less to work on, But as the data of the organization grows, the system becomes heavier and heavier and the performance of a DBMS decreases, so sometimes the file management system is preferred over the database management system.

Frequent Updates/Upgrades

Nowadays DBMS software is regularly been updated by DBMS vendors, so updating the software also increases the need to update the hardware used for that software. which increases the overall unnecessary expenses to the organization. introducing new updates in the software also brings up new commands to operate the DBMS system. Hence, staff maintaining the database have to be trained according to the updates which is a lot of hassle.

Huge Size

As the data acquired by the organization increases, more storage space is needed to set up. But increasing the storage space makes the database heavier, so searching and storing of data becomes slow and DBMS software takes more time to fetch queries which makes it inefficient.

Some Disadvantages of DBMS over File-Based Systems

Low Investment in File Based Systems

The costs of using a DBMS include:

• High initial investment in hardware and training.
• Providing security recovery and integrity functions.

A file processing system is comparatively cheaper. So, it is advisable to opt for a File-based system if:

• The application structure is simple and is not expected to change.
• Multiple-user access to data is not required.

Low Maintenance of File Based System

File-based systems can be used if the structure and size of the application remain the same for a long time because there will be fewer changes required in the structure and File-based systems can give efficiency out of it.

File-Based System is Efficient for Single-User

When it comes to a single user, File based systems can be more efficient due to less amount of data, no concurrency control, and low costs.

Learn more:

• File system vs DBMS.
• Applications of DMBS.
• Difference between DBMS and RDBMS.