Is Ms Access DBMS Or RDBMS?

Question

IS Ms Access DBMS or RDBMS? I also do Google to find answer of this question,but in some website or blog says it is DBMS while others are says it is RDBMS.. so what is correct answer? and Please understand why it is DBMS or RDBMS?

Solution 1

MS Access is a Relational Database Management System so therefore RDBMS, however you can use it in a non-relational fashion if you so wish so it can be used as a DBMS.

Solution 2

Short Answer: Both.

Detail:

Microsoft Access is a DBMS but also something more: a personal database system. That is, a DBMS plus an application generator. While Microsoft Access contains a DBMS engine that creates, processes, and administers the database, it also contains form, report, and query components that are the Microsoft Access application generator.

Source:

Page 13

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation

David M. Kroenke, David J. Auer

12th Edition

ISBN13: 9780132145374

Solution 3

Microsoft Access is an application development tool, not a DBMS or an RDBMS.

The Access application is bundled with (but distinct from) Jet/ACE, which is a system for sharing data over a filesystem or via ODBC. In principle that can include accessing relational or non-relational databases. Jet/ACE isn't "relational" though. It is based (very loosely) on the SQL model of data rather than the relational model but is more of an ISAM cursor-engine than any SQL DBMS.

Solution 4

First, we need to define DBMS and RDBMS. Let me quote the relevant part from the Wikipedia page on Databases (emphasis mine):

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". Examples of DBMS's include MySQL, PostgreSQL, MSSQL, Oracle Database, and Microsoft Access.

The DBMS acronym is sometimes extended to indicate the underlying database model, with RDBMS for the relational, OODBMS for the object (oriented) and ORDBMS for the object-relational model. Other extensions can indicate some other characteristic, such as DDBMS for a distributed database management systems.

^{(Yes, Wikipedia should not be used as a scientific source, but we are talking about basic definitions here.)}

In other words, DBMS is the general term for all kinds of DBMS's, whereas RDBMS are those DBMS which use a relational database model.

Since MS Access uses the "classic" field/table/foreign key model of storing data, it's underlying database model is relational. Thus,

• MS Access is an RDBMS. Since every RDBMS is an DBMS,
• MS Access is also a DBMS.

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Comments

[ta.speot.is]

Access is a user interface over JET/ACE. They're the database-y bits.

[Can Sahin]

@SanmithaSadhishkumar: Yes, MySQL and Oracle are also RDBMS's.

[Sanmitha Sadhishkumar]

Then u have included them as examples for DBMS? you are mentioning that "All RDBMS are DBMS" In that sense did u mention that?

[Can Sahin]

@SanmithaSadhishkumar: Yes, all the DBMS examples in the quoted Wikipedia snippet are, coincidentally, also RDBMS. It might have been wise to add non-RDBMS examples as well, but, alas, I did not write that Wikipedia article.

[Sanmitha Sadhishkumar]

Can you please give an explanation for what @nvogel has said?

[Sanmitha Sadhishkumar]

Can you please give an explanation for what @nvogel has said?

[Sanmitha Sadhishkumar]

And @Analytic Lunatic said?

[Can Sahin]

@SanmithaSadhishkumar: I disagree with both of nvogel's points, I don't know why he thinks they are true: (a) Jet/ACE is relational, maybe he mixes it up with JET Blue, which is indeed an ISAM storage technology. (b) Just because the MS Access product consists of both a database engine and an application development tool doesn't make it not a database engine.

[Can Sahin]

@SanmithaSadhishkumar: About Analytic Lunatic: He's right. His answer does not address the RDBMS part, though.

[Can Sahin]

Sanmitha asked me to comment on your answer, which I did in a comment on my answer. I'll repost it here to ping you and to give you the opportunity to defend your point of view: (a) Jet/ACE is relational, maybe you are mixing it up with JET Blue, which is indeed an ISAM storage technology? (b) Just because the MS Access product consists of both a database engine and an application development tool doesn't make it not a database engine.

[Can Sahin]

(And yes, after working with both Jet and SQL Server for decades, I will agree that Jet/ACE is not a terribly good RDBMS, that some of its features focus more on rapid application development than on reliability and stability, and that I'm really glad that we stopped using it as a database backend a long time ago.)

[Sanmitha Sadhishkumar]

Could you please give some additional links to assure your point? Because I don't know about Jet/ACE or JET blue/ISAM even Ms Access. To be Frank, I couldn't understand some of the points said by you all. Sorry for that. I'm using MySQL and SQLite. So I know about RDBMS and DBMS. That's why I offered bounty. It's a humble request from my side. Could you be simple in your answer? Or explain with simple concepts? Please. If I ask a question Ms Access is a RDBMS or DBMS, then what would be your answer?

[Sanmitha Sadhishkumar]

I know that RDBMS is an updated version of DBMS or a kind of DBMS. So shall I consider s access as rdbms alone? It automatically means that it is type of dbms. Am I correct?

[Can Sahin]

Yes. An RDBMS is a kind of DBMS, and Access is both.

[Gustav]

While nothing is wrong here, it didn't answer the question.

[Sanmitha Sadhishkumar]

Don't think that I didn't offer bounty to you. I am waiting for others to defend their points. :)

[nvogel]

@Heinzi If you want to use the term DBMS for a UI that includes the ability to create tables then by that logic surely Azure Data Studio and even Microsoft Word would also qualify as DBMSs. Support for foreign keys doesn't make Jet/ACE relational. Jet/ACE is more like the SQL model than the relational model but I think it's pretty difficult to justify it as an implementation of either of those things.

[Can Sahin]

@nvogel: Let's forget about the UI, let's talk about the database engine. I don't quite understand yet why you think Jet/ACE is non-relational (or non-SQL). To help me understand your point of view, can you give me an example of a feature that (1) is included in all the systems traditionally considered to be DBMSs (SQL Server, SQLite, MySql, etc.), but (2) is missing from Jet/ACE, thereby making it non-relational (or non-SQL)?