IB Computer Science Topic A3.4: Alternative Databases and Data Warehouses Questionbank

State the type of query each system is optimized for.

Explain why running analytical reports against the operational database would be unwise.

Outline the role of OLAP in making the warehouse useful to managers.

A distributed database stores copies of the same data on several machines. State the term for this, and outline one benefit.

A booking platform allows seats to be reserved simultaneously through servers on two continents. Explain why concurrency control is more complex in a distributed database than in a single-site one.

Describe how data partitioning works in a distributed database.

A council builds a data warehouse and finds that reports disagree with the figures produced by its operational systems. Explain how this can happen even when no system is faulty.