Pros and Cons of distributed data management

Distributed data base is one that has the databases distributed physically although they are integrated logically. You will be using a distributed database management system to work with these distributed databases. There are many advantages and disadvantages of using distributed databases. Go through these factors before you decide on which type of database is needed for your business requirement.

Some of the advantages of distributed data management are that each and every individual department can take care of managing their data as they know what data they are working with. Since the database is distributed this makes it possible for accurate data from the respective departments. In case of any untoward incidents like fire, all the data are not destroyed in the organization since they are distributed in different locations.

 

Since the load is balanced in the distributed system, the performance of the system as a whole is improved. Moreover you can add or remove modules from the whole system as you wish since it is not going to affect other modules in the network. Due to replication of the database all the data are same in all the systems and hence the transactions are reliable. The cost is also less to have such a network, instead of getting a single large system with more CPU power.

 

There is also downside to the distributed data management. It is more complex to maintain and it needs extra work on the part of the DBAs to maintain the system. Design such a system is also very complex due to the distributed nature. The labor costs are increased due to the same. Security will be issue as the data has to be secured at all the physical locations.

 

There are not much experts in managing network databases and getting such professionals is also difficult. If at anytime an organization decides to convert and existing centralized database to a network one, then there are not many tools available to do so. One of other major issue in distributed databases is concurrency control.

 

Weighing the pros and cons is necessary before you decide to go for a distributed data management.