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SAP like enterprise applications are specifically made up of programs with the data which are used by and created by those programs. In a meaningful way the data are organized within in a database, for the benefit of programmers, which are made easy so that they can access and find the necessary data to do something useful, for instance run a financial report or to create a sales order.

The programs and the data will be in same database for SAP component or product like ECC, Normally each component will posses its own database (Even some exceptions exists) - a production system landscape composed of SAP Business Warehouse (BW), SAP ECC, plus SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM) consists of three production databases.

Given its basic station in the life of an SAP system, since it is important we have to understand the over all role of database.

Highlights of this hour comprise

Exploring the concepts as well as structures of an RDBMS

Determine which databases are supported by SAP

Learning the disparity between a primary and foreign key

Find out why indexes speed up data retrieval

Structure of Database

A database can be said as electronic warehouse where we can store informations in an organized manner so that the system can find the desired information quickly.

The database is composed of tables, columns (called fields), and rows (called records or data). A simple example of a database is telephone book which are organized alphabetically so that it make the user to get their information very easily likewise the database is formed with the same concept. Instead of man the system will do the work so the work can be done easily and efficiently.

The basic structure of a database is somewhat comparable to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet in which columns (fields) store row after row of records (data). The major difference between a database as well as a spreadsheet is simply that databases be able to contain multiple tables that are connected to one another through relationships. Thus, a database can be thought of as a much more complex, plus ultimately much more useful, spreadsheet.

The database plays an important role in each SAP system, as it houses all the data that are used by that particular SAP component or else product. Several brands of databases exist, making it easy intended for an IT shop to choose a database vendor with which they are probably already well-known. Currently, SAP can use a range of different brand name database releases ranging from very expensive as well as imminently flexible to very inexpensive as well as yet quite capable.

It is significant to note that not all database vendors as well as versions are supported by SAP. SAP is likely to stick with the market leaders, over the years adding as well as removing support intended for certain vendors. In this way they not just limit the amount of database-specific customization they have to perform, but they endow with IT shops with flexibility plus choices, keys to success both for SAP as well as the IT organizations tasked with organize and supporting SAP solutions.