Editing Database (section)

==Building, maintaining, and tuning==
{{Main|Database tuning}}

After designing a database for an application, the next stage is building the database. Typically, an appropriate general-purpose DBMS can be selected to be used for this purpose. A DBMS provides the needed [[user interface]]s to be used by database administrators to define the needed application's data structures within the DBMS's respective data model. Other user interfaces are used to select needed DBMS parameters (like security related, storage allocation parameters, etc.).

When the database is ready (all its data structures and other needed components are defined), it is typically populated with initial application's data (database initialization, which is typically a distinct project; in many cases using specialized DBMS interfaces that support bulk insertion) before making it operational. In some cases, the database becomes operational while empty of application data, and data are accumulated during its operation.

After the database is created, initialized and populated it needs to be maintained. Various database parameters may need changing and the database may need to be tuned ([[Database tuning|tuning]]) for better performance; application's data structures may be changed or added, new related application programs may be written to add to the application's functionality, etc.