A Survey of Holistic Approaches for Distributed Database Systems: From Conceptual Model to Deployment

Database modeling defines the logical design, structure, and specifications for data storage and access within a DataBase Management System (DBMS), a core component of any Information System (IS). While conceptual database models (e.g., Entity-Relationship (ER) diagrams, Unified Modeling Language (UML)) facilitate the transition to physical models, they still fall short when it comes to supporting distributed and multi-layered architectures. Current approaches lack unified modeling abstractions, forcing manual reconciliation between high-level designs and their distributed implementations, leading to inefficiencies, deployment risks, and reliance on specialized teams. Existing tools (e.g., Kubernetes, Terraform) automate infrastructure but remain disconnected from Conceptual Models (CMs), requiring error-prone manual translation. This paper assesses the current state of the art in holistic approaches that aim to integrate modeling and deployment, identifies critical gaps in end-to-end automation, classifies the available deployment tools, and highlights advances that could enable building a distributed data management system based solely on its CM, potentially leading to greater agility and reduced operational complexity. Finally, the paper discusses open questions and research directions that indicate promising areas for future investigation.