  Relational databases (DBs) are ideal tools to manage bulky and structured
data archives. In particular for Astronomy they can be used to fulfill all the
requirements of a complex project, i.e. the management of: documents, software
(s/w) packages and logs, observation schedules, object catalogues, quick-look,
simulated, raw and processed data, etc. All the information gathered in a
relational DB is easily and simultaneously accessible either from an
interactive tool or a batch program. The user does not need to deal with
traditional files I/O or editing, but has only to build the appropriate (SQL)
query which will return the desired information/data, eventually producing the
aforementioned files or even plots, tables, etc. in a variety of formats. What
is then important for a generic user is to have the tools to easily and quickly
develop, in any desired programming language, the custom s/w which can
import/export the information into/from the DB. An example could be a Web
interface which presents the available data and allows the user to
select/retrieve (or even process) the data subset of interest.
  In the last years we have been implementing a package called MCS (see
dedicated paper in this proceedings) which allows users to interact with MySQL
based DBs through any programming language. MCS has a multi-thread (socket)
architecture which means that several clients can submit queries to a server
which in turn manages the communication with the MySQL server and other MCS
servers. Here we'll focus on a the real-world case of the robotic IR-optical
telescope REM (placed at La Silla, Chile) which performs real time images
acquisition, processing and archiving by using some of the MCS capabilities.
