18CS53: DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

(Effective from the academic year 2018 -2019)

Semester: 05 Credits: 04
Number of Contact Hours/Week 3:2:0 IA Marks: 40
Total Number of Hours: 50 Exam Marks: 60

MODULE – V

TOPICS:
Transaction Processing: Introduction to Transaction Processing, Transaction and System
concepts, Desirable properties of Transactions, Characterizing schedules based on
recoverability, Characterizing schedules based on Serializability, Transaction support in SQL.

Concurrency Control in Databases: Two-phase locking techniques for Concurrency control,

Concurrency control based on Timestamp ordering, Multi version Concurrency control
techniques, Validation Concurrency control techniques, Granularity of Data items and
Multiple Granularity Locking.

Introduction to Database Recovery

Protocols: Recovery Concepts, NO-UNDO/REDO recovery based on Deferred update,

Recovery techniques based on immediate update, Shadow paging, Database backup and
recovery from catastrophic failures

Textbook 1: 20.1 to 20.6, 21.1 to 21.5, 22.1 to 22.4, 22.7.

Introduction to Transaction Processing Concepts and Theory

Introduction to Transaction Processing

• Transaction: An executing program (process) that includes one or more database access
operations

– Read operations (database retrieval, such as SQL SELECT)

– Write operations (modify database, such as SQL INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE)

– Transaction: A logical unit of database processing

– Example: Bank balance transfer of $100 dollars from a checking account to a saving
account in a BANK database
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Note: Each execution of a program is a distinct transaction with different parameters

– Bank transfer program parameters: savings account number, checking account number,
transfer amount

• A transaction (set of operations) may be:

– stand-alone, specified in a high-level language like SQL submitted interactively, or

– consist of database operations embedded within a program (most transactions)

• Transaction boundaries: Begin and End transaction.

– Note: An application program may contain several transactions separated by Begin and
End transaction boundaries

• Transaction Processing Systems: Large multi-user database systems supporting thousands of

concurrent transactions (user processes) per minute

• Two Modes of Concurrency

– Interleaved processing: concurrent execution of processes is interleaved in a single CPU

– Parallel processing: processes are concurrently executed in multiple CPUs (Figure 21.1)

– Basic transaction processing theory assumes interleaved concurrency

For transaction processing purposes, a simple database model is used:

• A database - collection of named data items

• Granularity (size) of a data item - a field (data item value), a record, or a whole disk block

– TP concepts are independent of granularity

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 2

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• Basic operations on an item X:

– read_item(X): Reads a database item named X into a program variable. To simplify our
notation, we assume that the program variable is also named X.

– write_item(X): Writes the value of program variable X into the database item named X.

READ AND WRITE OPERATIONS:

⚫ Basic unit of data transfer from the disk to the computer main memory is one disk block (or
page). A data item X (what is read or written) will usually be the field of some record in the
database, although it may be a larger unit such as a whole record or even a whole block.

⚫ read_item(X) command includes the following steps:

• Find the address of the disk block that contains item X.

• Copy that disk block into a buffer in main memory (if that disk block is not already in some main
memory buffer).

• Copy item X from the buffer to the program variable named X.

READ AND WRITE OPERATIONS (cont.):

⚫ write_item(X) command includes the following steps:

• Find the address of the disk block that contains item X.

• Copy that disk block into a buffer in main memory (if it is not already in some main memory
buffer).

• Copy item X from the program variable named X into its correct location in the buffer.

• Store the updated block from the buffer back to disk (either immediately or at some later point in
time).

READ AND WRITE OPERATIONS (cont.)

⚫ write_item(X) command includes the following steps:

• Find the address of the disk block that contains item X.

• Copy that disk block into a buffer in main memory (if it is not already in some main memory
buffer).

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 3

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• Copy item X from the program variable named X into its correct location in the buffer.

• Store the updated block from the buffer back to disk (either immediately or at some later point in
time).

Why we need concurrency control

Without Concurrency Control, problems may occur with concurrent transactions:

• Lost Update Problem.

Occurs when two transactions update the same data item, but both read the same original value
before update (Figure 21.3(a), next slide)

• The Temporary Update (or Dirty Read) Problem.

This occurs when one transaction T1 updates a database item X, which is accessed (read) by
another transaction T2; then T1 fails for some reason (Figure 21.3(b)); X was (read) by T2 before its
value is changed back (rolled back or UNDONE) after T1 fails

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 4

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• The Incorrect Summary Problem

One transaction is calculating an aggregate summary function on a number of records (for

example, sum (total) of all bank account balances) while other transactions are updating some of these
records (for example, transferring a large amount between two accounts, see Figure 21.3(c)); the
aggregate function may read some values before they are updated and others after they are updated.

Causes of transaction failure:

1. A computer failure (system crash): A hardware or software error occurs during transaction
execution. If the hardware crashes, the contents of the computer’s internal main memory may be
lost.

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 5

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2. A transaction or system error : Some operation in the transaction may cause it to fail, such
as integer overflow or division by zero. Transaction failure may also occur because of
erroneous parameter values or because of a logical programming error. In addition, the user
may interrupt the transaction during its execution.
3. Local errors or exception conditions detected by the transaction: certain conditions
necessitate cancellation of the transaction. For example, data for the transaction may not be
found. A condition, such as insufficient account balance in a banking database, may cause a
transaction, such as a fund withdrawal, to be canceled - a programmed abort causes the
transaction to fail.
4. Concurrency control enforcement: The concurrency control method may decide to abort
the transaction, to be restarted later, because it violates serializability or because several
transactions are in a state of deadlock.
5. Disk failure: Some disk blocks may lose their data because of a read or write malfunction or
because of a disk read/write head crash. This kind of failure and item 6 are more severe than
items 1 through 4.
6. Physical problems and catastrophes: This refers to an endless list of problems that includes
power or air-conditioning failure, fire, theft, sabotage, overwriting disks or tapes by mistake,
and mounting of a wrong tape by the operator.

Transaction and System Concepts

A transaction is an atomic unit of work that is either completed in its entirety or not done at all. A
transaction passes through several states (Figure 21.4, similar to process states in operating systems).
Transaction states:
• Active state (executing read, write operations)
• Partially committed state (ended but waiting for system checks to determine success or failure)
• Committed state (transaction succeeded)
• Failed state (transaction failed, must be rolled back)
• Terminated State (transaction leaves system)

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 6

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DBMS Recovery Manager needs system to keep track of the following operations (in the system log
file):
• begin_transaction: Start of transaction execution.
• read or write: Read or write operations on the database items that are executed as part of a
transaction.
• end_transaction: Specifies end of read and write transaction operations have ended. System
may still have to check whether the changes (writes) introduced by transaction can be
permanently applied to the database (commit transaction); or whether the transaction has to be
rolled back (abort transaction) because it violates concurrency control or for some other reason.
Recovery manager keeps track of the following operations (cont.):
• commit_transaction: Signals successful end of transaction; any changes (writes) executed by
transaction can be safely committed to the database and will not be undone.
• abort_transaction (or rollback): Signals transaction has ended unsuccessfully; any changes or
effects that the transaction may have applied to the database must be undone.
System operations used during recovery (see Chapter 23):
• undo(X): Similar to rollback except that it applies to a single write operation rather than to a
whole transaction.
• redo(X): This specifies that a write operation of a committed transaction must be redone to
ensure that it has been applied permanently to the database on disk.

The System Log File

• Is an append-only file to keep track of all operations of all transactions in the order in which they
occurred. This information is needed during recovery from failures
• Log is kept on disk - not affected except for disk or catastrophic failure
• As with other disk files, a log main memory buffer is kept for holding the records being appended
until the whole buffer is appended to the end of the log file on disk
• Log is periodically backed up to archival storage (tape) to guard against catastrophic failures

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 7

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Types of records (entries) in log file:

• [start_transaction,T]: Records that transaction T has started execution.
• [write_item,T,X,old_value,new_value]: T has changed the value of item X from old_value to
new_value.
• [read_item,T,X]: T has read the value of item X (not needed in many cases).
• [end_transaction,T]: T has ended execution
• [commit,T]: T has completed successfully, and committed.
• [abort,T]: T has been aborted.
• protocols for recovery that avoid cascading rollbacks do not require that read operations be
written to the system log; most recovery protocols fall in this category (see Chapter 23)
• strict protocols require simpler write entries that do not include new_value (see Section 21.4).

Commit Point of a Transaction

• Definition: A transaction T reaches its commit point when all its operations that access the
database have been executed successfully and the effect of all the transaction operations on the
database has been recorded in the log file (on disk). The transaction is then said to be committed
• Log file buffers: Like database files on disk, whole disk blocks must be read or written to main
memory buffers.
• For log file, the last disk block (or blocks) of the file will be in main memory buffers to easily
append log entries at end of file.
• Force writing the log buffer: before a transaction reaches its commit point, any main memory
buffers of the log that have not been written to disk yet must be copied to disk.
• Called force-writing the log buffers before committing a transaction.
• Needed to ensure that any write operations by the transaction are recorded in the log file on disk
before the transaction commits

Desirable Properties of Transactions

Called ACID properties – Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability:
• Atomicity: A transaction is an atomic unit of processing; it is either performed in its entirety or
not performed at all.
Consistency preservation: A correct execution of the transaction must take the database from one
consistent state to another
• Isolation: Even though transactions are executing concurrently, they should appear to be
executed in isolation – that is, their final effect should be as if each transaction was executed in
isolation from start to finish.

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 8

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Durability or permanency: Once a transaction is committed, its changes (writes) applied to the
database must never be lost because of subsequent failure
• Atomicity: Enforced by the recovery protocol.
• Consistency preservation: Specifies that each transaction does a correct action on the database
on its own. Application programmers and DBMS constraint enforcement are responsible for this.
• Isolation: Responsibility of the concurrency control protocol.
• Durability or permanency: Enforced by the recovery protocol.

Schedules of Transactions
• Transaction schedule (or history): When transactions are executing concurrently in an
interleaved fashion, the order of execution of operations from the various transactions forms what
is known as a transaction schedule (or history).
• Figure 21.5 (next slide) shows 4 possible schedules (A, B, C, D) of two transactions T1 and T2:
– Order of operations from top to bottom
– Each schedule includes same operations
– Different order of operations in each schedule

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 9

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• Schedules can also be displayed in more compact notation

• Order of operations from left to right
• Include only read (r) and write (w) operations, with transaction id (1, 2, …) and item name (X, Y,
…)
• Can also include other operations such as b (begin), e (end), c (commit), a (abort)
• Schedules in Figure 21.5 would be displayed as follows:
– Schedule A: r1(X); w1(X); r1(Y); w1(Y); r2(X); w2(x);
– Schedule B: r2(X); w2(X); r1(X); w1(X); r1(Y); w1(Y);
– Schedule C: r1(X); r2(X); w1(X); r1(Y); w2(X); w1(Y);
– Schedule D: r1(X); w1(X); r2(X); w2(X); r1(Y); w1(Y);
• Formal definition of a schedule (or history) S of n transactions T1, T2, ..., Tn :

An ordering of all the operations of the transactions subject to the constraint that, for each transaction Ti
that participates in S, the operations of Ti in S must appear in the same order in which they occur in Ti.
Note: Operations from other transactions Tj can be interleaved with the operations of Ti in S.
• For n transactions T1, T2, ..., Tn, where each Ti has mi read and write operations, the number of
possible schedules is (! is factorial function):
(m1 + m2 + … + mn)! / ( (m1)! * (m2)! * … * (mn)! )
• Generally very large number of possible schedules
• Some schedules are easy to recover from after a failure, while others are not
• Some schedules produce correct results, while others produce incorrect results
• Rest of chapter characterizes schedules by classifying them based on ease of recovery
(recoverability) and correctness (serializability)

Characterizing Schedules based on Recoverability

Schedules classified into two main classes
• Recoverable schedule: One where no committed transaction needs to be rolled back (aborted).
A schedule S is recoverable if no transaction T in S commits until all transactions T’ that have
written an item that T reads have committed.
• Non-recoverable schedule: A schedule where a committed transaction may have to be rolled
back during recovery.
This violates Durability from ACID properties (a committed transaction cannot be rolled back)
and so non-recoverable schedules should not be allowed.

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 10

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Example: Schedule A below is non-recoverable because T2 reads the value of X that was
written by T1, but then T2 commits before T1 commits or aborts
To make it recoverable, the commit of T2 (c2) must be delayed until T1 either commits, or
aborts (Schedule B)
• If T1 commits, T2 can commit
• If T1 aborts, T2 must also abort because it read a value that was written by T1; this value must be
undone (reset to its old value) when T1 is aborted
– known as cascading rollback
• Schedule A: r1(X); w1(X); r2(X); w2(X); c2; r1(Y); w1(Y); c1 (or a1)
• Schedule B: r1(X); w1(X); r2(X); w2(X); r1(Y); w1(Y); c1 (or a1); ...
Recoverable schedules can be further refined:
• Cascadeless schedule: A schedule in which a transaction T2 cannot read an item X until the
transaction T1 that last wrote X has committed.
• The set of cascadeless schedules is a subset of the set of recoverable schedules.
Schedules requiring cascaded rollback: A schedule in which an uncommitted transaction T2
that read an item that was written by a failed transaction T1 must be rolled back.
• Example: Schedule B below is not cascadeless because T2 reads the value of X that was written
by T1 before T1 commits
• If T1 aborts (fails), T2 must also be aborted (rolled back) resulting in cascading rollback
• To make it cascadeless, the r2(X) of T2 must be delayed until T1 commits (or aborts and rolls
back the value of X to its previous value) – see Schedule C
• Schedule B: r1(X); w1(X); r2(X); w2(X); r1(Y); w1(Y); c1 (or a1);
• Schedule C: r1(X); w1(X); r1(Y); w1(Y); c1; r2(X); w2(X); ...

Cascadeless schedules can be further refined:

• Strict schedule: A schedule in which a transaction T2 can neither read nor write an item X until
the transaction T1 that last wrote X has committed.
• The set of strict schedules is a subset of the set of cascadeless schedules.
• If blind writes are not allowed, all cascadeless schedules are also strict
Blind write: A write operation w2(X) that is not preceded by a read r2(X).
• Example: Schedule C below is cascadeless and also strict (because it has no blind writes)
• Schedule D is cascadeless, but not strict (because of the blind write w3(X), which writes the
value of X before T1 commits)
• To make it strict, w3(X) must be delayed until after T1 commits – see Schedule E

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 11

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• Schedule C: r1(X); w1(X); r1(Y); w1(Y); c1; r2(X); w2(X); …

• Schedule D: r1(X); w1(X); w3(X); r1(Y); w1(Y); c1; r2(X); w2(X); …
• Schedule E: r1(X); w1(X); r1(Y); w1(Y); c1; w3(X); r2(X); w2(X); …
Summary:
• Many schedules can exist for a set of transactions
• The set of all possible schedules can be partitioned into two subsets: recoverable and non-
recoverable
• A subset of the recoverable schedules are cascadeless
• If blind writes are allowed, a subset of the cascadeless schedules are strict
• If blind writes are not allowed, the set of cascadeless schedules is the same as the set of strict
schedules
Characterizing Schedules based on Serializability
• Among the large set of possible schedules, we want to characterize which schedules are
guaranteed to give a correct result
• The consistency preservation property of the ACID properties states that: each transaction if
executed on its own (from start to finish) will transform a consistent state of the database into
another consistent state
• Hence, each transaction is correct on its own
• Serial schedule: A schedule S is serial if, for every transaction T participating in the schedule,
all the operations of T are executed consecutively (without interleaving of operations from other
transactions) in the schedule. Otherwise, the schedule is called nonserial.
• Based on the consistency preservation property, any serial schedule will produce a correct result
(assuming no inter-dependencies among different transactions)
• Serial schedules are not feasible for performance reasons:
• No interleaving of operations
• Long transactions force other transactions to wait
• System cannot switch to other transaction when a transaction is waiting for disk I/O or
any other event
• Need to allow concurrency with interleaving without sacrificing correctness
• Serializable schedule: A schedule S is serializable if it is equivalent to some serial schedule of
the same n transactions.
• There are (n)! serial schedules for n transactions – a serializable schedule can be equivalent to
any of the serial schedules

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 12

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Equivalence of Schedules
• Result equivalent: Two schedules are called result equivalent if they produce the same final state
of the database.
• Difficult to determine without analyzing the internal operations of the transactions, which is not
feasible in general.
• May also get result equivalence by chance for a particular input parameter even though schedules
are not equivalent in general (see Figure 21.6, next slide)

• Conflict equivalent: Two schedules are conflict equivalent if the relative order of any two
conflicting operations is the same in both schedules.
• Commonly used definition of schedule equivalence
• Two operations are conflicting if:
– They access the same data item X
– They are from two different transactions
– At least one is a write operation
• Read-Write conflict example: r1(X) and w2(X)
• Write-write conflict example: w1(Y) and w2(Y)
• Changing the order of conflicting operations generally causes a different outcome
• Example: changing r1(X); w2(X) to w2(X); r1(X) means that T1 will read a different value for X
• Example: changing w1(Y); w2(Y) to w2(Y); w1(Y) means that the final value for Y in the
database can be different
• Note that read operations are not conflicting; changing r1(Z); r2(Z) to r2(Z); r1(Z) does not
change the outcome
• Conflict equivalence of schedules is used to determine which schedules are correct in general
(serializable)
A schedule S is said to be serializable if it is conflict equivalent to some serial schedule S’.
• A serializable schedule is considered to be correct because it is equivalent to a serial schedule,
and any serial schedule is considered to be correct
– It will leave the database in a consistent state.

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 13

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– The interleaving is appropriate and will result in a state as if the transactions were serially
executed yet will achieve efficiency due to concurrent execution and interleaving of
operations from different transactions.
• Serializability is generally hard to check at run-time:
– Interleaving of operations is generally handled by the operating system through the
process scheduler
– Difficult to determine beforehand how the operations in a schedule will be interleaved
– Transactions are continuously started and terminated
Practical approach:
• Come up with methods (concurrency control protocols) to ensure serializability.
• DBMS concurrency control subsystem will enforce the protocol rules and thus guarantee
serializability of schedules
• Current approach used in most DBMSs:
– Use of locks with two phase locking.
–
Testing for conflict serializability
Algorithm 21.1:
• Looks at only r(X) and w(X) operations in a schedule
• Constructs a precedence graph (serialization graph) – one node for each transaction, plus
directed edges
• An edge is created from Ti to Tj if one of the operations in Ti appears before a conflicting
operation in Tj
• The schedule is serializable if and only if the precedence graph has no cycles.

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 14

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Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 15

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• View equivalence: A less restrictive definition of equivalence of schedules than conflict

serializability when blind writes are allowed
• View serializability: definition of serializability based on view equivalence. A schedule is view
serializable if it is view equivalent to a serial schedule.
Two schedules are said to be view equivalent if the following three conditions hold:
• The same set of transactions participates in S and S’, and S and S’ include the same operations of
those transactions.
• For any operation Ri(X) of Ti in S, if the value of X read was written by an operation Wj(X) of
Tj (or if it is the original value of X before the schedule started), the same condition must hold
for the value of X read by operation Ri(X) of Ti in S’.
• If the operation Wk(Y) of Tk is the last operation to write item Y in S, then Wk(Y) of Tk must
also be the last operation to write item Y in S’.
The premise behind view equivalence:
⚫ Each read operation of a transaction reads the result of the same write operation in both
schedules.
⚫ “The view”: the read operations are said to see the the same view in both schedules.
⚫ The final write operation on each item is the same on both schedules resulting in the same final
database state in case of blind writes

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 16

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Relationship between view and conflict equivalence:

The two are same under constrained write assumption (no blind writes allowed)
Conflict serializability is stricter than view serializability when blind writes occur (a schedule
that is view serializable is not necessarily conflict serialiable.
Any conflict serializable schedule is also view serializable, but not vice versa.

Relationship between view and conflict equivalence (cont):

Consider the following schedule of three transactions
⚫ T1: r1(X); w1(X); T2: w2(X); and T3: w3(X):
⚫ Schedule Sa: r1(X); w2(X); w1(X); w3(X); c1; c2; c3;
⚫ In Sa, the operations w2(X) and w3(X) are blind writes, since T2 and T3 do not read the value of
X.
⚫ Sa is view serializable, since it is view equivalent to the serial schedule T1, T2, T3. However, Sa
is not conflict serializable, since it is not conflict equivalent to any serial schedule.

Other Types of Equivalence of Schedules

• Under special semantic constraints, schedules that are otherwise not conflict serializable
may work correctly
• Using commutative operations of addition and subtraction (which can be done in any order)
certain non-serializable transactions may work correctly; known as debit-credit transactions
• Other Types of Equivalence of Schedules (cont.)
Example: bank credit/debit transactions on a given item are separable and commutative.
Consider the following schedule S for the two transactions:
Sh : r1(X); w1(X); r2(Y); w2(Y); r1(Y); w1(Y); r2(X); w2(X);
Using conflict serializability, it is not serializable.
However, if it came from a (read, update, write) sequence as follows:
r1(X); X := X – 10; w1(X); r2(Y); Y := Y – 20; w2(Y); r1(Y);
Y := Y + 10; w1(Y); r2(X); X := X + 20; w2(X);
Sequence explanation: debit, debit, credit, credit.
It is a correct schedule for the given semantics

Introduction to Transaction Support in SQL

• A single SQL statement is always considered to be atomic. Either the statement completes
execution without error or it fails and leaves the database unchanged.

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 17

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• With SQL, there is no explicit Begin Transaction statement. Transaction initiation is done
implicitly when particular SQL statements are encountered.
• Every transaction must have an explicit end statement, which is either a COMMIT or
ROLLBACK.
Characteristics specified by a SET TRANSACTION statement in SQL:
⚫ Access mode: READ ONLY or READ WRITE. The default is READ WRITE unless the
isolation level of READ UNCOMITTED is specified, in which case READ ONLY is assumed.
⚫ Diagnostic size n, specifies an integer value n, indicating the number of conditions that can be
held simultaneously in the diagnostic area. (To supply run-time feedback information to calling
program for SQL statements executed in program)

Characteristics specified by a SET TRANSACTION statement in SQL (cont.):

⚫ Isolation level <isolation>, where <isolation> can be READ UNCOMMITTED, READ
COMMITTED, REPEATABLE READ or SERIALIZABLE. The default is SERIALIZABLE.
If all transactions is a schedule specify isolation level SERIALIZABLE, the interleaved execution of
transactions will adhere to serializability. However, if any transaction in the schedule executes at a lower
level, serializability may be violated.

Potential problem with lower isolation levels:

⚫ Dirty Read: Reading a value that was written by a transaction that failed.
⚫ Nonrepeatable Read: Allowing another transaction to write a new value between multiple reads
of one transaction.
A transaction T1 may read a given value from a table. If another transaction T2 later updates that value
and then T1 reads that value again, T1 will see a different value. Example: T1 reads the No. of seats on
a flight. Next, T2 updates that number (by reserving some seats). If T1 reads the No. of seats again, it
will see a different value.

Potential problem with lower isolation levels (cont.):

⚫ Phantoms: New row inserted after another transaction accessing that row was started.
A transaction T1 may read a set of rows from a table (say EMP), based on some condition specified in
the SQL WHERE clause (say DNO=5). Suppose a transaction T2 inserts a new EMP row whose DNO
value is 5. T1 should see the new row (if equivalent serial order is T2; T1) or not see it (if T1; T2). The
record that did not exist when T1 started is called a phantom record.

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 18

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Sample SQL transaction:

EXEC SQL whenever sqlerror go to UNDO;
EXEC SQL SET TRANSACTION
READ WRITE
DIAGNOSTICS SIZE 5
ISOLATION LEVEL SERIALIZABLE;
EXEC SQL INSERT
INTO EMPLOYEE (FNAME, LNAME, SSN, DNO, SALARY)
VALUES ('Robert','Smith','991004321',2,35000);
EXEC SQL UPDATE EMPLOYEE
SET SALARY = SALARY * 1.1
WHERE DNO = 2;
EXEC SQL COMMIT;
GO TO THE_END;
UNDO: EXEC SQL ROLLBACK;
THE_END: ...

Concurrency Control Techniques

Purpose of Concurrency Control
• To ensure that the Isolation Property is maintained while allowing transactions to execute
concurrently (outcome of concurrent transactions should appear as though they were executed in
isolation).
• To preserve database consistency by ensuring that the schedules of executing transactions are
serializable.
• To resolve read-write and write-write conflicts among transactions.
Concurrency Control Protocols (CCPs)
• A CCP is a set of rules enforced by the DBMS to ensure serializable schedules

Dept. of ISE, RNSIT 19

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• Also known as CCMs (Concurrency Control Methods)

• Main protocol known as 2PL (2-phase locking), which is based on locking the data items
• Other protocols use different techniques
• We first cover 2PL in some detail, then give an overview of other techniques

2PL Concurrency Control Protocol

Based on each transaction securing a lock on a data item before using it: Locking enforces mutual
exclusion when accessing a data item – simplest kind of lock is a binary lock, which secures
permission to Read or Write a data item for a transaction.
Example: If T1 requests Lock(X) operation, the system grants the lock unless item X is already locked
by another transaction. If request is granted, data item X is locked on behalf of the requesting
transaction T1. Unlocking operation removes the lock.
Example: If T1 issues Unlock (X), data item X is made available to all other transactions.
System maintains lock table to keep track of which items are locked by which transactions
Lock(X) and Unlock (X) are hence system calls Transactions that request a lock but do not have it
granted can be placed on a waiting queue for the item Transaction T must unlock any items it had
locked before T terminates

Locking for database items:

For database purposes, binary locks are not sufficient:
– Two locks modes are needed (a) shared lock (read lock) and (b) exclusive lock (write lock).
Shared mode: Read lock (X). Several transactions can hold shared lock on X (because read operations
are not conflicting).
Exclusive mode: Write lock (X). Only one write lock on X can exist at any time on an item X. (No read
or write locks on X by other transactions can exist).

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Conflict matrix Read Write

Read Write
Y N

N N

Three operations are now needed:

– read_lock(X): transaction T requests a read (shared) lock on item X
– write_lock(X): transaction T requests a write (exclusive) lock on item X
– unlock(X): transaction T unlocks an item that it holds a lock on (shared or exclusive)

Transaction can be blocked (forced to wait) if the item is held by other transactions in conflicting lock
mode
Conflicts are write-write or read-write (read-read is not conflicting)
Two-Phase Locking Techniques: Essential components
(i) Lock Manager: Subsystem of DBMS that manages locks on data items.

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(ii) Lock table: Lock manager uses it to store information about locked data items, such as: data
item id, transaction id, lock mode, list of waiting transaction ids, etc. One simple way to
implement a lock table is through linked list (shown). Alternatively, a hash table with item id
as hash key can be used.

Transaction ID Data item id lock mode Ptr to next data item

T1 X1 Read Next

Rules for locking:

• Transaction must request appropriate lock on a data item X before it reads or writes X.
• If T holds a write (exclusive) lock on X, it can both read and write X.
• If T holds a read lock on X, it can only read X.
• T must unlock all items that it holds before terminating (also T cannot unlock X unless it holds a
lock on X).

(iii) Lock conversion

• Lock upgrade: existing read lock to write lock
if Ti holds a read-lock on X, and no other Tj holds a read-lock on X (i ¹ j),
then it is possible to convert (upgrade) read-lock(X) to write-lock(X)
else
force Ti to wait until all other transactions Tj that hold read locks on X release their locks
• Lock downgrade: existing write lock to read lock
if Ti holds a write-lock on X (*this implies that no other transaction can have any lock on X*)
then it is possible to convert (downgrade) write-lock(X) to read-lock(X)
Two-Phase Locking Rule:
Each transaction should have two phases: (a) Locking (Growing) phase, and (b) Unlocking
(Shrinking) Phase.
Locking (Growing) Phase: A transaction applies locks (read or write) on desired data items one
at a time. Can also try to upgrade a lock.
Unlocking (Shrinking) Phase: A transaction unlocks its locked data items one at a time. Can
also downgrade a lock.
Requirement: For a transaction these two phases must be mutually exclusively, that is, during
locking phase no unlocking or downgrading of locks can occur, and during unlocking phase no new
locking or upgrading operations are allowed.

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Basic Two-Phase Locking:

When transaction starts executing, it is in the locking phase, and it can request locks on new
items or upgrade locks. A transaction may be blocked (forced to wait) if a lock request is not granted.
(This may lead to several transactions being in a state of deadlock – discussed later)
Once the transaction unlocks an item (or downgrades a lock), it starts its shrinking phase and
can no longer upgrade locks or request new locks.
The combination of locking rules and 2-phase rule ensures serializable schedules
Theorem: If every transaction in a schedule follows the 2PL rules, the schedule must be serializable.
(Proof is by contradiction.)
Some Examples:
Rules of locking alone do not enforce serializability – Figure 22.3(c) shows a schedule that follows
locking rules but is not serializable
Figure 22.4 shows how the transactions in Figure 22.3(a) can be modified to follow the two-phase rule
(by delaying the first unlock operation till all locking is completed).
The schedule in 22.3(c) would not be allowed if the transactions are changed as in 22.4 – a state of
deadlock would occur instead because T2 would try to lock Y (which is locked by T1 in conflicting
mode) and forced to wait, then T1 would try to lock X (which is locked by T2 in conflicting mode) and
forced to wait – neither transaction can continue to unlock the item they hold as they are both blocked
(waiting) – see Figure 22.5

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Other Variations of Two-Phase Locking:

Conservative 2PL: A transaction must lock all its items before starting execution. If any item it needs
is not available, it locks no items and tries again later. Conservative 2PL has no deadlocks since no lock
requests are issued once transaction execution starts.
Strict 2PL: All items that are writelocked by a transaction are not released (unlocked) until after the
transaction commits. This is the most commonly used two-phase locking algorithm, and ensures strict
schedules (for recoverability).
Rigorous 2PL: All items that are writelocked or readlocked by a transaction are not released (unlocked)
until after the transaction commits. Also guarantees strict schedules.

Deadlock Example (see Figure 22.5)

T1' T2'
read_lock (Y); T1' and T2' did follow two-phase
read_item (Y); policy but they are deadlock
read_lock (X);
read_item (Y);
write_lock (X);
(waits for X) write_lock (Y);
(waits for Y)
Deadlock (T1' and T2')

Dealing with Deadlock

Deadlock prevention
System enforces additional rules (deadlock prevention protocol) to ensure deadlock do not occur
– many protocols (see later for some examples)
Deadlock detection and resolution
System checks for a state of deadlock – if a deadlock exists, one of the transactions involved in
the deadlock is aborted
1. Deadlock detection and resolution
In this approach, deadlocks are allowed to happen. The system maintains a wait-for graph for
detecting cycles. If a cycle exists, then one transaction involved in the cycle is selected (victim) and
rolled-back (aborted).
A wait-for graph contains a node for each transaction. When a transaction (say Ti) is blocked
because it requests an item X held by another transaction Tj in conflicting mode, a directed edge is

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created from Ti to Tj (Ti is waiting on Tj to unlock the item). The system checks for cycles; if a cycle
exists, a state of deadlock is detected (see Figure 22.5).

2. Deadlock prevention
There are several protocols. Some of them are:
1. Conservative 2PL, as we discussed earlier.
2. No-waiting protocol: A transaction never waits; if Ti requests an item that is held by Tj in conflicting
mode, Ti is aborted. Can result in needless transaction aborts because deadlock might have never
occurred
3. Cautious waiting protocol: If Ti requests an item that is held by Tj in conflicting mode, the system
checks the status of Tj; if Tj is not blocked, then Ti waits – if Tj is blocked, then Ti aborts. Reduces the
number of needlessly aborted transactions

2. Deadlock prevention (cont.)

Wound-wait and wait-die: Both use transaction timestamp TS(T), which is a monotonically increasing
unique id given to each transaction based on their starting time
TS(T1) < TS(T2) means that T1 started before T2 (T1 older than T2)
(Can also say T2 younger than T1)

Wait-die:
If Ti requests an item X that is held by Tj in conflicting mode, then
if TS(Ti) < TS(Tj) then Ti waits (on a younger transaction Tj)
else Ti dies (if Ti is younger than Tj, it aborts)
[In wait-die, transactions only wait on younger transactions that started later, so no cycle ever occurs in
wait-for graph – if transaction requesting lock is younger than that holding the lock, requesting
transaction aborts (dies)]
2. Deadlock prevention (cont.)
4. Wound-wait and wait-die (cont.):

Wound-wait:
If Ti requests an item X that is held by Tj in conflicting mode, then
if TS(Ti) < TS(Tj) then Tj is aborted (Ti wounds younger Tj)
else Ti waits (on an older transaction Tj)

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[In wound-wait, transactions only wait on older transactions that started earlier, so no cycle ever occurs
in wait-for graph – if transaction requesting lock is older than that holding the lock, transaction holding
the lock is preemptively aborted]

Dealing With Starvation

Starvation occurs when a particular transaction consistently waits or gets restarted and never
gets a chance to proceed further. Solution is to use a fair priority-based scheme that increases the priority
for transaction the longer they wait.

Examples of Starvation:
1. In deadlock detection/resolution it is possible that the same transaction may consistently be selected as
victim and rolled-back.
2. In conservative 2PL, a transaction may never get started because all the items needed are never
available at the same time.
3. In Wound-Wait scheme a younger transaction may always be wounded (aborted) by a long running
older transaction which may create starvation.

Some CCMs other than 2PL:

o Timestamp Ordering (TO) CCM
o Optimistic (Validation-Based) CCMs
o Multi-version CCMs:
▪ Multiversion 2PL with Certify Locks
▪ Multiversion TO

Timestamp Ordering (TO) CCM

Timestamp
A monotonically increasing identifier (e.g., an integer, or the system clock time when a transaction
starts) indicating the start order of a transaction. A larger timestamp value indicates a more recently
started transaction.

Timestamp of transaction T is denoted by TS(T)

Timestamp ordering CCM uses the transaction timestamps to serialize the execution of
concurrent transactions – allows only one equivalent serial order based on the transaction timestamps
Instead of locks, systems keeps track of two values for each data item X:

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• Read_TS(X): The largest timestamp among all the timestamps of transactions that have successfully
read item X
• Write_TS(X): The largest timestamp among all the timestamps of transactions that have
successfully written X
• When a transaction T requests to read or write an item X, TS(T) is compared with read_TS(X) and
write_TS(X) to determine if request is out-of-order

Basic Timestamp Ordering

1. Transaction T requests a write_item(X) operation:
a. If read_TS(X) > TS(T) or if write_TS(X) > TS(T), then a younger transaction has already read or
written the data item so abort and roll-back T and reject the operation.
b. Otherwise, execute write_item(X) of T and set write_TS(X) to TS(T).
2. Transaction T requests a read_item(X) operation:
a. If write_TS(X) > TS(T), then a younger transaction has already written the data item X so abort
and roll-back T and reject the operation.
b. Otherwise, execute read_item(X) of T and set read_TS(X) to the larger of TS(T) and the current
read_TS(X).

Multi-version CCMs
Assumes that multiple versions of an item can exists at the same time
An implicit assumption is that when a data item is updated, the new value replaces the old value
Only current version of an item exists
Multi-versions techniques assume that multiple versions of the same item coexist and can be utilized by
the CCM We discuss two variations of multi-version CCMs:
• Multi-version Timestamp Ordering (TO)
• Multi-version Two-phase Locking (2PL)

Multiversion Timestamp Ordering

Concept
Assumes that a number of versions of a data item X exist (X0, X1, X2, ...); each version has its own
read_TS and write_TS
Can allocate the right version to a read operation - thus read operation is always successful
Significantly more storage (RAM and disk) is required to maintain multiple versions; to check unlimited
growth of versions, a window is kept – say last 10 versions. Assume X1, X2, …, Xn are the version of a

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data item X created by a write operation of transactions. With each Xi a read_TS (read timestamp) and a
write_TS (write timestamp) are associated.

read_TS(Xi): The read timestamp of Xi is the largest of all the timestamps of transactions that have
successfully read version Xi.
write_TS(Xi): The write timestamp of Xi is the timestamp of the transaction that wrote version Xi.
A new version of Xi is created only by a write operation.

To ensure serializability, the following two rules are used. If transaction T issues write_item (X) and
version i of X has the highest (latest) write_TS(Xi) of all versions of X that is also less than or equal to
TS(T), and read _TS(Xi) > TS(T), then abort and roll-back T; otherwise create a new version Xi and set
read_TS(X) = write_TS(Xj) = TS(T). If transaction T issues read_item (X), find the version i of X that
has the highest write_TS(Xi) of all versions of X that is also less than or equal to TS(T), then return the
value of Xi to T, and set the value of read _TS(Xi) to the larger of TS(T) and the current read_TS(Xi).

Multi-version 2PL Using Certify Locks

Concept:
Allow one or more transactions T’ to concurrently read a data item X while X is write locked by a
different transaction T. Accomplished by allowing two versions of a data item X: one committed
version (this can be read by other transactions) and one local version being written by T. Write lock on
X by T is no longer exclusive – it can be held with read locks from other transactions T'; however, only
one transaction can hold write lock on X. Before local value of X (written by T) can become the
committed version, the write lock must be upgraded to a certify lock by T (certify lock is exclusive in
this scheme) – T must wait until any read locks on X by other transactions T' are released before
upgrading to certify lock.

Steps
1. X is the committed version of a data item.
2. T creates local version X’ after obtaining a write lock on X.

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3. Other transactions can continue to read X.

4. T is ready to commit so it requests a certify lock on X’.
5. If certify lock is granted, the committed version X becomes X’.
6. T releases its certify lock on X’, which is X now.
Note: In multiversion 2PL several read and at most one write operations from conflicting transactions
can be processed concurrently. This improves concurrency but it may delay transaction commit because
of obtaining certify locks on all items its writes before committing. It avoids cascading abort but like
strict two phase locking scheme conflicting transactions may get deadlocked.

Validation-based (optimistic) CCMs

Known as optimistic concurrency control because it assumes that few conflicts will occur. Unlike other
techniques, system does not have to perform checks before each read and write operation – system
performs checks only at end of transaction (during validation phase). Three Phases: Read phase,
Validation Phase, Write Phase.
While transaction T is executing, system collects information about read_set(T) and write_set(T) (the
set of item read and written by T) as well as start/end time of each phase. Read phase is the time when
the transaction is actually running and executing read and write operations.

Read phase: A transaction can read values of committed data items. However, writes are applied only
to local copies (versions) of the data items (hence, it can be considered as a multiversion CCM).
Validation phase: Serializability is checked by determining any conflicts with other concurrent
transactions. This phase for Ti checks that, for each transaction Tj that is either committed or is in its
validation phase, one of the following conditions holds:
1. Tj completes its write phase before Ti starts its read phase.
2. Ti starts its write phase after Tj completes its write phase, and the read_set(Ti) has no items in
common with the write_set(Tj)
3. Both read_set(Ti) and write_set(Ti) have no items in common with the write_set(Tj), and Tj
completes its read phase before Ti completes its write phase.
When validating Ti, the first condition is checked first for each transaction Tj, since (1) is the simplest
condition to check. If (1) is false for a particular Tj, then (2) is checked and only if (2) is false is (3 ) is
checked. If none of these conditions holds for any Tj, the validation fails and Ti is aborted.

Write phase: On a successful validation, transaction updates are applied to the database on disk and
become the committed versions of the data items; otherwise, transactions that fail the validation phase
are restarted.

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Multiple-Granularity 2PL
The size of a data item is called its granularity. Granularity can be coarse (entire database) or it can be
fine (a tuple (record) or an attribute value of a record). Data item granularity significantly affects
concurrency control performance. Degree of concurrency is low for coarse granularity and high for fine
granularity. Example of data item granularity:
1. A field of a database record (an attribute of a tuple).
2. A database record (a tuple).
3. A disk block.
4. An entire file (relation).
5. The entire database.
The following diagram illustrates a hierarchy of granularity of items from coarse (database) to fine
(record). The root represents an item that includes the whole database, followed by file items
(tables/relations), disk page items within each file, and record items within each disk page.

To manage such hierarchy, in addition to read or shared (S) and write or exclusive (X) locking modes,
three additional locking modes, called intention lock modes are defined:

Intention-shared (IS): indicates that a shared lock(s) will be requested on some descendent nodes(s).
Intention-exclusive (IX): indicates that an exclusive lock(s) will be requested on some descendent
nodes(s).
Shared-intention-exclusive (SIX): indicates that the current node is requested to be locked in shared
mode but an exclusive lock(s) will be requested on some descendent nodes(s).
These locks are applied using the lock compatibility table below. Locking always begins at the root node
and proceeds down the tree, while unlocking proceeds in the opposite direction:

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1. an example of how the locking and unlocking may proceed in a schedule:

The set of rules which must be followed for producing serializable schedule are
2. The lock compatibility table must be adhered to.
3. The root of the tree must be locked first, in any mode.

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4. A node N can be locked by a transaction T in S (or X) mode only if the parent node is already
locked by T in either IS (or IX) mode.
5. A node N can be locked by T in X, IX, or SIX mode only if the parent of N is already locked by
T in either IX or SIX mode.
6. T can lock a node only if it has not unlocked any node (to enforce 2PL policy).
7. T can unlock a node, N, only if none of the children of N are currently locked by T
Database Recovery Techniques
Purpose of Database Recovery
• To bring the database into a consistent state after a failure occurs.
• To ensure the transaction properties of Atomicity (a transaction must be done in its entirety;
otherwise, it has to be rolled back) and Durability (a committed transaction cannot be canceled, and
all its updates must be applied permanently to the database).
• After a failure, the DBMS recovery manager is responsible for bringing the system into a consistent
state before transactions can resume.

Types of Failures
• Transaction failure: Transactions may fail because of errors, incorrect input, deadlock, incorrect
synchronization, etc.
• System failure: System may fail because of application error, operating system fault, RAM failure,
etc.
• Media failure: Disk head crash, power disruption, etc.

The Log File

• Holds the information that is necessary for the recovery process
• Records all relevant operations in the order in which they occur (looks like a schedule of
transactions, see Chapter 21)
• Is an append-only file.
• Holds various types of log records (or log entries).

Types of records (entries) in log file:

• [start_transaction,T]: Records that transaction T has started execution.
• [write_item,T,X,old_value,new_value]: T has changed the value of item X from old_value to
new_value.
• [read_item,T,X]: T has read the value of item X (not needed in many cases).
• [end_transaction,T]: T has ended execution
• [commit,T]: T has completed successfully, and committed.
• [abort,T]: T has been aborted.

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For write_item log entry, old value of item before modification (BFIM - BeFore Image) and the new
value after modification (AFIM – AFter Image) are stored. BFIM needed for UNDO, AFIM needed for
REDO. A sample log is given below. Back P and Next P point to the previous and next log records of
the same transaction.

T ID Back P Next P Operation Data item BFIM AFIM

T1 0 1 Begin
T1 1 4 Write X X = 100 X = 200
T2 0 8 Begin
T1 2 5 W Y Y = 50 Y = 100
T1 4 7 R M M = 200 M = 200
T3 0 9 R N N = 400 N = 400
T1 5 nil End

Database Cache: A set of main memory buffers; each buffer typically holds contents of one disk block.
Stores the disk blocks that contain the data items being read and written by the database transactions.
Data Item Address: (disk block address, offset, size in bytes).
Cache Table:Table of entries of the form (buffer addr, disk block addr, modified bit, pin/unpin bit, ...) to
indicate which disk blocks are currently in the cache buffers.
Data items to be modified are first copied into database cache by the Cache Manager (CM) and after
modification they are flushed (written) back to the disk. The flushing is controlled by Modified and
Pin-Unpin bits.
Pin-Unpin: If a buffer is pinned, it cannot be written back to disk until it is unpinned.
Modified: Indicates that one or more data items in the buffer have been changed.

Data Update
• Immediate Update: A data item modified in cache can be written back to disk before the
transaction commits.
• Deferred Update: A modified data item in the cache cannot be written back to disk till after the
transaction commits (buffer is pinned).
• Shadow update: The modified version of a data item does not overwrite its disk copy but is written
at a separate disk location (new version).
• In-place update: The disk version of the data item is overwritten by the cache version.

UNDO and REDO Recovery Actions

To maintain atomicity and durability, some transaction’s may have their operations redone or undone
during recovery. UNDO (roll-back) is needed for transactions that are not committed yet. REDO (roll-

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forward) is needed for committed transactions whose writes may have not yet been flushed from cache
to disk.
Undo: Restore all BFIMs from log to database on disk. UNDO proceeds backward in log (from most
recent to oldest UNDO).
Redo: Restore all AFIMs from log to database on disk. REDO proceeds forward in log (from oldest to
most recent REDO).

Write-ahead Logging Protocol

The information needed for recovery must be written to the log file on disk before changes are made to
the database on disk. Write-Ahead Logging (WAL) protocol consists of two rules:
For Undo: Before a data item’s AFIM is flushed to the database on disk (overwriting the BFIM) its
BFIM must be written to the log and the log must be saved to disk.
For Redo: Before a transaction executes its commit operation, all its AFIMs must be written to the log
and the log must be saved on a stable store.

Checkpointing
To minimize the REDO operations during recovery. The following steps define a checkpoint operation:
1. Suspend execution of transactions temporarily.
2. Force write modified buffers from cache to disk.
3. Write a [checkpoint] record to the log, save the log to disk. This record also includes other info.,
such as the list of active transactions at the time of checkpoint.
4. Resume normal transaction execution.
During recovery redo is required only for transactions that have committed after the last [checkpoint]
record in the log. Steps 1 and 4 in above are not realistic.
A variation of checkpointing called fuzzy checkpointing allows transactions to continue execution
during the checkpointing process.

Steal/No-Steal and Force/No-Force

Specify how to flush database cache buffers to database on disk:
Steal: Cache buffers updated by a transaction may be flushed to disk before the transaction commits
(recovery may require UNDO).
No-Steal: Cache buffers cannot be flushed until after transaction commit (NO-UNDO). (Buffers are
pinned till transactions commit).
Force: Cache is flushed (forced) to disk before transaction commits (NO-REDO).

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No-Force: Some cache flushing may be deferred till after transaction commits (recovery may require
REDO).
These give rise to four different ways for handling recovery:
Steal/No-Force (Undo/Redo), Steal/Force (Undo/No-redo), No-Steal/No-Force (Redo/No-undo), No-
Steal/Force (No-undo/No-redo).

Deferred Update (NO-UNDO/REDO) Recovery Protocol

System must impose NO-STEAL rule. Recovery subsystem analyzes the log, and creates two lists:
Active Transaction list: All active (uncommitted) transaction ids are entered in this list.
Committed Transaction list: Transactions committed after the last checkpoint are entered in this table.
During recovery, transactions in commit list are redone; transactions in active list are ignored (because
of NO-STEAL rule, none of their writes have been applied to the database on disk). Some transactions
may be redone twice; this does not create inconsistency because REDO is “idempotent”, that is, one
REDO for an AFIM is equivalent to multiple REDO for the same AFIM
Advantage: Only REDO is needed during recovery.
Disadvantage: Many buffers may be pinned while waiting for transactions that updated them to commit,
so system may run out of cache buffers when requests are made by new transactions.

UNDO/NO-REDO Recovery Protocol

In this method, FORCE rule is imposed by system (AFIMs of a transaction are flushed to the database
on disk under Write Ahead Logging before the transaction commits).
Transactions in active list are undone; transactions in committed list are ignored (because based on
FORCE rule, all their changes are already written to the database on disk).
Advantage: During recovery, only UNDO is needed.
Disadvantages: 1. Commit of a transaction is delayed until all its changes are force-written to disk. 2.
Some buffers may be written to disk multiple times if they are updated by several transactions.
Recovery can require both UNDO of some transactions and REDO of other transactions (Corresponds
to STEAL/NO-FORCE). Used most often in practice because of disadvantages of the other two methods.
To minimize REDO, checkpointing is used. The recovery performs:
1. Undo of a transaction if it is in the active transaction list.
2. Redo of a transaction if it is in the list of transactions that committed since the last checkpoint.

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Shadow Paging (NO-UNDO/NO-REDO)

The AFIM does not overwrite its BFIM but is recorded at another place (new version) on the disk. Thus,
a data item can have AFIM and BFIM (Shadow copy of the data item) at two different places on the
disk.

X Y
X' Y'

Database

X and Y: Shadow (old) copies of data items

X` and Y`: Current (new) copies of data items

Recovery in Multi-database Transactions (Two-phase commit)

A multi-database transaction can access several databases: e.g. airline database, car rental database,
credit card database. The transaction commits only when all these multiple databases agree to commit
individually the part of the transaction they were executing. This commit scheme is referred to as “two-
phase commit” (2PC). If any one of these nodes fails or cannot commit its part of the transaction, then
the whole transaction is aborted. Each node recovers the transaction under its own recovery protocol.

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