Database Management Systems Unit 10

Sikkim Manipal University Page No.: 186

Unit 10 Transaction Processing
Structure
10.1 Introduction
Objectives
Self Assessment Question(s) (SAQs)
10.2 Transaction Processing Concepts
Self Assessment Question(s) (SAQs)
10.3 Desirable Properties of Transactions
Self Assessment Question(s) (SAQs)
10.4 Summary
10.5 Terminal Questions (TQs)
10.6 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
10.7 Answers to SAQs, TQs, and MCQs
10.7.1 Answers to Self Assessment Questions (SAQs)
10.7.2 Answers to Terminal Questions (TQs)
10.7.3 Answers to Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
10.1 Introduction
Transaction management is the ability of a database management system
to manage the various transactions that occur within the system.
Transaction is a set of program statements or collections of operations that
form a single logical unit of work. A database management system should
ensure that the transactions are executed properly, either the entire
transaction should execute or none of the operations should have been
executed. This is also called atomic cooperation. The DBMS should execute
this task or transaction in total to avoid inconsistency.
Database Management Systems Unit 10
Sikkim Manipal University Page No.: 187
Objectives
To know about
o Transaction Processing Concepts
o Desirable Properties of Transactions
Self Assessment Question(s) (SAQs) (For Section 10.1)
1. Define Transaction Management.
10.2 Transaction Processing Concepts
Definition: A transaction is an atomic unit comprised of one or more SQL
statements. A transaction begins with the first executable statement and
ends when it is committed or rolled back.
Single User V/S Multi User systems: A DBMS is used if at most one user
at a time can use the system. It is multi-user if many users can use the
system and have access to the DB concurrently. For e.g.: An air line
reservation system is used by 100's of travel agency and clerks
concurrently.
Multiple users can access databases and use computer systems
simultaneously. Because of the concept of multiprogramming, this system
executes some commands from one process than suspend that process,
and executes some command from the next process. Therefore it is inter
leaved.
In a single user system one can execute at most one process at a time.
Database Management Systems Unit 10
Sikkim Manipal University Page No.: 188
Figure 10.1: Interleaved concurrency versus parallel execution
The Read and Write operations and DBMS Buffers:
A transaction is a logical unit of database processing that includes one or
more database access operations (insertion, delete etc). Only retrieving of
data is called read only transaction.
The basic database access operations are
1) Read-item (x) It reads a database item named 'x' into a program
variable.
2) Write-item (x) writes the value of the program variable x into the
database.
Read-item (x) includes the following steps:
1. Find the address of the disk block that contains item 'x'.
2. Copy that disk block into a bugger in main memory.
3. Copy item x from the buffer to the program variable x.
Executing the write-item (x) includes the following steps.
1. Find the address of the disk block that contains item (x).
2. Copy that disk block into a buffer in main memory.
3. Copy item x from the program variable into its current location in the
buffer
4. Store the updated block from the buffer back to disk.
Database Management Systems Unit 10
Sikkim Manipal University Page No.: 189
a. b.
T1 T2
Read_item (X) Read_item(X);
X=X-N' X:=X+M
Write_item(X); Write_item(X)
Read_item(Y)
Y=Y+N;
Write_item(Y)
Why concurrency control is needed: In a multiuser database,
transactions submitted by the various users may execute concurrently and
may update the same data. Concurrently executing transactions must be
guaranteed to produce the same effect as serial execution of transactions
[one by one]. Several problems can occur when concurrent transactions
execute in an uncontrolled manner, therefore the primary concern of a
multiuser database includes how to control data concurrency and
consistency.
Data concurrency: Access to data concurrently (simultaneously) used by
many users must be co-ordinates.
Data consistency: A user always sees a consistent (accurate) view of all
data committed by other transactions as of that time and all changes made
by the user up to that time. Several problems can occur when concurrent
transactions execute in an uncontrolled manner.
For e.g.: Airline reservation database in which a record is stored for each
flight. Each record includes the number of reserved seats on that flight.
Fig..a shows a Transaction "T1" that transfers N reservations from one
flight, whose number of reserved seats is 'x', to another flight whose number
of reserved seats is 'y'. Fig.b shows a transaction T2 that reserves m seats
Database Management Systems Unit 10
Sikkim Manipal University Page No.: 190
on the first flight. We now discuss the types of problems we may encounter
when these two transactions run concurrently.
1. The lost update problem: Suppose transactions T1 and T2 are
submitted at the same time, when these two transactions are executed
concurrently as shown in fig. a, then the final value of x is incorrect.
Because T2 reads the value of x before T1 changes it in the database, and
hence the updated value resulting from T1 is lost. For e.g.: x=80 at the start
(80 reservation at the beginning), n=5 (T1 transfers 5 seat reservation from
the flight x to y), and m=4 (T2 reserves 4 seats on x), the final result should
be x=79 but due to interleaving of operations x=84, because updating T1
that removed the 5 seats from x was lost.
T1 T2
Read-item(x)
X;=x-n Read_item(x)
X: =x+m
Write-item (x);
Read-item (y) Write_item(x): -Item x has an incorrect
Because its update by T1
is lost.
Y:=y+n;
Write_item(y):
2. Dirty read problem: This problem occurs when one transaction updates
a database item and then the transaction fails for some reason. The
updated item is accessed by another transaction before it is changed back
to its original value.
For e.g.: - T1 updates item x and then fails before completion, so the system
must change x back to original value. Before it can do so, however,
transaction T2 reads the temporary value of x, which will not be recorded
Database Management Systems Unit 10
Sikkim Manipal University Page No.: 191
permanently in the database, because of the failure of T1. The value of item
x that is read by T2 is called Dirty Data, because it has been created by a
transaction that has not been completed and committed yet. Hence this
problem is also known as the temporary update problem.
T1 T2
Read-item (x);
X:=x-n
Write_item(x) Read_item(x);
X:=x+m;
write-item(x)
read_item(y);
3. Incorrect Summary Problem: If one transaction is calculating an
aggregate summary function on a number of records, while other
transactions are updating some of these records, the aggregate function
may calculate some values before they are updated, and others after they
are updated.
For ex: Transaction T3 is calculating the total no. of reservations on all the
flights, meanwhile transaction T1 is executing. The T3 reads the values of x
after n seats have been subtracted from it, but reads the value of y before
those n seats have been added to it.
T1 T3
Sum :=0
Read_item(A);
Sum:=sum+A;
Read_item(x);
X:=x-n'
Wrote_ote,(x); Read_item(x); T3 reads x after m os sintracted
Sum: =sum+x; and reads y before n is added,
Read_item (y); so a wrong summary is the
Sum:=sum+y; result.
Database Management Systems Unit 10
Sikkim Manipal University Page No.: 192
Read_item(y);
Y:=y+n;
Write_item(y)
Why is recovery needed?
A major responsibility of the data base administrator is to prepare for the
possibility of hardware, software, network and system failure. It is usually
desirable to recover the databases and return to normal operation as quickly
as possible. Recovery should proceed in such a manner to protect the
database and users from unnecessary problems.
Whenever a transaction is submitted to a DBMS for execution, the system is
responsible for making sure that either.
1. All the operations in the transactions are completed successfully and
their effects are recorded permanently in the DB or
2. The transaction has no effect on the DB; this may happen if a
transaction fails after executing some of it's operations, but before
executing all of them.
Types of failures:
1. A computer fai lure (System Crash):
Hardware, software, network error occurs in the computer system during
transaction
2. Transaction or system error:
Some operation in the transaction may cause it to fail, such as integer
overflow or division by 'Zero' etc.
3. Local errors or exception conditions detected by the transaction:
During transaction execution, certain conditions may occur that perform
cancellation of the transaction. For ex. Data for the transaction my not
be found.
Database Management Systems Unit 10
Sikkim Manipal University Page No.: 193
4. Concurrency control enforcement:
The concurrency control method may decide to abort the transactions, to
be restarted later, because several transactions are in a state of
deadlock.
5. Disk failure:
Some disk blocks may lose their data because of read or write
malfunctions
6. Physical problems and catastrophes:
This refers to a list of problems that includes power or air conditioning
failure, fire, theft, overwriting disks etc.
Transaction states and additional operations: A transaction is an atomic
unit of work that is entirely completed or not done at all. For recovery
purpose the system needs to keep track of when the transaction starts,
terminates, commits or aborts. Hence the recovery manager keeps track of
the following operations.
1. Begin transaction: This marks the beginning of transaction execution,
2. Read/Write: These specify read/write operation execution.
3. End transaction: This specifies that the read and write transaction
operations have ended, and marks the end of the transaction execution.
At this point it maybe necessary to check whether the changes can be
permanently applied to the DB or aborted.
4. Commit transaction: This signals a successful end of the transaction,
so that any changes executed by the transaction can be committed to
the DB.
5. Roll Back: This signals that the transactions has ended unsuccessfully,
so that any changes that the transaction may have applied to the
database must be undone.
Database Management Systems Unit 10
Sikkim Manipal University Page No.: 194
Fig. 10.2: State transition diagram illustrating the states for transaction
execution
Figure 10.2 shows a state transition diagram that describes how a
transaction moves through its execution states. A transaction goes into an
active state immediately after it starts execution, where it can issue Read
and Write operations. When the transaction ends, it moves to the partially
committed state. At this point some recovery protocols need to ensure that
there is no system failure. Once this check is successful, the transaction is
said to have reached its commit point and enters the committed state.
However, a transaction can go to the failed state if one of the checks fails or
if the transaction is aborted during its active state. The transaction may then
have to be rolled back to undo the effect of its Write operations on the
database. The terminated state corresponds to the transaction leaving the
system or end of the transaction.
Self Assessment Questions(s) (SAQs) (For section 10.2)
1. Define transaction and also explain basic database operations.
2. List different types of failures.
Database Management Systems Unit 10
Sikkim Manipal University Page No.: 195
10.3 Desirable Properties of Transactions
To ensure data integrity, the database management system should maintain
the following transaction properties. These are often called the ACID
properties.
1. Atomicity: A transaction is an atomic unit of processing. It is either
performed in its entirety (completely) or not performed at all.
2. Consistency: The basic idea behind ensuring atomicity is as follows.
The database system keeps back of the old values of any data on which
a transaction performs a write, and if the transaction does not complete
its execution, the old values are restored to make it appear as though
the transaction was never executed.
For Ex: Let Ti be a transaction that transfers 850 from account A to
account B. This transaction can be defined as
Ti ; read(A)
A :=A-50;
Writ (A);
Read(B);
B:=B+50;
Write (B).
Suppose that before execution of transactions Ti the values of accounts
A and B are Rs.1000 and Rs.2000 respectively. Now suppose that,
during the execution of transaction Ti, a failure has occurred after
write(A) operation, that prevents Ti from completing its execution
successfully. But before the write of B operation was executed values of
A and B in database are Rs.950 and`Rs.2000. We have lost Rs.50
which is executed in a sequential fashion.
3. Durability: Once a transaction changes the database and the changes
are committed, these changes must never be lost because of
subsequent failures. The users need not worry about the incomplete
transactions. Partially executed transactions can be rolled back to the
Database Management Systems Unit 10
Sikkim Manipal University Page No.: 196
original state, ensuring durability is the responsibility of the recovery
management component of the DBMS.
Self Assessment Questions(s) (SAQs) (For section 10.3)
1. Explain ACID properties of transaction.
10.4 Summary
In this unit we have learnt the following topics
o Transaction Processing Concepts
o Desirable Properties of Transactions
10.5 Terminal Questions (TQs)
1. Discuss Transaction Processing Concepts.
2. List and explain Desirable Properties of Transactions.
10.6 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
1 is the ability of a database management system to manage the
various transactions that occur within the system. It eliminates
redundancy and promotes integrity
i. Transaction management
ii. Concurrency
iii. Atomicity
iv. None of the above
2 ..is an atomic unit comprised of one or more SQL statements.
a. A Transaction
b. A concurrency
c. Atomicity
d. None of the above
Database Management Systems Unit 10
Sikkim Manipal University Page No.: 197
3 .occurs when one transaction updates a database item
and then if the transaction fails for some reason, the updated item is
accessed by another transaction before it is changed back to its original
value.
a. Dirty read problem
b. Incorrect summary Problem
c. Atomicity
d. None of the above
4 In one transaction is calculating an aggregate summary
function on a number of records, while other transactions are updating
some of these records; the aggregate function may calculate some
values before they are updated, and others after they are updated.
a. Incorrect summary Problem
b. Dirty read problem
c. Concurrency
d. None of the above
10.7 Answers to SAQs, TQs, and MCQs
10.7.1 Answers to Self Assessment Questions (SAQs)
For Section 10.1
1. Transaction management is the ability of a database management
system to manage the various transactions that occur within the system.
(Refer section10.1)
For Section 10.2
1. A transaction is an atomic unit comprised of one or more SQL
statements. A transaction begins with the first executable statement and
ends when it is committed or rolled back. (Refer section 10.2)
Database Management Systems Unit 10
Sikkim Manipal University Page No.: 198
2. Types of failures:
1. A computer failure (System Crash):
2. transaction or system error:
3. Local errors or exception conditions detected by the transaction:
4. Concurrency control enforcement:
5. Disk failure:
6. physical problems and catastrophes:
(Refer section 10.2)
For Section 10.3
1. To ensure data integrity, the database management system should
maintain the transaction properties. These are often called the ACID
properties. (Refer section10.3)
10.7.2 Answers to Terminal Questions (TQs)
1. A transaction is an atomic unit comprised of one or more SQL
statements. A transaction begins with the first executable statement and
ends when it is committed or rolled back. (Refer section10.2)
10.7.3 Answers to Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
1. A
2. A
3. A
4. A