INTRODUCTION TO

TRANSACTION
PROCESSING

CHAPTER 21 (6/E)
CHAPTER 17 (5/E)
LECTURE OUTLINE
 Introduction to Transaction Processing
 Desirable Properties of Transactions
 Transaction Support in SQL

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DEFINITIONS
 Transaction: an executing program (process) that includes one or
more database access operations
• A logical unit of database processing
• Example from banking database: Transfer of $100 dollars from a
chequing account to a savings account
• Characteristic operations
• Reads (database retrieval, such as SQL SELECT)
• Writes (modify database, such as SQL INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE)
 Note: Each execution of a program is a distinct transaction with
different parameters
• Bank transfer program parameters: savings account number,
chequing account number, transfer amount
 Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) Systems: Large multi-user
database systems supporting thousands of concurrent transactions
(user processes) per minute

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WHY WE NEED TRANSACTIONS
 A database is a shared resource accessed by many
users and processes concurrently.
 Not managing this concurrent access to a shared
resource will cause problems (not unlike in operating
systems)
• Problems due to concurrency
• Problems due to failures

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TRANSACTION PROCESSING MODEL
 Simple database model:
• Database: collection of named data items
• Granularity (size) of each data item immaterial
• A field (data item value), a record, or a disk block
• TP concepts are independent of granularity
 Basic operations on an item X:
• read_item(X): Reads a database item X into a program variable
• For simplicity, 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 take some amount of time to execute

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COMPUTER STORAGE HIERARCHY

program variables

DB items

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READ AND WRITE OPERATIONS
DBMS pages

Database File
Memor Disk
y
Buffers
(cache)
 Basic unit of data transfer from the disk to the computer main memory is one
disk block (or page).
 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 buffer in main memory (if that disk block is not
already in some main memory buffer).
3. Copy item X from the buffer to the program variable named X.
 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 (if it is not already in some
main memory buffer).
3. Copy item X from the program variable named X into its correct location in
the buffer.
4. Store the updated block from the buffer back to disk
• either immediately or, more typically, at some later point in time

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BACK TO TRANSACTIONS
 Transaction (sequence of executing operations) may be:
• Stand-alone, specified in a high level language like SQL submitted
interactively, or
• More typically, embedded within application program
 Transaction boundaries: Begin_transaction and End_transaction
• Application program may include specification of several
transactions separated by Begin and End transaction boundaries
• Transaction code can be executed several times (in a loop),
spawning multiple transactions
• Transactions can end in two states:
• Commit: transaction successfully completes and its results are
committed (made permanent)
• Abort: transaction does not complete and none of its actions are
reflected in the database

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TRANSACTION NOTATION

 Focus on read and write operations

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MODES OF CONCURRENCY
 Interleaved processing: concurrent execution of processes is
interleaved on a single CPU
 Parallel processing: processes are concurrently executed on
multiple CPUs

 Basic transaction processing theory assumes interleaving

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WHAT CAN GO WRONG?
 Consider two concurrently executing transactions:
at ATM window #1 at ATM window #2
1 read_item(savings); a read_item(chequing);
2 savings = savings - $100; b chequing = chequing - $20;
3 write_item(savings); c write_item(chequing);
4 read_item(chequing); d dispense $20 to customer;
5 chequing = chequing + $100;
6 write_item(chequing);

 System might crash after transaction begins and before it ends.

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ACID PROPERTIES
 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.
 Durability: Once a transaction is committed, its changes (writes)
applied to the database must never be lost because of subsequent
failure.
 Enforcement of ACID properties:
• Database constraint system (and application program correctness)
responsible for C (introduced in previous classes)
• Concurrency control responsible for I (more in next class)
• Recovery system responsible for A and D (more in next class)

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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.
 No explicit Begin_Transaction statement.
• Transaction initiation implicit at first SQL statement and at next SQL
statement after previous transaction terminates
 Every transaction must have an explicit end statement
• COMMIT: the DB must assure that the effects are permanent
• ROLLBACK: the DB must assure that the effects are as if the
transaction had not yet begun

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SAMPLE SQL TRANSACTION
update_proc() {
EXEC SQL WHENEVER SQLERROR GO TO error;
EXEC SQL INSERT
INTO EMPLOYEE
VALUES ('Robert','Smith','991004321',2,35000);
EXEC SQL UPDATE EMPLOYEE
SET SALARY = SALARY * 1.1
WHERE DNO = 2;
EXEC SQL COMMIT;
return(0);
error: /* continue if error on rollback */
EXEC SQL WHENEVER SQLERROR CONTINUE;
EXEC SQL ROLLBACK;
return(1);
}

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LECTURE SUMMARY
 Transaction concepts
 ACID properties for transactions
 Transaction support in SQL

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