DBMS Concurrency Control

Concurrency Control is the management procedure that is required for controlling

concurrent execution of the operations that take place on a database.

But before knowing about concurrency control, we should know about concurrent
execution.

Concurrent Execution in DBMS

o In a multi-user system, multiple users can access and use the same database
at one time, which is known as the concurrent execution of the database. It
means that the same database is executed simultaneously on a multi-user
system by different users.
o While working on the database transactions, there occurs the requirement of
using the database by multiple users for performing different operations, and
in that case, concurrent execution of the database is performed.
o The thing is that the simultaneous execution that is performed should be done
in an interleaved manner, and no operation should affect the other executing
operations, thus maintaining the consistency of the database. Thus, on making
the concurrent execution of the transaction operations, there occur several
challenging problems that need to be solved.

Problems with Concurrent Execution

In a database transaction, the two main operations are READ and WRITE operations.
So, there is a need to manage these two operations in the concurrent execution of
the transactions as if these operations are not performed in an interleaved manner,
and the data may become inconsistent. So, the following problems occur with the
Concurrent Execution of the operations:

Problem 1: Lost Update Problems (W - W Conflict)

The problem occurs when two different database transactions perform the read/write
operations on the same database items in an interleaved manner (i.e., concurrent
execution) that makes the values of the items incorrect hence making the database
inconsistent.

For example:
Consider the below diagram where two transactions T X and TY, are performed
on the same account A where the balance of account A is $300.

o At time t1, transaction TX reads the value of account A, i.e., $300 (only read).
o At time t2, transaction TX deducts $50 from account A that becomes $250
(only deducted and not updated/write).
o Alternately, at time t3, transaction TY reads the value of account A that will be
$300 only because TX didn't update the value yet.
o At time t4, transaction TY adds $100 to account A that becomes $400 (only
added but not updated/write).
o At time t6, transaction TX writes the value of account A that will be updated as
$250 only, as TY didn't update the value yet.
o Similarly, at time t7, transaction T Y writes the values of account A, so it will
write as done at time t4 that will be $400. It means the value written by T X is
lost, i.e., $250 is lost.

Hence data becomes incorrect, and database sets to inconsistent.

Dirty Read Problems (W-R Conflict)

The dirty read problem occurs when one transaction updates an item of the database,
and somehow the transaction fails, and before the data gets rollback, the updated
database item is accessed by another transaction. There comes the Read-Write Conflict
between both transactions.

For example:

Consider two transactions TX and TY in the below diagram performing

read/write operations on account A where the available balance in account A is
$300:

o At time t1, transaction TX reads the value of account A, i.e., $300.

o At time t2, transaction TX adds $50 to account A that becomes $350.
o At time t3, transaction TX writes the updated value in account A, i.e., $350.
o Then at time t4, transaction TY reads account A that will be read as $350.
o Then at time t5, transaction TX rollbacks due to server problem, and the value
changes back to $300 (as initially).
o But the value for account A remains $350 for transaction T Y as committed,
which is the dirty read and therefore known as the Dirty Read Problem.

Unrepeatable Read Problem (W-R Conflict)

Also known as Inconsistent Retrievals Problem that occurs when in a transaction, two
different values are read for the same database item.
For example:

Consider two transactions, TX and TY, performing the read/write operations on

account A, having an available balance = $300. The diagram is shown below:

o At time t1, transaction TX reads the value from account A, i.e., $300.
o At time t2, transaction TY reads the value from account A, i.e., $300.
o At time t3, transaction TY updates the value of account A by adding $100 to
the available balance, and then it becomes $400.
o At time t4, transaction TY writes the updated value, i.e., $400.
o After that, at time t5, transaction TX reads the available value of account A, and
that will be read as $400.
o It means that within the same transaction T X, it reads two different values of
account A, i.e., $ 300 initially, and after updation made by transaction T Y, it
reads $400. It is an unrepeatable read and is therefore known as the
Unrepeatable read problem.

Thus, in order to maintain consistency in the database and avoid such problems that
take place in concurrent execution, management is needed, and that is where the
concept of Concurrency Control comes into role.

Concurrency Control
Concurrency Control is the working concept that is required for controlling and
managing the concurrent execution of database operations and thus avoiding the
inconsistencies in the database. Thus, for maintaining the concurrency of the
database, we have the concurrency control protocols.

Concurrency Control Protocols

The concurrency control protocols ensure the atomicity, consistency, isolation,
durability and serializability of the concurrent execution of the database transactions.
Therefore, these protocols are categorized as:

o Lock Based Concurrency Control Protocol

o Time Stamp Concurrency Control Protocol
o Validation Based Concurrency Control Protocol

Lock-Based Protocol
In this type of protocol, any transaction cannot read or write data until it acquires an
appropriate lock on it. There are two types of lock:

1. Shared lock:

o It is also known as a Read-only lock. In a shared lock, the data item can only
read by the transaction.
o It can be shared between the transactions because when the transaction holds
a lock, then it can't update the data on the data item.

2. Exclusive lock:

o In the exclusive lock, the data item can be both reads as well as written by the
transaction.
o This lock is exclusive, and in this lock, multiple transactions do not modify the
same data simultaneously.

There are four types of lock protocols available:

1. Simplistic lock protocol
It is the simplest way of locking the data while transaction. Simplistic lock-based
protocols allow all the transactions to get the lock on the data before insert or delete
or update on it. It will unlock the data item after completing the transaction.
2. Pre-claiming Lock Protocol

o Pre-claiming Lock Protocols evaluate the transaction to list all the data items
on which they need locks.
o Before initiating an execution of the transaction, it requests DBMS for all the
lock on all those data items.
o If all the locks are granted then this protocol allows the transaction to begin.
When the transaction is completed then it releases all the lock.
o If all the locks are not granted then this protocol allows the transaction to rolls
back and waits until all the locks are granted.

3. Two-phase locking (2PL)

o The two-phase locking protocol divides the execution phase of the transaction
into three parts.
o In the first part, when the execution of the transaction starts, it seeks
permission for the lock it requires.
o In the second part, the transaction acquires all the locks. The third phase is
started as soon as the transaction releases its first lock.
o In the third phase, the transaction cannot demand any new locks. It only
releases the acquired locks.
There are two phases of 2PL:

Growing phase: In the growing phase, a new lock on the data item may be acquired
by the transaction, but none can be released.

Shrinking phase: In the shrinking phase, existing lock held by the transaction may
be released, but no new locks can be acquired.

In the below example, if lock conversion is allowed then the following phase can
happen:

1. Upgrading of lock (from S(a) to X (a)) is allowed in growing phase.

2. Downgrading of lock (from X(a) to S(a)) must be done in shrinking phase.

Example:
The following way shows how unlocking and locking work with 2-PL.

Transaction T1:

o Growing phase: from step 1-3

o Shrinking phase: from step 5-7
o Lock point: at 3

Transaction T2:

o Growing phase: from step 2-6

o Shrinking phase: from step 8-9
o Lock point: at 6

4. Strict Two-phase locking (Strict-2PL)

 o The first phase of Strict-2PL is similar to 2PL. In the first phase, after acquiring
all the locks, the transaction continues to execute normally.
o The only difference between 2PL and strict 2PL is that Strict-2PL does not
release a lock after using it.
o Strict-2PL waits until the whole transaction to commit, and then it releases all
the locks at a time.
o Strict-2PL protocol does not have shrinking phase of lock release.

It does not have cascading abort as 2PL does.

Timestamp Ordering Protocol

o The Timestamp Ordering Protocol is used to order the transactions based on
their Timestamps. The order of transaction is nothing but the ascending order
of the transaction creation.
o The priority of the older transaction is higher that's why it executes first. To
determine the timestamp of the transaction, this protocol uses system time or
logical counter.
o The lock-based protocol is used to manage the order between conflicting
pairs among transactions at the execution time. But Timestamp based
protocols start working as soon as a transaction is created.
o Let's assume there are two transactions T1 and T2. Suppose the transaction T1
has entered the system at 007 times and transaction T2 has entered the
system at 009 times. T1 has the higher priority, so it executes first as it is
entered the system first.
 o The timestamp ordering protocol also maintains the timestamp of last 'read'
and 'write' operation on a data.

Basic Timestamp ordering protocol works as follows:

1. Check the following condition whenever a transaction Ti issues a Read

(X) operation:

o If W_TS(X) >TS(Ti) then the operation is rejected.

o If W_TS(X) <= TS(Ti) then the operation is executed.
o Timestamps of all the data items are updated.

2. Check the following condition whenever a transaction Ti issues

a Write(X) operation:

o If TS(Ti) < R_TS(X) then the operation is rejected.

o If TS(Ti) < W_TS(X) then the operation is rejected and Ti is rolled back
otherwise the operation is executed.

Where,

TS(TI) denotes the timestamp of the transaction Ti.

R_TS(X) denotes the Read time-stamp of data-item X.

W_TS(X) denotes the Write time-stamp of data-item X.

Advantages and Disadvantages of TO protocol:

o TO protocol ensures serializability since the precedence graph is as follows:
 o TS protocol ensures freedom from deadlock that means no transaction ever
waits.
o But the schedule may not be recoverable and may not even be cascade- free.

Validation Based Protocol

Validation phase is also known as optimistic concurrency control technique. In the
validation based protocol, the transaction is executed in the following three phases:

1. Read phase: In this phase, the transaction T is read and executed. It is used to
read the value of various data items and stores them in temporary local
variables. It can perform all the write operations on temporary variables
without an update to the actual database.
2. Validation phase: In this phase, the temporary variable value will be validated
against the actual data to see if it violates the serializability.
3. Write phase: If the validation of the transaction is validated, then the
temporary results are written to the database or system otherwise the
transaction is rolled back.

Here each phase has the following different timestamps:

Start(Ti): It contains the time when Ti started its execution.

Validation (Ti): It contains the time when Ti finishes its read phase and starts its
validation phase.

Finish(Ti): It contains the time when Ti finishes its write phase.

o This protocol is used to determine the time stamp for the transaction for
serialization using the time stamp of the validation phase, as it is the actual
phase which determines if the transaction will commit or rollback.
o Hence TS(T) = validation(T).
o The serializability is determined during the validation process. It can't be
decided in advance.
o While executing the transaction, it ensures a greater degree of concurrency
and also less number of conflicts.
o Thus it contains transactions which have less number of rollbacks.