Concurrent Execution in DBMS

Concurrent Execution in DBMS 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.

The simultaneous execution is performed and execution 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, 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 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:

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 ➢ Consider the below diagram where two transactions TX and TY, are performed on the same
account A where the balance of account A is $300.
➢ At time t1, transaction TX reads the value of account A, i.e., $300 (only read).
➢ At time t2, transaction TX deducts $50 from account A that becomes $250 (only deducted
and not updated/write).
➢ 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.
➢ At time t4, transaction TY adds $100 to account A that becomes $400 (only added but not
updated/write).
➢ 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.
➢ Similarly, at time t7, transaction TY 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 TX is lost, i.e., $250 is lost.

Hence data becomes incorrect, and database sets to inconsistent.

Problem 2: 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:

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 ➢ At time t1, transaction TX reads the value of account A, i.e., $300.
➢ At time t2, transaction TX adds $50 to account A that becomes $350.
➢ At time t3, transaction TX writes the updated value in account A, i.e., $350.
➢ Then at time t4, transaction TY reads account A that will be read as $350.
➢ Then at time t5, transaction TX rollbacks due to server problem, and the value changes
back to $300 (as initially).
➢ But the value for account A remains $350 for transaction TY as committed, which is the
dirty read and therefore known as the Dirty Read Problem.

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:

1. Lock Based Concurrency Control Protocol

2. Time Stamp Concurrency Control Protocol
3. 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:
➢ It is also known as a Read-only lock. In a shared lock, the data item can only read by
the transaction.
➢ 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.

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

Two-phase locking (2PL)

➢ The two-phase locking protocol divides the execution phase of the transaction into
three parts.
➢ In the first part, when the execution of the transaction starts, it seeks permission for the
lock it requires.
➢ In the second part, the transaction acquires all the locks. The third phase is started as
soon as the transaction releases its first lock.
➢ 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.

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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:

➢ Growing phase: from step 1-3

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

Transaction T2:

➢ Growing phase: from step 2-6

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

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 Timestamp Ordering Protocol
➢ 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.

➢ 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.

➢ 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.

➢ 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.

➢ 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:

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

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

2. Check the following condition whenever a transaction Ti issues a Write(X) operation:

➢ If TS(Ti) < R_TS(X) then the operation is rejected.
➢ 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.
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Advantages and Disadvantages of TO protocol:

➢ TO protocol ensures serializability since the precedence graph is as follows:

➢ TS protocol ensures freedom from deadlock that means no transaction ever waits.
➢ 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.

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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.

➢ 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.
➢ Hence TS(T) = validation(T).
➢ The serializability is determined during the validation process. It can't be decided in
advance.
➢ While executing the transaction, it ensures a greater degree of concurrency and also less
number of conflicts.
➢ Thus it contains transactions which have less number of rollbacks.

Multiple Granularity
Let's start by understanding the meaning of granularity.

Granularity: It is the size of data item allowed to lock.

Multiple Granularity:

➢ It can be defined as hierarchically breaking up the database into blocks which can be
locked.
➢ The Multiple Granularity protocol enhances concurrency and reduces lock overhead.
➢ It maintains the track of what to lock and how to lock.
➢ It makes easy to decide either to lock a data item or to unlock a data item. This type of
hierarchy can be graphically represented as a tree.

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