UNIT-IV

Transactions
Transaction
1.The transaction is a set of logically related operation. It contains a
group of tasks.

2.A transaction is an action or series of actions. It is performed by a

single user to perform operations for accessing the contents of the
database.

Example: Suppose an employee of bank transfers Rs 800 from X's

account to Y's account. This small transaction contains several low-
level tasks:

X's Account

Open_Account(X)
Old_Balance = X.balance
New_Balance = Old_Balance - 800
X.balance = New_Balance
Close_Account(X)

Y's Account

Open_Account(Y)
Old_Balance = Y.balance
New_Balance = Old_Balance + 800
Y.balance = New_Balance
Close_Account(Y)
Operations of Transaction:
Following are the main operations of transaction:

Read(X): Read operation is used to read the value of X from the

database and stores it in a buffer in main memory.

Write(X): Write operation is used to write the value back to the

database from the buffer.

Let's take an example to debit transaction from an account which

consists of following operations:

1. R(X);
2. X = X - 500;
3. W(X);

Let's assume the value of X before starting of the transaction is 4000.

o The first operation reads X's value from database and stores it in
a buffer.
o The second operation will decrease the value of X by 500. So
buffer will contain 3500.
o The third operation will write the buffer's value to the database.
So X's final value will be 3500.

But it may be possible that because of the failure of hardware, software

or power, etc. that transaction may fail before finished all the operations
in the set.

Example: If in the above transaction, the debit transaction fails after

executing operation 2 then X's value will remain 4000 in the database
which is not acceptable by the bank.

To solve this problem, we have two important operations:

Commit: It is used to save the work done permanently.

Rollback: It is used to undo the work done.

States of Transaction
In a database, the transaction can be in one of the following states -

Active state
o The active state is the first state of every transaction. In this state,
the transaction is being executed.
o Example: Insertion or deletion or updating a record is done here.
But all the records are still not saved to the database.

Partially committed
o In the partially committed state, a transaction executes its final
operation, but the data is still not saved to the database.
o In the total mark calculation example, a final display of the total
marks step is executed in this state.
Committed

A transaction is said to be in a committed state if it executes all its

operations successfully. In this state, all the effects are now
permanently saved on the database system.

Failed state
o If any of the checks made by the database recovery system fails,
then the transaction is said to be in the failed state.
o In the example of total mark calculation, if the database is not able
to fire a query to fetch the marks, then the transaction will fail to
execute.

Aborted
o If any of the checks fail and the transaction has reached a failed
state then the database recovery system will make sure that the
database is in its previous consistent state. If not then it will abort
or roll back the transaction to bring the database into a consistent
state.
o If the transaction fails in the middle of the transaction then before
executing the transaction, all the executed transactions are rolled
back to its consistent state.
o After aborting the transaction, the database recovery module will
select one of the two operations:
1. Re-start the transaction
2. Kill the transaction
Transaction Property
The transaction has the four properties. These are used to maintain
consistency in a database, before and after the transaction.

Property of Transaction

1. Atomicity
2. Consistency
3. Isolation
4. Durability
Atomicity:

o It states that all operations of the transaction take place at once if

not, the transaction is aborted.
o There is no midway, i.e., the transaction cannot occur partially.
Each transaction is treated as one unit and either run to
completion or is not executed at all.

Atomicity involves the following two operations:

Abort: If a transaction aborts then all the changes made are not visible.

Commit: If a transaction commits then all the changes made are

visible.

Example: Let's assume that following transaction T consisting of T1

and T2. A consists of Rs 600 and B consists of Rs 300. Transfer Rs 100
from account A to account B.

T1 T2

Read(A) Read(B)
A:=A-100 Y:=Y+100
Write(A) Write(B)

After completion of the transaction, A consists of Rs 500 and B consists

of Rs 400.
If the transaction T fails after the completion of transaction T1 but
before completion of transaction T2, then the amount will be deducted
from A but not added to B. This shows the inconsistent database state.
In order to ensure correctness of database state, the transaction must be
executed in entirety.

Consistency

o The integrity constraints are maintained so that the database is

consistent before and after the transaction.
o The execution of a transaction will leave a database in either its
prior stable state or a new stable state.
o The consistent property of database states that every transaction
sees a consistent database instance.
o The transaction is used to transform the database from one
consistent state to another consistent state.

Example: The total amount must be maintained before or after the

transaction.

Total before T occurs = 600+300=900

Total after T occurs= 500+400=900

Therefore, the database is consistent. In the case when T1 is completed

but T2 fails, then inconsistency will occur.
Isolation

o It shows that the data which is used at the time of execution of a

transaction cannot be used by the second transaction until the first
one is completed.
o In isolation, if the transaction T1 is being executed and using the
data item X, then that data item can't be accessed by any other
transaction T2 until the transaction T1 ends.
o The concurrency control subsystem of the DBMS enforced the
isolation property.

Durability

o The durability property is used to indicate the performance of the

database's consistent state. It states that the transaction made the
permanent changes.
o They cannot be lost by the erroneous operation of a faulty
transaction or by the system failure. When a transaction is
completed, then the database reaches a state known as the
consistent state. That consistent state cannot be lost, even in the
event of a system's failure.
o The recovery subsystem of the DBMS has the responsibility of
Durability property.
Transaction Isolation Levels in DBMS
The level of isolation defines the degree to which the transaction
is isolated during the modification of the data, and the other transaction
in the database does these modifications. We can define transaction
isolation by the following phenomena.

1.Dirty Read: A dirty read is a type of situation that occurs when a

transaction reads the data and that data has not been committed yet. Let
us understand this with an example. Let's say transaction-1 updates a
row, and that transaction 1 is not committed yet. Then transaction 2
reads the updated row. If transaction 1 rolls back the changes, then
transaction-2 will read all the data, and these data will be considered as
never existing.

2.Non-Repeatable Read: The non-repeatable Read occurs when the

transaction reads a single row multiple times and gets a different value
on each Read. Let's take an example. Suppose transaction1 reads the
row data. But due to a concurrency issue, transaction 2 updates the
same data and is committed. Now transaction 2 reads the same row
again and gets a different value this time.

3.Phantom Read: When the two queries are executed, but they retrieve
the two rows differently, at that time, phantom Read occurs. Let's take
an example. Suppose transaction 1 retrieves a set of rows, and these
rows are satisfied by some conditions. Now transaction 2 generates
some new rows that match the search criteria of transaction 1. If
transaction 1 executes the statement that reads the row, it gets a
different row at different times.

Isolation Levels
Based on the above different phenomena, SQL defines into four
isolation levels.

1.Read Uncommitted: It is the lowest in the isolation level. At this

level, one transaction can not read the changes made by the other
transactions, so it allows dirty reads. At this level, the transaction is not
isolated from each other.

2.Read Committed: It provides a guarantee to each data that these data

gets committed when these are read by any transaction. So that it does
not allow dirty Read. The transaction holds the Read or writes action
so that it prevents the data from reading or written by any other
transaction.

3.Repeatable Read: This is the most restrictive isolation level. The

transaction holds read locks on all rows it references and writes locks
on referenced rows for updates and deletes actions. Since other
transactions cannot read, update or delete these rows, consequently, it
avoids non-repeatable Read.
4.Serializable: This is the highest isolation level. A serializable
execution is guaranteed to be serializable. Serializable execution is
defined to be an execution of operations in which concurrently
executing transactions appears to be serially executing.

The Table given below clearly depicts the relationship between

isolation levels, read phenomena, and locks:

Isolation level Dirty reads Non-repeatable read Phantoms

Read Uncommitted May occurs May occur May occur

Read Committed Don't occur May occur May occur

Repeatable Read Don't occur Don't occur May occur

Serializable Don't occur Don't occur Don't occur

Example
Consider an example of isolation.

What is the isolation level of transaction E?

session begins

SET GLOBAL TRANSACTION

ISOLATION LEVEL SERIALIZABLE;

session ends session begins

SET SESSION TRANSACTION

ISOLATION LEVEL REPEATABLE READ;

transaction A
transaction B

SET TRANSACTION

ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED;

transaction C

SET TRANSACTION

ISOLATION LEVEL READ COMMITTED;

transaction D
transaction E session ends

Check which option

A- Serializable
B- Repeatable read
C- Read uncommitted
Schedule
A series of operation from one transaction to another transaction is
known as schedule. It is used to preserve the order of the operation in
each of the individual transaction.
1. Serial Schedule

The serial schedule is a type of schedule where one transaction is

executed completely before starting another transaction. In the serial
schedule, when the first transaction completes its cycle, then the next
transaction is executed.

Example: Suppose there are two transactions T1 and T2 which have

some operations. If it has no interleaving of operations, then there are
the following two possible outcomes:

1. Execute all the operations of T1 which was followed by all the

operations of T2.
2. Execute all the operations of T1 which was followed by all the
operations of T2.

o In the given (a) figure, Schedule A shows the serial schedule

where T1 followed by T2.
o In the given (b) figure, Schedule B shows the serial schedule
where T2 followed by T1.

2. Non-Serial Schedule

o If interleaving of operations is allowed, then there will be non-

serial schedule.
o It contains many possible orders in which the system can execute
the individual operations of the transactions.
o In the given figure (c) and (d), Schedule C and Schedule D are
the non-serial schedules. It has interleaving of operations.

3. Serializable schedule

o The serializability of schedules is used to find non-serial

schedules that allow the transaction to execute concurrently
without interfering with one another.
o It identifies which schedules are correct when executions of the
transaction have interleaving of their operations.
o A non-serial schedule will be serializable if its result is equal to
the result of its transactions executed serially.
Here,

Schedule A and Schedule B are Serial Schedule.

Schedule C and Schedule D are Non-Serial Schedule.

Testing of Serializability:
Serialization Graph is used to test the Serializability of a schedule.

Assume a schedule S. For S, we construct a graph known as precedence

graph. This graph has a pair G = (V, E), where V consists a set of
vertices, and E consists a set of edges. The set of vertices is used to
contain all the transactions participating in the schedule. The set of
edges is used to contain all edges Ti ->Tj for which one of the three
conditions holds:
 1. Create a node Ti → Tj if Ti executes write (Q) before Tj executes
read (Q).
2. Create a node Ti → Tj if Ti executes read (Q) before Tj executes
write (Q).
3. Create a node Ti → Tj if Ti executes write (Q) before Tj executes
write (Q).

o If a precedence graph contains a single edge Ti → Tj, then all the

instructions of Ti are executed before the first instruction of Tj is
executed.
o If a precedence graph for schedule S contains a cycle, then S is
non-serializable. If the precedence graph has no cycle, then S is
known as serializable.

Example:
Explanation:

Read(A): In T1, no subsequent writes to A, so no new edges

Read(B): In T2, no subsequent writes to B, so no new edges
Read(C): In T3, no subsequent writes to C, so no new edges
Write(B): B is subsequently read by T3, so add edge T2 → T3
Write(C): C is subsequently read by T1, so add edge T3 → T1
Write(A): A is subsequently read by T2, so add edge T1 → T2
Write(A): In T2, no subsequent reads to A, so no new edges
Write(C): In T1, no subsequent reads to C, so no new edges
Write(B): In T3, no subsequent reads to B, so no new edges
Precedence graph for schedule S1:

The precedence graph for schedule S1 contains a cycle that's why

Schedule S1 is non-serializable.
Explanation:

Read(A): In T4,no subsequent writes to A, so no new edges

Read(C): In T4, no subsequent writes to C, so no new edges
Write(A): A is subsequently read by T5, so add edge T4 → T5
Read(B): In T5,no subsequent writes to B, so no new edges
Write(C): C is subsequently read by T6, so add edge T4 → T6
Write(B): A is subsequently read by T6, so add edge T5 → T6
Write(C): In T6, no subsequent reads to C, so no new edges
Write(A): In T5, no subsequent reads to A, so no new edges
Write(B): In T6, no subsequent reads to B, so no new edges

Precedence graph for schedule S2:

The precedence graph for schedule S2 contains no cycle that's why

ScheduleS2 is serializable.
Conflict Serializable Schedule
o A schedule is called conflict serializability if after swapping of
non-conflicting operations, it can transform into a serial schedule.
o The schedule will be a conflict serializable if it is conflict
equivalent to a serial schedule.

Conflicting Operations

The two operations become conflicting if all conditions satisfy:

1. Both belong to separate transactions.

2. They have the same data item.
3. They contain at least one write operation.

Example:
Swapping is possible only if S1 and S2 are logically equal.

Here, S1 = S2. That means it is non-conflict.

 Here, S1 ≠ S2. That means it is conflict.

Conflict Equivalent
In the conflict equivalent, one can be transformed to another by
swapping non-conflicting operations. In the given example, S2 is
conflict equivalent to S1 (S1 can be converted to S2 by swapping non-
conflicting operations).

Two schedules are said to be conflict equivalent if and only if:

1. They contain the same set of the transaction.

2. If each pair of conflict operations are ordered in the same way.
Example:

Schedule S2 is a serial schedule because, in this, all operations of T1

are performed before starting any operation of T2. Schedule S1 can be
transformed into a serial schedule by swapping non-conflicting
operations of S1.
After swapping of non-conflict operations, the schedule S1 becomes:

T1 T2

Read(A)
Write(A)
Read(B)
Write(B)
Read(A)
Write(A)
Read(B)
Write(B)

Since, S1 is conflict serializable.

View Serializability
o A schedule will view serializable if it is view equivalent to a serial
schedule.
o If a schedule is conflict serializable, then it will be view
serializable.
o The view serializable which does not conflict serializable
contains blind writes.

View Equivalent:
Two schedules S1 and S2 are said to be view equivalent if they satisfy
the following conditions:

1. Initial Read:
An initial read of both schedules must be the same. Suppose two
schedule S1 and S2. In schedule S1, if a transaction T1 is reading the
data item A, then in S2, transaction T1 should also read A.

Above two schedules are view equivalent because Initial read operation
in S1 is done by T1 and in S2 it is also done by T1.
2. Updated Read:
In schedule S1, if Ti is reading A which is updated by Tj then in S2
also, Ti should read A which is updated by Tj.

Above two schedules are not view equal because, in S1, T3 is reading
A updated by T2 and in S2, T3 is reading A updated by T1.

3. Final Write
A final write must be the same between both the schedules. In schedule
S1, if a transaction T1 updates A at last then in S2, final writes
operations should also be done by T1.

Above two schedules is view equal because Final write operation in S1

is done by T3 and in S2, the final write operation is also done by T3.
Example:

Schedule S

With 3 transactions, the total number of possible schedule

= 3! = 6
S1 = <T1 T2 T3>
S2 = <T1 T3 T2>
S3 = <T2 T3 T1>
S4 = <T2 T1 T3>
S5 = <T3 T1 T2>
S6 = <T3 T2 T1>

Taking first schedule S1:

Schedule S1

Step 1: final updation on data items

In both schedules S and S1, there is no read except the initial read that's
why we don't need to check that condition.

Step 2: Initial Read

The initial read operation in S is done by T1 and in S1, it is also done

by T1.

Step 3: Final Write

The final write operation in S is done by T3 and in S1, it is also done

by T3. So, S and S1 are view Equivalent.

The first schedule S1 satisfies all three conditions, so we don't need to

check another schedule.

Hence, view equivalent serial schedule is:

T1 → T2 → T3
Recoverability of Schedule:
Sometimes a transaction may not execute completely due to a software
issue, system crash or hardware failure. In that case, the failed
transaction has to be rollback. But some other transaction may also
have used value produced by the failed transaction. So we also have to
rollback those transactions.

The above table 1 shows a schedule which has two transactions. T1

reads and writes the value of A and that value is read and written by
T2. T2 commits but later on, T1 fails. Due to the failure, we have to
rollback T1. T2 should also be rollback because it reads the value
written by T1, but T2 can't be rollback because it already committed.
So this type of schedule is known as irrecoverable schedule.
Irrecoverable schedule: The schedule will be irrecoverable if Tj reads
the updated value of Ti and Tj committed before Ti commit.

The above table 2 shows a schedule with two transactions. Transaction

T1 reads and writes A, and that value is read and written by transaction
T2. But later on, T1 fails. Due to this, we have to rollback T1. T2 should
be rollback because T2 has read the value written by T1. As it has not
committed before T1 commits so we can rollback transaction T2 as
well. So it is recoverable with cascade rollback.
Recoverable with cascading rollback: The schedule will be
recoverable with cascading rollback if Tj reads the updated value of Ti.
Commit of Tj is delayed till commit of Ti.

The above Table 3 shows a schedule with two transactions. Transaction

T1 reads and write A and commits, and that value is read and written
by T2. So this is a cascade less recoverable schedule.

Failure Classification:
To find that where the problem has occurred, we generalize a failure
into the following categories:

1. Transaction failure
2. System crash
3. Disk failure
1.Transaction failure
The transaction failure occurs when it fails to execute or when it
reaches a point from where it can't go any further. If a few transaction
or process is hurt, then this is called as transaction failure.

Reasons for a transaction failure could be -

1.Logical errors: If a transaction cannot complete due to some code

error or an internal error condition, then the logical error occurs.

2.Syntax error: It occurs where the DBMS itself terminates an active

transaction because the database system is not able to execute it. For
example, The system aborts an active transaction, in case of deadlock
or resource unavailability.

2. System Crash:

System failure can occur due to power failure or other hardware or

software failure. Example: Operating system error.

Fail-stop assumption: In the system crash, non-volatile storage is

assumed not to be corrupted.

3. Disk Failure:

1.It occurs where hard-disk drives or storage drives used to fail

frequently. It was a common problem in the early days of technology
evolution.
2.Disk failure occurs due to the formation of bad sectors, disk head
crash, and unreachability to the disk or any other failure, which destroy
all or part of disk storage.

Log-Based Recovery:
1.The log is a sequence of records. Log of each transaction is
maintained in some stable storage so that if any failure occurs, then it
can be recovered from there.

2.If any operation is performed on the database, then it will be recorded

in the log.

3.But the process of storing the logs should be done before the actual
transaction is applied in the database.

Let's assume there is a transaction to modify the City of a student. The

following logs are written for this transaction.

When the transaction is initiated, then it writes 'start' log.

<Tn, Start>
o When the transaction modifies the City from 'Noida' to
'Bangalore', then another log is written to the file.

<Tn, City, 'Noida', 'Bangalore' >

o When the transaction is finished, then it writes another log to
indicate the end of the transaction.

<Tn, Commit>
There are two approaches to modify the database:

1. Deferred database modification:

o The deferred modification technique occurs if the transaction

does not modify the database until it has committed.
o In this method, all the logs are created and stored in the stable
storage, and the database is updated when a transaction commits.

2. Immediate database modification:

o The Immediate modification technique occurs if database

modification occurs while the transaction is still active.
o In this technique, the database is modified immediately after
every operation. It follows an actual database modification.

Recovery using Log records

When the system is crashed, then the system consults the log to find
which transactions need to be undone and which need to be redone.

1. If the log contains the record <Ti, Start> and <Ti, Commit> or
<Ti, Commit>, then the Transaction Ti needs to be redone.
2. If log contains record<Tn, Start> but does not contain the record
either <Ti, commit> or <Ti, abort>, then the Transaction Ti needs
to be undone.
Checkpoint
o The checkpoint is a type of mechanism where all the previous
logs are removed from the system and permanently stored in the
storage disk.
o The checkpoint is like a bookmark. While the execution of the
transaction, such checkpoints are marked, and the transaction is
executed then using the steps of the transaction, the log files will
be created.
o When it reaches to the checkpoint, then the transaction will be
updated into the database, and till that point, the entire log file
will be removed from the file. Then the log file is updated with
the new step of transaction till next checkpoint and so on.
o The checkpoint is used to declare a point before which the DBMS
was in the consistent state, and all transactions were committed.

Recovery using Checkpoint

In the following manner, a recovery system recovers the database from
this failure:
o The recovery system reads log files from the end to start. It reads
log files from T4 to T1.
o Recovery system maintains two lists, a redo-list, and an undo-list.
o The transaction is put into redo state if the recovery system sees
a log with <Tn, Start> and <Tn, Commit> or just <Tn, Commit>.
In the redo-list and their previous list, all the transactions are
removed and then redone before saving their logs.
o Example: In the log file, transaction T2 and T3 will have <Tn,
Start> and <Tn, Commit>. The T1 transaction will have only
<Tn, commit> in the log file. That's why the transaction is
committed after the checkpoint is crossed. Hence it puts T1, T2
and T3 transaction into redo list.
o The transaction is put into undo state if the recovery system sees
a log with <Tn, Start> but no commit or abort log found. In the
undo-list, all the transactions are undone, and their logs are
removed.
 o Example: Transaction T4 will have <Tn, Start>. So T4 will be
put into undo list since this transaction is not yet complete and
failed amid.

Concurrency Control
Concurrency Control is the working concept that is required for
controlling and managing the concurrent execution of database
operations and thus avoiding 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 be 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 read 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 during the 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 locks 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 roll 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, the existing lock held by the
transaction may be released, but no new locks can be acquired.

Two-phase Locking Protocol

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 the 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.
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 store 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 that 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 that have less number of rollbacks.

Thomas write Rule

Thomas Write Rule provides the guarantee of serializability order for
the protocol. It improves the Basic Timestamp Ordering Algorithm.

The basic Thomas write rules are as follows:

o If TS(T) < R_TS(X) then transaction T is aborted and rolled back,

and the operation is rejected.
o If TS(T) < W_TS(X) then don't execute the W_item(X) operation
of the transaction and continue processing.
o If neither condition 1 nor condition 2 occurs, then allowed to
execute the WRITE operation by transaction Ti and set W_TS(X)
to TS(T).

If we use the Thomas write rule then some serializable schedule can be
permitted that does not conflict serializable as illustrate by the
schedule in a given figure:
Figure: A Serializable Schedule that is not Conflict Serializable

In the above figure, T1's read and precedes T1's write of the same data
item. This schedule does not conflict serializable.

Thomas write rule checks that T2's write is never seen by any
transaction. If we delete the write operation in transaction T2, then
conflict serializable schedule can be obtained which is shown in below
figure.

Figure: A Conflict Serializable Schedule

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

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

Multiple Granularity:
o It can be defined as hierarchically breaking up the database into
blocks that can be locked.
o The Multiple Granularity protocol enhances concurrency and
reduces lock overhead.
o It maintains the track of what to lock and how to lock.
o It makes it 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.

For example: Consider a tree that has four levels of nodes.

o The first level or higher level shows the entire database.

o The second level represents a node of the type area. The higher-
level database consists of exactly these areas.
o The area consists of child nodes which are known as files. No file
can be present in more than one area.
o Finally, each file contains child nodes known as records. The file
has exactly those records that are its child nodes. No records are
represented in more than one file.
 o Hence, the levels of the tree starting from the top level are as
follows:
1. Database
2. Area
3. File
4. Record

In this example, the highest level shows the entire database. The levels
below are file, record, and fields.

There are three additional lock modes with multiple granularity:

Intention Mode Lock

Intention-shared (IS): It contains explicit locking at a lower level of

the tree but only with shared locks.

Intention-Exclusive (IX): It contains explicit locking at a lower level

with exclusive or shared locks.

Shared & Intention-Exclusive (SIX): In this lock, the node is locked

in shared mode, and some node is locked in exclusive mode by the same
transaction.

Compatibility Matrix with Intention Lock Modes: The below table

describes the compatibility matrix for these lock modes:

It uses the intention lock modes to ensure serializability. It requires that

if a transaction attempts to lock a node, then that node must follow these
protocols:

o Transaction T1 should follow the lock-compatibility matrix.

o Transaction T1 firstly locks the root of the tree. It can lock it in
any mode.
 o If T1 currently has the parent of the node locked in either IX or
IS mode, then the transaction T1 will lock a node in S or IS mode
only.
o If T1 currently has the parent of the node locked in either IX or
SIX modes, then the transaction T1 will lock a node in X, SIX, or
IX mode only.
o If T1 has not previously unlocked any node only, then the
Transaction T1 can lock a node.
o If T1 currently has none of the children of the node-locked only,
then Transaction T1 will unlock a node.

Observe that in multiple-granularity, the locks are acquired in top-

down order, and locks must be released in bottom-up order.

o If transaction T1 reads record Ra9 in file Fa, then transaction T1

needs to lock the database, area A1 and file Fa in IX mode.
Finally, it needs to lock Ra2 in S mode.
o If transaction T2 modifies record Ra9 in file Fa, then it can do so
after locking the database, area A1 and file Fa in IX mode. Finally,
it needs to lock the Ra9 in X mode.
o If transaction T3 reads all the records in file Fa, then transaction
T3 needs to lock the database, and area A in IS mode. At last, it
needs to lock Fa in S mode.
o If transaction T4 reads the entire database, then T4 needs to lock
the database in S mode.
Recovery with Concurrent Transaction
o Whenever more than one transaction is being executed, then the
interleaved of logs occur. During recovery, it would become
difficult for the recovery system to backtrack all logs and then
start recovering.
o To ease this situation, 'checkpoint' concept is used by most
DBMS.

Deadlock in DBMS:
A deadlock is a condition where two or more transactions are waiting
indefinitely for one another to give up locks. Deadlock is said to be one
of the most feared complications in DBMS as no task ever gets finished
and is in a waiting state forever.

For example: In the student table, transaction T1 holds a lock on some

rows and needs to update some rows in the grade table. Simultaneously,
transaction T2 holds locks on some rows in the grade table and needs
to update the rows in the Student table held by Transaction T1.

Now, the main problem arises. Now Transaction T1 is waiting for T2

to release its lock and similarly, transaction T2 is waiting for T1 to
release its lock. All activities come to a halt state and remain at a
standstill. It will remain in a standstill until the DBMS detects the
deadlock and aborts one of the transactions.
Deadlock Avoidance:

o When a database is stuck in a deadlock state, then it is better to

avoid the database rather than aborting or restating the database.
This is a waste of time and resource.
o Deadlock avoidance mechanism is used to detect any deadlock
situation in advance. A method like "wait for graph" is used for
detecting the deadlock situation but this method is suitable only
for the smaller database. For the larger database, the deadlock
prevention method can be used.

Deadlock Detection
In a database, when a transaction waits indefinitely to obtain a lock,
then the DBMS should detect whether the transaction is involved in a
deadlock or not. The lock manager maintains a Wait for the graph to
detect the deadlock cycle in the database.
Wait for Graph

o This is the suitable method for deadlock detection. In this method,

a graph is created based on the transaction and their lock. If the
created graph has a cycle or closed loop, then there is a deadlock.
o The wait for the graph is maintained by the system for every
transaction which is waiting for some data held by the others. The
system keeps checking the graph if there is any cycle in the graph.

The wait for a graph for the above scenario is shown below:

Deadlock Prevention:

o Deadlock prevention method is suitable for a large database. If

the resources are allocated in such a way that deadlock never
occurs, then the deadlock can be prevented.
 o The Database management system analyzes the operations of the
transaction whether they can create a deadlock situation or not. If
they do, then the DBMS never allowed that transaction to be
executed.

Wait-Die scheme:
In this scheme, if a transaction requests for a resource which is already
held with a conflicting lock by another transaction then the DBMS
simply checks the timestamp of both transactions. It allows the older
transaction to wait until the resource is available for execution.

Let's assume there are two transactions Ti and Tj and let TS(T) is a
timestamp of any transaction T. If T2 holds a lock by some other
transaction and T1 is requesting for resources held by T2 then the
following actions are performed by DBMS:

1. Check if TS(Ti) < TS(Tj) - If Ti is the older transaction and Tj

has held some resource, then Ti is allowed to wait until the data-
item is available for execution. That means if the older transaction
is waiting for a resource which is locked by the younger
transaction, then the older transaction is allowed to wait for
resource until it is available.
2. Check if TS(Ti) < TS(Tj) - If Ti is older transaction and has held
some resource and if Tj is waiting for it, then Tj is killed and
restarted later with the random delay but with the same
timestamp.
Wound wait scheme:

o In wound wait scheme, if the older transaction requests for a

resource which is held by the younger transaction, then older
transaction forces younger one to kill the transaction and release
the resource. After the minute delay, the younger transaction is
restarted but with the same timestamp.
o If the older transaction has held a resource which is requested by
the Younger transaction, then the younger transaction is asked to
wait until older releases it.

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.
Example:

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.

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 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.

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.

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 TY 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.
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 TX, it reads two different
values of account A, i.e., $ 300 initially, and after updation made
by transaction TY, 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.