Distributed Databases

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 Learning Objectives
• Concepts.
• Advantages and disadvantages of
distributed databases.
• Functions and architecture for a
DDBMS.
• Distributed database design.
• Levels of transparency.
• Comparison criteria for DDBMSs.

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 Acknowledgments
• These slides have been adapted from Thomas
Connolly and Carolyn Begg

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Concepts
Distributed Database
A logically interrelated collection of shared
data (and a description of this data), physically
distributed over a computer network.

Distributed DBMS
Software system that permits the management
of the distributed database and makes the
distribution transparent to users.

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Concepts
• Collection of logically-related shared data.
• Data split into fragments.
• Fragments may be replicated.
• Fragments/replicas allocated to sites.
• Sites linked by a communications network.
• Data at each site is under control of a DBMS.
• DBMSs handle local applications autonomously.
• Each DBMS participates in at least one global
application.

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 Distributed DBMS

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Distributed Processing
A centralized database that can be accessed
over a computer network.

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 Parallel DBMS
A DBMS running across multiple processors and
disks designed to execute operations in parallel,
whenever possible, to improve performance.
• Based on premise that single processor systems
can no longer meet requirements for cost-effective
scalability, reliability, and performance.
• Parallel DBMSs link multiple, smaller machines to
achieve same throughput as single, larger
machine, with greater scalability and reliability.

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Advantages of DDBMSs
• Reflects organizational structure
• Improved shareability and local autonomy
• Improved availability
• Improved reliability
• Improved performance
• Economics
• Modular growth

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Disadvantages of DDBMSs
• Complexity
• Cost
• Security
• Integrity control more difficult
• Lack of standards
• Lack of experience
• Database design more complex

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Types of DDBMS
• Homogeneous DDBMS
• Heterogeneous DDBMS

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Homogeneous DDBMS
• All sites use same DBMS product.
• Much easier to design and manage.
• Approach provides incremental growth
and allows increased performance.

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 Heterogeneous DDBMS
• Sites may run different DBMS products, with
possibly different underlying data models.
• Occurs when sites have implemented their own
databases and integration is considered later.
• Translations required to allow for:
– Different hardware.
– Different DBMS products.
– Different hardware and different DBMS products.
• Typical solution is to use gateways.

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Open Database Access and
Interoperability
• Open Group has formed a Working
Group to provide specifications that will
create database infrastructure
environment where there is:
– Common SQL API that allows client applications to
be written that do not need to know vendor of DBMS
they are accessing.
– Common database protocol that enables DBMS from
one vendor to communicate directly with DBMS from
another vendor without the need for a gateway.

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Open Database Access and
Interoperability
– A common network protocol that allows
communications between different DBMSs.

• Most ambitious goal is to find a way to

enable transaction to span DBMSs from
different vendors without use of a
gateway.

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 Multidatabase System (MDBS)
DDBMS in which each site maintains complete
autonomy.
• DBMS that resides transparently on top of
existing database and file systems and presents
a single database to its users.
• Allows users to access and share data without
requiring physical database integration.
• Unfederated MDBS (no local users) and
federated MDBS.

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 Overview of Networking
Network - Interconnected collection of
autonomous computers, capable of
exchanging information.
• Local Area Network (LAN) intended for
connecting computers at same site.
• Wide Area Network (WAN) used when
computers or LANs need to be connected over
long distances.
• WAN relatively slow and less reliable than
LANs. DDBMS using LAN provides much
faster response time than
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one using WAN.
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 Overview of Networking

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 Functions of a DDBMS
• Expect DDBMS to have at least the
functionality of a DBMS.
• Also to have following functionality:
– Extended communication services.
– Extended Data Dictionary.
– Distributed query processing.
– Extended concurrency control.
– Extended recovery services.

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 Reference Architecture for
DDBMS
• Due to diversity, no accepted architecture
equivalent to ANSI/SPARC 3-level architecture.
• A reference architecture consists of:
– Set of global external schemas.
– Global conceptual schema (GCS).
– Fragmentation schema and allocation schema.
– Set of schemas for each local DBMS conforming to 3-level
ANSI/SPARC.
• Some levels may be missing, depending on levels
of transparency supported.

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Reference Architecture for
DDBMS

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 Reference Architecture for MDBS
• In DDBMS, GCS is union of all local conceptual
schemas.
• In FMDBS, GCS is subset of local conceptual
schemas (LCS), consisting of data that each local
system agrees to share.
• GCS of tightly coupled system involves
integration of either parts of LCSs or local
external schemas.
• FMDBS with no GCS is called loosely coupled.

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 Reference Architecture for
Tightly-Coupled FMDBS

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Distributed Database Design
• Three key issues:
– Fragmentation,
– Allocation,
– Replication.

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Distributed Database Design
Fragmentation
Relation may be divided into a number of sub-relations,
which are then distributed.
Allocation
Each fragment is stored at site with “optimal”
distribution.
Replication
Copy of fragment may be maintained at several sites.

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 Fragmentation
• Definition and allocation of fragments carried out
strategically to achieve:
– Locality of Reference.
– Improved Reliability and Availability.
– Improved Performance.
– Balanced Storage Capacities and Costs.
– Minimal Communication Costs.
• Involves analyzing most important applications,
based on quantitative/qualitative information.

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 Fragmentation
• Quantitative information may include:
– frequency with which an application is run;
– site from which an application is run;
– performance criteria for transactions and
applications.

• Qualitative information may include

transactions that are executed by application,
type of access (read or write), and predicates of
read operations.

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Data Allocation
• Four alternative strategies regarding
placement of data:
– Centralized,
– Partitioned (or Fragmented),
– Complete Replication,
– Selective Replication.

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 Data Allocation
Centralized
Consists of single database and DBMS stored at
one site with users distributed across the
network.

Partitioned
Database partitioned into disjoint fragments,
each fragment assigned to one site.

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 Data Allocation
Complete Replication
Consists of maintaining complete copy of
database at each site.

Selective Replication
Combination of partitioning, replication, and
centralization.

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Comparison of Strategies for
Data Distribution

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 Why Fragment?
• Usage
– Applications work with views rather than
entire relations.
• Efficiency
– Data is stored close to where it is most
frequently used.
– Data that is not needed by local applications is
not stored.

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 Why Fragment?
• Parallelism
– With fragments as unit of distribution,
transaction can be divided into several
subqueries that operate on fragments.
• Security
– Data not required by local applications is not
stored and so not available to unauthorized
users.

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Why Fragment?
• Disadvantages
– Performance,
– Integrity.

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Correctness of Fragmentation
• Three correctness rules:
– Completeness,
– Reconstruction,
– Disjointness.

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Correctness of Fragmentation
Completeness
If relation R is decomposed into fragments R1, R2, ...
Rn, each data item that can be found in R must appear
in at least one fragment.
Reconstruction
• Must be possible to define a relational operation
that will reconstruct R from the fragments.
• Reconstruction for horizontal fragmentation is
Union operation and Join for vertical .

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Correctness of Fragmentation
Disjointness
• If data item di appears in fragment Ri, then it
should not appear in any other fragment.
• Exception: vertical fragmentation, where
primary key attributes must be repeated to
allow reconstruction.
• For horizontal fragmentation, data item is a
tuple.
• For vertical fragmentation, data item is an
attribute.
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 Types of Fragmentation
• Four types of fragmentation:
– Horizontal,
– Vertical,
– Mixed,
– Derived.

• Other possibility is no fragmentation:

– If relation is small and not updated frequently, may be
better not to fragment relation.

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Transparencies in a DDBMS
• Distribution Transparency
– Fragmentation Transparency
– Location Transparency
– Replication Transparency
– Local Mapping Transparency
– Naming Transparency

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Transparencies in a DDBMS
• Transaction Transparency
– Concurrency Transparency
– Failure Transparency

• Performance Transparency
– DBMS Transparency

• DBMS Transparency

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Distribution Transparency
• Distribution transparency allows user to
perceive database as single, logical entity.
• If DDBMS exhibits distribution
transparency, user does not need to know:
– data is fragmented (fragmentation transparency),
– location of data items (location transparency),
– otherwise call this local mapping transparency.
• With replication transparency, user is
unaware of replication of fragments .
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Naming Transparency
• Each item in a DDB must have a unique name.
• DDBMS must ensure that no two sites create a
database object with same name.
• One solution is to create central name server.
However, this results in:
– loss of some local autonomy;
– central site may become a bottleneck;
– low availability; if the central site fails, remaining sites
cannot create any new objects.

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 Naming Transparency
• Alternative solution - prefix object with identifier
of site that created it.
• For example, Branch created at site S1 might be
named S1.BRANCH.
• Also need to identify each fragment and its
copies.
• Thus, copy 2 of fragment 3 of Branch created at
site S1 might be referred to as
S1.BRANCH.F3.C2.
• However, this results in loss of distribution
transparency.
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Naming Transparency
• An approach that resolves these problems
uses aliases for each database object.
• Thus, S1.BRANCH.F3.C2 might be known
as LocalBranch by user at site S1.
• DDBMS has task of mapping an alias to
appropriate database object.

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Transaction Transparency
• Ensures that all distributed transactions maintain
distributed database’s integrity and consistency.
• Distributed transaction accesses data stored at
more than one location.
• Each transaction is divided into number of
subtransactions, one for each site that has to be
accessed.
• DDBMS must ensure the indivisibility of both the
global transaction and each of the subtransactions.

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 Example - Distributed
Transaction
• T prints out names of all staff, using
schema defined above as S1, S2, S21, S22,
and S23. Define three subtransactions TS3,
TS5, and TS7 to represent agents at sites 3,
5, and 7.

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 Concurrency Transparency
• All transactions must execute independently and
be logically consistent with results obtained if
transactions executed one at a time, in some
arbitrary serial order.
• Same fundamental principles as for centralized
DBMS.
• DDBMS must ensure both global and local
transactions do not interfere with each other.
• Similarly, DDBMS must ensure consistency of all
subtransactions of global transaction.

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 Classification of Transactions
• In IBM’s Distributed Relational Database
Architecture (DRDA), four types of
transactions:
– Remote request
– Remote unit of work
– Distributed unit of work
– Distributed request.

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Classification of Transactions

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 Concurrency Transparency
• Replication makes concurrency more complex.
• If a copy of a replicated data item is updated,
update must be propagated to all copies.
• Could propagate changes as part of original
transaction, making it an atomic operation.
• However, if one site holding copy is not
reachable, then transaction is delayed until site is
reachable.

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Concurrency Transparency
• Could limit update propagation to only those
sites currently available. Remaining sites
updated when they become available again.
• Could allow updates to copies to happen
asynchronously, sometime after the original
update. Delay in regaining consistency may
range from a few seconds to several hours.

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 Failure Transparency
• DDBMS must ensure atomicity and durability of
global transaction.
• Means ensuring that subtransactions of global
transaction either all commit or all abort.
• Thus, DDBMS must synchronize global
transaction to ensure that all subtransactions
have completed successfully before recording a
final COMMIT for global transaction.
• Must do this in presence of site and network
failures.

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 Performance Transparency
• DDBMS must perform as if it were a
centralized DBMS.
– DDBMS should not suffer any performance
degradation due to distributed architecture.
– DDBMS should determine most cost-effective
strategy to execute a request.

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 Performance Transparency
• Distributed Query Processor (DQP) maps data
request into ordered sequence of operations on
local databases.
• Must consider fragmentation, replication, and
allocation schemas.
• DQP has to decide:
– which fragment to access;
– which copy of a fragment to use;
– which location to use.

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 Performance Transparency
• DQP produces execution strategy
optimized with respect to some cost
function.
• Typically, costs associated with a
distributed request include:
– I/O cost;
– CPU cost;
– communication cost.

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 Performance Transparency -
Example
Property(propNo, city) 10000 records in London
Client(clientNo,maxPrice) 100000 records in Glasgow
Viewing(propNo, clientNo) 1000000 records in London

SELECT p.propNo
FROM Property p INNER JOIN
(Client c INNER JOIN Viewing v ON c.clientNo = v.clientNo)
ON p.propNo = v.propNo
WHERE p.city=‘Aberdeen’ AND c.maxPrice > 200000;

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 Performance Transparency -
Example
Assume:
• Each tuple in each relation is 100 characters
long.
• 10 renters with maximum price greater than
£200,000.
• 100 000 viewings for properties in Aberdeen.
• Computation time negligible compared to
communication time.

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Performance Transparency -
Example

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 Date’s 12 Rules for a DDBMS
0. Fundamental Principle
To the user, a distributed system should look exactly
like a nondistributed system.
1. Local Autonomy
2. No Reliance on a Central Site
3. Continuous Operation
4. Location Independence
5. Fragmentation Independence
6. Replication Independence

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Date’s 12 Rules for a DDBMS
7. Distributed Query Processing
8. Distributed Transaction Processing
9. Hardware Independence
10. Operating System Independence
11. Network Independence
12. Database Independence

• Last four rules are ideals.

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