Unit IV

Introduction to Transaction
Processing Concepts and Theory
Chapter Outline

1 Introduction to Transaction Processing

2 Transaction and System Concepts
3 Desirable Properties of Transactions

Slide 17- 2
1 Introduction to Transaction
Processing (1)
 Single-User System:

At most one user at a time can use the system.
 Multiuser System:

Many users can access the system concurrently.
 Concurrency

Interleaved processing:

Concurrent execution of processes is interleaved in
a single CPU

Parallel processing:

Processes are concurrently executed in multiple
CPUs.

Slide 17- 3
Introduction to Transaction Processing (2)
 A Transaction:

Logical unit of database processing that includes one or more
access operations (read -retrieval, write - insert or update,
delete).
 A transaction (set of operations) may be stand-alone
specified in a high level language like SQL submitted
interactively, or may be embedded within a program.
 Transaction boundaries:

Begin and End transaction.
 An application program may contain several
transactions separated by the Begin and End transaction
boundaries.

Slide 17- 4
Introduction to Transaction Processing (3)
SIMPLE MODEL OF A DATABASE (for purposes of
discussing transactions):
 A database is a collection of named data items

 Granularity of data - a field, a record , or a whole disk

block (Concepts are independent of granularity)

 Basic operations are read and write

 read_item(X): Reads a database item named X into a

program variable. To simplify our notation, we 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.

Slide 17- 5
Introduction to Transaction Processing (4)
READ AND WRITE OPERATIONS:
 Basic unit of data transfer from the disk to the computer

main memory is one block. In general, a data item (what

is read or written) will be the field of some record in the
database, although it may be a larger unit such as a
record or even a whole block.
 read_item(X) command includes the following steps:

Find the address of the disk block that contains item X.

Copy that disk block into a buffer in main memory (if that disk
block is not already in some main memory buffer).

Copy item X from the buffer to the program variable named X.

Slide 17- 6
Introduction to Transaction Processing (5)
READ AND WRITE OPERATIONS (contd.):
 write_item(X) command includes the following steps:

Find the address of the disk block that contains item X.

Copy that disk block into a buffer in main memory (if that disk
block is not already in some main memory buffer).

Copy item X from the program variable named X into its correct
location in the buffer.

Store the updated block from the buffer back to disk (either
immediately or at some later point in time).

Slide 17- 7
Two sample transactions
 FIGURE 17.2 Two sample transactions:

(a) Transaction T1

(b) Transaction T2

Slide 17- 8
Introduction to Transaction Processing (6)
Why Concurrency Control is needed:
 The Lost Update Problem

This occurs when two transactions that access the same database
items have their operations interleaved in a way that makes the value
of some database item incorrect.
 The Temporary Update (or Dirty Read) Problem

This occurs when one transaction updates a database item and then
the transaction fails for some reason.

The updated item is accessed by another transaction before it is
changed back to its original value.
 The Incorrect Summary Problem

If one transaction is calculating an aggregate summary function on a
number of records while other transactions are updating some of
these records, the aggregate function may calculate some values
before they are updated and others after they are updated.

Slide 17- 9
Concurrent execution is uncontrolled:
(a) The lost update problem.

Slide 17- 10
Concurrent execution is uncontrolled:
(b) The temporary update problem.

Slide 17- 11
Concurrent execution is uncontrolled:
(c) The incorrect summary problem.

Slide 17- 12
Processing (12)

Why recovery is needed:

(What causes a Transaction to fail)
1. A computer failure (system crash):
A hardware or software error occurs in the computer
system during transaction execution. If the hardware
crashes, the contents of the computer’s internal
memory may be lost.
2. A transaction or system error:
Some operation in the transaction may cause it to fail,
such as integer overflow or division by zero.
Transaction failure may also occur because of
erroneous parameter values or because of a logical
programming error. In addition, the user may
interrupt the transaction during its execution.

Slide 17- 13
Introduction to Transaction
Processing (13)
Why recovery is needed (Contd.):
(What causes a Transaction to fail)
3. Local errors or exception conditions detected by the
transaction:
Certain conditions necessitate cancellation of the transaction.
For example, data for the transaction may not be found. A
condition, such as insufficient account balance in a banking
database, may cause a transaction, such as a fund
withdrawal from that account, to be canceled.
A programmed abort in the transaction causes it to fail.
4. Concurrency control enforcement:
The concurrency control method may decide to abort the
transaction, to be restarted later, because it violates
serializability or because several transactions are in a state
of deadlock .

Slide 17- 14
Introduction to Transaction
Processing (14)
Why recovery is needed (contd.):
(What causes a Transaction to fail)
5. Disk failure:
Some disk blocks may lose their data because of a
read or write malfunction or because of a disk
read/write head crash. This may happen during a
read or a write operation of the transaction.
6. Physical problems and catastrophes:
This refers to an endless list of problems that includes
power or air-conditioning failure, fire, theft,
sabotage, overwriting disks or tapes by mistake,
and mounting of a wrong tape by the operator.

Slide 17- 15
2 Transaction and System Concepts (1)
 A transaction is an atomic unit of work that is
either completed in its entirety or not done at all.

For recovery purposes, the system needs to
keep track of when the transaction starts,
terminates, and commits or aborts.
 Transaction states:

Active state

Partially committed state

Committed state

Failed state

Terminated State

Slide 17- 16
State transition diagram illustrating
the states for transaction execution

Slide 17- 17
Transaction and System Concepts (2)
 Recovery manager keeps track of the following
operations:

begin_transaction: This marks the beginning of transaction
execution.

read or write: These specify read or write operations on the
database items that are executed as part of a transaction.

end_transaction: This specifies that read and write
transaction operations have ended and marks the end limit of
transaction execution.

At this point it may be necessary to check whether the
changes introduced by the transaction can be permanently
applied to the database or whether the transaction has to be
aborted because it violates concurrency control or for some
other reason.

Slide 17- 18
Transaction and System Concepts (3)
 Recovery manager keeps track of the following
operations (cont):
 commit_transaction: This signals a successful
end of the transaction so that any changes
(updates) executed by the transaction can be
safely committed to the database and will not be
undone.
 rollback (or abort): This signals that the
transaction has ended unsuccessfully, so that any
changes or effects that the transaction may have
applied to the database must be undone.
Slide 17- 19
Transaction and System Concepts (4)
 Recovery techniques use the following operators:
 undo: Similar to rollback except that it applies to a
single operation rather than to a whole transaction.
 redo: This specifies that certain transaction
operations must be redone to ensure that all the
operations of a committed transaction have been
applied successfully to the database.

Slide 17- 20
Transaction and System Concepts (6)
 The System Log
 Log or Journal: The log keeps track of all
transaction operations that affect the values of
database items.

This information may be needed to permit recovery
from transaction failures.

The log is kept on disk, so it is not affected by any
type of failure except for disk or catastrophic failure.

In addition, the log is periodically backed up to
archival storage (tape) to guard against such
catastrophic failures.

Slide 17- 21
Transaction and System Concepts (7)
 The System Log (cont):

T in the following discussion refers to a unique transaction-id
that is generated automatically by the system and is used to
identify each transaction:

Types of log record:

[start_transaction,T]: Records that transaction T has started
execution.

[write_item,T,X,old_value,new_value]: Records that
transaction T has changed the value of database item X from
old_value to new_value.

[read_item,T,X]: Records that transaction T has read the
value of database item X.

[commit,T]: Records that transaction T has completed
successfully, and affirms that its effect can be committed
(recorded permanently) to the database.

[abort,T]: Records that transaction T has been aborted.

Slide 17- 22
Transaction and System Concepts (8)
 The System Log (cont):
 Protocols for recovery that avoid cascading
rollbacks do not require that read operations be
written to the system log, whereas other protocols
require these entries for recovery.
 Strict protocols require simpler write entries that do
not include new_value (see Section 17.4).

Slide 17- 23
Transaction and System Concepts (9)
Recovery using log records:
 If the system crashes, we can recover to a consistent
database state by examining the log and using one of
the techniques described in Chapter 19.
1. Because the log contains a record of every write operation
that changes the value of some database item, it is possible
to undo the effect of these write operations of a transaction T
by tracing backward through the log and resetting all items
changed by a write operation of T to their old_values.
2. We can also redo the effect of the write operations of a
transaction T by tracing forward through the log and setting
all items changed by a write operation of T (that did not get
done permanently) to their new_values.

Slide 17- 24
Transaction and System Concepts (10)
Commit Point of a Transaction:
 Definition a Commit Point:

A transaction T reaches its commit point when all its
operations that access the database have been executed
successfully and the effect of all the transaction operations on
the database has been recorded in the log.

Beyond the commit point, the transaction is said to be
committed, and its effect is assumed to be permanently
recorded in the database.

The transaction then writes an entry [commit,T] into the log.
 Roll Back of transactions:

Needed for transactions that have a [start_transaction,T] entry
into the log but no commit entry [commit,T] into the log.

Slide 17- 25
Transaction and System Concepts (11)
Commit Point of a Transaction (cont):
 Redoing transactions:

Transactions that have written their commit entry in the log must
also have recorded all their write operations in the log; otherwise
they would not be committed, so their effect on the database can
be redone from the log entries. (Notice that the log file must be
kept on disk.

At the time of a system crash, only the log entries that have been
written back to disk are considered in the recovery process
because the contents of main memory may be lost.)
 Force writing a log:

Before a transaction reaches its commit point, any portion of the
log that has not been written to the disk yet must now be written to
the disk.

This process is called force-writing the log file before committing a
transaction.

Slide 17- 26
3 Desirable Properties of Transactions (1)
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: A transaction should not make its updates visible to other

transactions until it is committed; this property, when enforced strictly,

solves the temporary update problem and makes cascading rollbacks
of transactions unnecessary (see Chapter 21).
 Durability or permanency: Once a transaction changes the

database and the changes are committed, these changes must never
be lost because of subsequent failure.

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