Module 7: Distributed Databases

Distributed Databases
• Heterogeneous and Homogeneous Databases
• Distributed Data Storage
• Distributed Transactions
• Commit Protocols
• Availability
• Distributed Query Processing
 Distributed Database System

• A distributed database system consists of

loosely coupled sites that share no physical
component
• Database systems that run on each site are
independent of each other
• Transactions may access data at one or more
sites
Homogeneous Distributed Databases
• In a homogeneous distributed database
– All sites have identical software
– Are aware of each other and agree to cooperate in processing
user requests.
– Each site surrenders part of its autonomy in terms of right to
change schemas or software
– Appears to user as a single system
• In a heterogeneous distributed database
– Different sites may use different schemas and software
• Difference in schema is a major problem for query processing
• Difference in software is a major problem for transaction processing
– Sites may not be aware of each other and may provide only
limited facilities for cooperation in transaction processing
 Distributed Data Storage
• Assume relational data model
• Replication
– System maintains multiple copies of data, stored in different
sites, for faster retrieval and fault tolerance.
• Fragmentation
– Relation is partitioned into several fragments stored in
distinct sites
• Replication and fragmentation can be combined
– Relation is partitioned into several fragments: system
maintains several identical replicas of each such fragment.
 Data Replication
• A relation or fragment of a relation is
replicated if it is stored redundantly in two
or more sites.
• Full replication of a relation is the case
where the relation is stored at all sites.
• Fully redundant databases are those in
which every site contains a copy of the
entire database.
 Data Replication…
• Advantages of Replication
– Availability: failure of site containing relation r does not result in
unavailability of r is replicas exist.
– Parallelism: queries on r may be processed by several nodes in
parallel.
– Reduced data transfer: relation r is available locally at each site
containing a replica of r.
• Disadvantages of Replication
– Increased cost of updates: each replica of relation r must be updated.
– Increased complexity of concurrency control: concurrent updates to
distinct replicas may lead to inconsistent data unless special
concurrency control mechanisms are implemented.
• One solution: choose one copy as primary copy and apply concurrency
control operations on primary copy
 Data Fragmentation
• Division of relation r into fragments r1, r2, …, rn
which contain sufficient information to
reconstruct relation r.
• Horizontal fragmentation: each tuple of r is
assigned to one or more fragments
• Vertical fragmentation: the schema for
relation r is split into several smaller schemas
– All schemas must contain a common candidate
key (or superkey) to ensure lossless join property.
– A special attribute, the tuple-id attribute may be
added to each schema to serve as a candidate key.
 Horizontal Fragmentation of account Relation

branch_name account_number balance

Aratkillo A-305 500

Aratkillo A-226 336
AratKillo A-155 62

account1 = branch_name=“AratKillo” (account )

branch_name account_number balance

KidistSilassie A-177 205

KidistSilassie A-402 10000
KidistSilassie A-408 1123
KidistSilassie A-639 750

account2 = branch_name=“KidistSillasie” (account )

 Vertical Fragmentation of employee_info Relation

branch_name customer_name tuple_id

Aratkillo Tesfaye 1
Aratkillo Yonas 2
Kidistsilassie Zekarias 3
Kidistsilassie Abebe 4
AratKillo Ayele 5
Kidistsilassie Getahun 6
Kidistsilassie Yared 7
deposit1 = branch_name, customer_name, tuple_id (employee_info )
account_number balance tuple_id

A-305 500 1
A-226 336 2
A-177 205 3
A-402 10000 4
A-155 62 5
A-408 1123 6
A-639 750 7
deposit2 = account_number, balance, tuple_id (employee_info )
 Advantages of Fragmentation
• Horizontal:
– allows parallel processing on fragments of a relation
– allows a relation to be split so that tuples are located where
they are most frequently accessed
• Vertical:
– allows tuples to be split so that each part of the tuple is stored
where it is most frequently accessed
– tuple-id attribute allows efficient joining of vertical fragments
– allows parallel processing on a relation
• Vertical and horizontal fragmentation can be mixed.
– Fragments may be successively fragmented to an arbitrary
depth.
 Data Transparency
• Data transparency: Degree to which system
user may remain unaware of the details of
how and where the data items are stored in
a distributed system
• Consider transparency issues in relation to:
– Fragmentation transparency
– Replication transparency
– Location transparency
 Distributed Transactions
• Transaction may access data at several sites.
• Each site has a local transaction manager responsible for:
– Maintaining a log for recovery purposes
– Participating in coordinating the concurrent execution of the
transactions executing at that site.
• Each site has a transaction coordinator, which is responsible for:
– Starting the execution of transactions that originate at the site.
– Distributing subtransactions at appropriate sites for execution.
– Coordinating the termination of each transaction that originates at the
site, which may result in the transaction being committed at all sites or
aborted at all sites.
Transaction System Architecture
 System Failure Modes
• Failures unique to distributed systems:
– Failure of a site.
– Loss of messages
• Handled by network transmission control protocols such as TCP/IP
– Failure of a communication link
• Handled by network protocols, by routing messages via alternative links
– Network partition
• A network is said to be partitioned when it has been split into two or
more subsystems that lack any connection between them
– Note: a subsystem may consist of a single node

• Network partitioning and site failures are generally

indistinguishable.
 Commit Protocols
• Commit protocols are used to ensure
atomicity across sites
– a transaction which executes at multiple sites
must either be committed at all the sites, or
aborted at all the sites.
– not acceptable to have a transaction committed at
one site and aborted at another
• The two-phase commit (2PC) protocol is
widely used
 Two Phase Commit Protocol (2PC)
• Assumes fail-stop model – failed sites simply stop
working, and do not cause any other harm, such as
sending incorrect messages to other sites.
• Execution of the protocol is initiated by the coordinator
after the last step of the transaction has been reached.
• The protocol involves all the local sites at which the
transaction executed
• Let T be a transaction initiated at site Si, and let the
transaction coordinator at Si be Ci
 Phase 1: Obtaining a Decision
• Coordinator asks all participants to prepare to commit
transaction Ti.
– Ci adds the records <prepare T> to the log and forces log to stable
storage
– sends prepare T messages to all sites at which T executed
• Upon receiving message, transaction manager at site determines
if it can commit the transaction
– if not, add a record <no T> to the log and send abort T message to Ci
– if the transaction can be committed, then:
– add the record <ready T> to the log
– force all records for T to stable storage
– send ready T message to Ci
 Phase 2: Recording the Decision
• T can be committed of Ci received a ready T message
from all the participating sites: otherwise T must be
aborted.
• Coordinator adds a decision record, <commit T> or
<abort T>, to the log and forces record onto stable
storage. Once the record stable storage it is
irrevocable (even if failures occur)
• Coordinator sends a message to each participant
informing it of the decision (commit or abort)
• Participants take appropriate action locally.
 Availability
• High availability: time for which system is not fully usable should
be extremely low (e.g. 99.99% availability)
• Robustness: ability of system to function inspite of failures of
components
• Failures are more likely in large distributed systems
• To be robust, a distributed system must
– Detect failures
– Reconfigure the system so computation may continue
– Recovery/reintegration when a site or link is repaired
• Failure detection: distinguishing link failure from site failure is hard
– (partial) solution: have multiple links, multiple link failure is likely a site
failure
 Distributed Query Processing
• For centralized systems, the primary criterion
for measuring the cost of a particular strategy
is the number of disk accesses.
• In a distributed system, other issues must be
taken into account:
– The cost of a data transmission over the network.
– The potential gain in performance from having
several sites process parts of the query in parallel.
 Query Transformation
• Translating algebraic queries on fragments.
– It must be possible to construct relation r from its fragments
– Replace relation r by the expression to construct relation r from its
fragments
• Consider the horizontal fragmentation of the account relation into
account1 =  branch_name = “AratKillo” (account )
account2 =  branch_name = “KidistSillasie” (account )
• The query  branch_name = “AratKillo” (account ) becomes
 branch_name = “AratKillo” (account1  account2)
which is optimized into
 branch_name = “AratKillo” (account1)   branch_name = “AratKillo” (account2)
 Example Query (Cont.)
• Since account1 has only tuples pertaining to the AratKillo
branch, we can eliminate the selection operation.
• Apply the definition of account2 to obtain
 branch_name = “AratKillo” ( branch_name = “KidistSilassie” (account )

• This expression is the empty set regardless of the contents of

the account relation.
• Final strategy is for the AratKillo site to return account1 as the
result of the query.
 Presentation Topics
• Replication in MS-SQL Server
• Fragmentation in MS-SQL Server
Project Template
 Project Template
• Background (1 pt)
• Functional Requirements (2 pts)
• E-R diagram (3 pts)
• Mapping E-R diagram into relational schemas (3 pts)
• Normalizing the relations up to BCNF (3pts)
• Implementation ( 3pts)
– Use Check constraints and triggers as appropriate