Kanpur Institute of Technology, Kanpur

DBMS(KCS501). [Link] SINGH

Unit-5
1. Concurrency Control:

o In the concurrency control, the multiple transactions can be executed simultaneously.

o It may affect the transaction result. It is highly important to maintain the order of execution
of those transactions.

1.1Problems of concurrency control :

Several problems can occur when concurrent transactions are executed in an uncontrolled
manner. Following are the three problems in concurrency control.

1. Lost updates
2. Dirty read
3. Unrepeatable read

1. Lost update problem:

o When two transactions that access the same database items contain their operations in a
way that makes the value of some database item incorrect, then the lost update problem
occurs.

o If two transactions T1 and T2 read a record and then update it, then the effect of updating
of the first record will be overwritten by the second update.

Example:

Here,

o At time t2, transaction-X reads A's value.

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o At time t3, Transaction-Y reads A's value.

o At time t4, Transactions-X writes A's value on the basis of the value seen at time t2.

o At time t5, Transactions-Y writes A's value on the basis of the value seen at time t3.

o So at time T5, the update of Transaction-X is lost because Transaction y overwrites it

without looking at its current value.

o Such type of problem is known as Lost Update Problem as update made by one
transaction is lost here.

2. Dirty Read:

o The dirty read occurs in the case when one transaction updates an item of the database,
and then the transaction fails for some reason. The updated database item is accessed by
another transaction before it is changed back to the original value.

o A transaction T1 updates a record which is read by T2. If T1 aborts then T2 now has
values which have never formed part of the stable database.

Example:

At time t2, transaction-Y writes A's value.

At time t3, Transaction-X reads A's value.

At time t4, Transactions-Y rollbacks. So, it changes A's value back to that of prior to t1.

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So, Transaction-X now contains a value which has never become part of the stable
database.

Such type of problem is known as Dirty Read Problem, as one transaction reads a dirty
value which has not been committed.

3. Inconsistent Retrievals Problem:

o Inconsistent Retrievals Problem is also known as unrepeatable read. When a transaction

calculates some summary function over a set of data while the other transactions are
updating the data, then the Inconsistent Retrievals Problem occurs.

o A transaction T1 reads a record and then does some other processing during which the
transaction T2 updates the record. Now when the transaction T1 reads the record, then the
new value will be inconsistent with the previous value.

Example:

Suppose two transactions operate on three accounts.

o Transaction-X is doing the sum of all balance while transaction-Y is transferring an

amount 50 from Account-1 to Account-3.

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o Here, transaction-X produces the result of 550 which is incorrect. If we write this produced
result in the database, the database will become an inconsistent state because the actual
sum is 600.

o Here, transaction-X has seen an inconsistent state of the database.

2. Concurrency Control Protocol:

Concurrency control protocols ensure atomicity, isolation, and serializability of concurrent

transactions. The concurrency control protocol can be divided into three categories:

1. Lock based protocol

2. Time-stamp protocol
3. Validation based protocol

2.1 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 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 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.

2.1.1 There are four types of lock protocols available:

1. Simplistic lock protocol:

It is the simplest way of locking the data while 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.

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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 lock 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 rolls 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.

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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.

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.

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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.

2. 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.

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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.

3.1 Advantages and Disadvantages of TO protocol:

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

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

o But the schedule may not be recoverable and may not even be cascade- free.

3. 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.

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.

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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 which 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 which have less number of rollbacks.

5 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 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:

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

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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.

6 Multiple Granularity:

Let's start by understanding the meaning of granularity.

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

6.1 Multiple Granularity:

o It can be defined as hierarchically breaking up the database into blocks which 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 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 which has four levels of nodes.

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

o The second level represents a node of type area. The higher level database consists of
exactly these areas.

o The area consists of children 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 represent in more than one file.

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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.

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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.

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7 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.

As we have discussed checkpoint in Transaction Processing Concept of this tutorial, so you

can go through the concepts again to make things more clear.

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