A Transaction Manager Component For Extended Transaction Models

George T. Heineman
Department of Computer Science
Columbia University

Friday, March 15, 1996
11 a.m. - 12 noon
Fuller Labs 320

Many researchers have argued that traditional Database Management Systems (DBMSs) are too restrictive for advanced database applications such as workflow management systems and software development environments. Collaboration is often hindered because standard database transactions operate in isolation from one another. For this reason, many extended transaction models (ETM) have been developed, but there is no consensus as to which is appropriate. In this talk I propose solutions to two problems: How to specify extended transaction models? How to implement (or support) an ETM?

I have designed and implemented a transaction manager component called PERN that provides extensible concurrency control. PERN employs a mediator-based architecture (much like functional callbacks) for flexible integration between the DBMS and the application. PERN can extract semantic information from the application to use when scheduling transactions. Using the CORD language, an administrator can specify the behavior of transactions within an extended transaction model. PERN then processes transactions according to the CORD specification, allowing transactions to cooperate as needed.

This topic is of interest to those who design advanced applications on top of a DBMS.

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Last modified: Sep 27, 2006, 16:05 EDT