On Being Optimistic about Real-Time Constraints.pdf

On Being Optimistic about Real-Time Constraints Jayant R. Hat-ha Michael J. Carey Miron Livny Computer Sciences Department University of Wisconsin Madison, WI 53706 ABSTRACT - Performance studies of concurrency control algorithms for conventional database systems have shown that, under most operating circumstances, locking protocols outper- form optimistic techniques. Real-time database systems have special characteristics - timing constraints are associated with transactions, performance criteria are based on satisfaction of these timing constraints, and scheduling algorithms are priority driven. In light of these special characteristics, results regarding the performance of concurrency control algorithms need to be re-evaluated. We show in this paper that the following parame- ters of the real-time database system - its policy for dealing with transactions whose constraints are not met, its lolowledge of tran- saction resource requirements, and the availability of resources - have a significant impact on the relative performance of the con- currency control algorithms. In particular, we demonstrate that under a policy that discards transactions whose constraints are not met, optimistic concurrency control outperforms locking over a wide range of system utilization. We also outline why, for a variety of reasons, optimistic algorithms appear well-suited to real-time database systems. 1. INTRODUCTION We define a Real-Time Database System (RTDBS) to be a transaction processing system which attempts to satisfy the timing constraints associated with each incom- ing transaction. Typically, a constraint is expressed in the form of a deadline, that is, the user submitting the transac- tion would like it to be completed before a certain time in the future. Thus, greater value is associated with process- ing transactions before their deadlines as compared to completing them late. How early a transaction completes relative to its deadline