Report Number: CS-TR-92-1432
Institution: Stanford University, Department of Computer Science
Title: Overview of multidatabase transaction management
Author: Breitbart, Yuri
Author: Garcia-Molina, Hector
Author: Silberschatz, Avi
Date: October 1993
Abstract: A multidatabase system (MDBS) is a facility that allows users access to data located in multiple autonomous database management systems (DBMSs). In such a system, global transactions are executed under the control of the MDBS. Independently, local transactions are executed under the control of the local DBMSs. Each local DBMS integrated by the MDBS may employ a different transaction management scheme. In addition, each local DBMS has complete control over all transactions (global and local) executing at its site, including the ability to abort at any point any of the transactions executing at its site. Typically, no design or internal DBMS structure changes are allowed in order to accommodate the MDBS. Furthermore, the local DBMSs may not be aware of each other, and, as a consequence, cannot coordinate their actions. Thus, traditional techniques for ensuring transaction atomicity and consistency in homogeneous distributed database systems may not be appropriate for an MDBS environment. The objective of this paper is to provide a brief review of the most current work in the area of multidatabase transaction management. We first define the problem and argue that the multidatabase research will become increasingly important in the coming years. We then outline basic research issues in multidatabase transaction management and review recent results in the area. We conclude the paper with a discussion of open problems and practical implications of this research.
http://i.stanford.edu/pub/cstr/reports/cs/tr/92/1432/CS-TR-92-1432.pdf