Distributed Database

1
Centralized DB systems
P Software:
Application
SQL Front End
M ... Query Processor
Transaction Proc.
File Access
• Simplifications:
 single front end
 one place to keep data, locks
 if processor fails, system fails, ...

2
Distributed Database Systems

• 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
• Multiple processors ( + memories)
• Heterogeneity and autonomy of “components”

3
Why do we need Distributed Databases?

• Example: company has offices in London,

New York, and Hong Kong.
• Employee data:
– EMP(ENO, NAME, TITLE, SALARY, …)
• Where should the employee data table
reside?

4
Data Access Pattern
• Mostly, employee data is managed at the
office where the employee works
– E.g., payroll, benefits, hire and fire
• Periodically, company needs consolidated
access to employee data
– E.g., company changes benefit plans and that
affects all employees.
– E.g., Annual bonus depends on global net profit.

5
 London New York
Payroll app Payroll app

EMP
London
New York

Internet
Hong Kong
Payroll app Problem:
NY and HK payroll
apps run very slowly!
Hong Kong

6
 London New York
Payroll app Payroll app

London
Emp NY
London
New York Emp

Internet
Hong Kong
Payroll app
Much better!!

Hong Kong

HK
Emp
7
 London New York
Payroll app Payroll app
Annual
Bonus app

London
Emp NY
London
New York Emp

Internet
Hong Kong Distribution provides
Payroll app
opportunities for
parallel execution
Hong Kong

HK
Emp
8
 London New York
Payroll app Payroll app
Annual
Bonus app

London
Emp NY
London
New York Emp

Internet
Hong Kong
Payroll app

Hong Kong

HK
Emp
9
 London New York
Payroll app Payroll app
Annual
Bonus app

Lon, NY
Emp NY, HK
London
New York Emp

Internet
Hong Kong
Payroll app Replication improves
availability
Hong Kong

HK, Lon
Emp
10
Distributed Database Features

Some general features of distributed databases are:

• Location independency - Data is physically stored at multiple sites and managed by an independent
DDBMS.
• Distributed query processing - Distributed databases answer queries in a distributed environment that
manages data at multiple sites. High-level queries are transformed into a query execution plan for simpler
management.
• Distributed transaction management - Provides a consistent distributed database through commit
protocols, distributed concurrency control techniques, and distributed recovery methods in case of many
transactions and failures.
• Seamless integration - Databases in a collection usually represent a single logical database, and they
are interconnected.
• Network linking - All databases in a collection are linked by a network and communicate with each
other.
• Transaction processing - Distributed databases incorporate transaction processing, which is a program
including a collection of one or more database operations. Transaction processing is an atomic process that
is either entirely executed or not at all.

11
Distributed Database Types
• 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
homogeneous distributed database

13
heterogeneous distributed
database

14
Distributed Database Advantages
and Disadvantages

15
Distributed Database Challenges
• Distributed Database Design
– Deciding what data goes where
– Depends on data access patterns of major
applications
– Two subproblems:
 Fragmentation: partition tables into fragments
 Allocation: allocate fragments to nodes

16
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 (Cont.)

• 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.
• Example : relation account with following schema
• Account = (branch_name, account_number, balance )
Horizontal Fragmentation of account Relation

branch_name account_number balance

Hillside A-305 500

Hillside A-226 336
Hillside A-155 62

account1 = branch_name=“Hillside” (account )

branch_name account_number balance

Valleyview A-177 205

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

account2 = branch_name=“Valleyview” (account )

Vertical Fragmentation of employee_info Relation

branch_name customer_name tuple_id

Hillside Lowman 1
Hillside Camp 2
Valleyview Camp 3
Valleyview Kahn 4
Hillside Kahn 5
Valleyview Kahn 6
Valleyview Green 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
What is a Transaction?
• A set of steps completed by a DBMS to accomplish a
single user task.
• Must be either entirely completed or aborted
• No intermediate states are acceptable
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.
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 Processing
• Input: Declarative Query
– SQL, OQL, XQuery, ...
• Step 1: Translate Query into Algebra
– Tree of operators
• Step 2: Optimize Query (physical and
logical)
– Tree of operators
– (Compilation)
• Step 3: Interpretation
– Query result
Conclusion- Advantages of DDBMSs
• Reflects organizational structure
• Improved shareability and local autonomy
• Improved availability
• Improved reliability
• Improved performance
• Economics
• Modular growth
Conclusion- Disadvantages of DDBMSs

 Architectural complexity
 Cost
 Security
 Integrity control more difficult
 Lack of standards
 Lack of experience
 Database design more complex