Comparing the overhead requirements of database transaction models

Abstract

A transaction model defines the behaviour, constraints, integrity, inter-relationships, and robustness of database transactions. Such models are generally evaluated indirectly, often by experiments on a database monitor that implements the model, or by workload simulation. In this paper, we propose a novel method of comparing transaction models based on functions of architectural- and isolation-work. Using these functions, we show the complexity of ten transaction models and discuss the relationship between them. We conclude that our architectural- and isolation-work functions can be used to reason about transaction models and as one measure for selecting the model appropriate to specific applications. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003.