Unit 1:
Problem Areas (issues) in
a Distributed DBMS
Distributed DBMS Issues
The problems encountered in database systems take on additional complexity in a
distributed environment, even though the basic underlying principles are the same. This
additional complexity gives rise to new problems influenced mainly by the factors
discussed below.
Problem areas in a DDBMS
•Distributed Database Design
○ How to distribute the database - Distributing data across different nodes requires
careful planning to determine how data should be fragmented and allocated. Poor fragmentation
strategies can lead to inefficient queries, data redundancy, and increased maintenance overhead.
○ Replicated & non-replicated database distribution - Replicating data across
nodes can improve availability and fault tolerance, but it introduces challenges related to
maintaining consistency and synchronization among replicas. Ensuring that replicated copies
remain consistent while handling updates can be complex.
○ A related problem in directory management - A directory contains information
(such as descriptions and locations) about data items in the database. A directory may be global to
the entire DDBS or local to each site; it can be centralized at one site or distributed over several
sites; there can be a single copy or multiple copies.
Problem areas in a DDBMS
•Query Processing
• Convert user transactions to data manipulation instructions.
• Optimizing queries that involve data from multiple nodes requires sophisticated
query optimization techniques. The optimal execution plan might differ from
what's optimal in a centralized database due to data distribution and network
latency considerations.
• Optimization problem
• min{cost = data transmission + local processing}
• General formulation is NP-hard.
Problem areas in a DDBMS
•Concurrency Control
o Synchronization of concurrent accesses – One not only has to worry about
the integrity of a single database, but also about the consistency of multiple
copies of the database.
o Consistency and isolation of transactions' effects – locking and timestamping
mechanisms required.
o Deadlock management - The competition among users for access to a set of
resources (data, in this case) can result in a deadlock if the synchronization mechanism
is based on locking. The well-known alternatives of prevention, avoidance, and
detection/recovery also apply to DDBSs.
Problem areas in a DDBMS
• Reliability
• How to make the system resilient to failures
• Atomicity and durability
Fig 1. Relationship between issues
REFERENCES
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yP52blCABA
2. Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design Implementation and
Management 6th Global Edition, by Thomas Connolly and Carolyn Begg,
Pearson Publications.
3. Principles of Distributed Database Systems, M.T. Ozsu and P. Valduriez, 3rd
Edition, Prentice Hall.
4. https://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jce/papers/conf.15013/Volume
%202/4.%2015-18.pdf