Lock-Based Protocol

In this type of protocol, any transaction cannot read or write data until it acquires an
appropriate lock on it. There are two types of lock:

1. Shared lock:

o It is also known as a Read-only lock. In a shared lock, the data item can only read by
the transaction.
o It can be shared between the transactions because when the transaction holds a lock,
then it can't update the data on the data item.

2. Exclusive lock:

o In the exclusive lock, the data item can be both reads as well as written by the
transaction.
o This lock is exclusive, and in this lock, multiple transactions do not modify the same
data simultaneously.

There are four types of lock protocols available:

1. Simplistic lock protocol
It is the simplest way of locking the data while transaction. Simplistic lock-based protocols
allow all the transactions to get the lock on the data before insert or delete or update on it. It
will unlock the data item after completing the transaction.

2. Pre-claiming Lock Protocol

o Pre-claiming Lock Protocols evaluate the transaction to list all the data items on which
they need locks.
o Before initiating an execution of the transaction, it requests DBMS for all the lock on
all those data items.
o If all the locks are granted then this protocol allows the transaction to begin. When the
transaction is completed then it releases all the lock.
o If all the locks are not granted then this protocol allows the transaction to rolls back
and waits until all the locks are granted.
3. Two-phase locking (2PL)
o The two-phase locking protocol divides the execution phase of the transaction into
three parts.
o In the first part, when the execution of the transaction starts, it seeks permission for
the lock it requires.
o In the second part, the transaction acquires all the locks. The third phase is started as
soon as the transaction releases its first lock.
o In the third phase, the transaction cannot demand any new locks. It only releases the
acquired locks.

There are two phases of 2PL:

Growing phase: In the growing phase, a new lock on the data item may be acquired
by the transaction, but none can be released.

Shrinking phase: In the shrinking phase, existing lock held by the transaction may be
released, but no new locks can be acquired.

In the below example, if lock conversion is allowed then the following phase can
happen:

1. Upgrading of lock (from S(a) to X (a)) is allowed in growing phase.

2. Downgrading of lock (from X(a) to S(a)) must be done in shrinking phase.

Example:

The following way shows how unlocking and locking work with 2-PL.

Transaction T1:

o Growing phase: from step 1-3

 o Shrinking phase: from step 5-7
o Lock point: at 3

Transaction T2:

o Growing phase: from step 2-6

o Shrinking phase: from step 8-9
o Lock point: at 6

4. Strict Two-phase locking (Strict-2PL)

o The first phase of Strict-2PL is similar to 2PL. In the first phase, after acquiring all the
locks, the transaction continues to execute normally.
o The only difference between 2PL and strict 2PL is that Strict-2PL does not release a lock
after using it.
o Strict-2PL waits until the whole transaction to commit, and then it releases all the locks
at a time.
o Strict-2PL protocol does not have shrinking phase of lock release.

It does not have cascading abort as 2PL does.

Timestamp Ordering Protocol:

o The Timestamp Ordering Protocol is used to order the transactions based on
their Timestamps. The order of transaction is nothing but the ascending order
of the transaction creation.
 o The priority of the older transaction is higher that's why it executes first. To
determine the timestamp of the transaction, this protocol uses system time or
logical counter.
o The lock-based protocol is used to manage the order between conflicting pairs
among transactions at the execution time. But Timestamp based protocols start
working as soon as a transaction is created.
o Let's assume there are two transactions T1 and T2. Suppose the transaction T1
has entered the system at 007 times and transaction T2 has entered the system
at 009 times. T1 has the higher priority, so it executes first as it is entered the
system first.
o The timestamp ordering protocol also maintains the timestamp of last 'read'
and 'write' operation on a data.

Basic Timestamp ordering protocol works as follows:

1. Check the following condition whenever a transaction Ti issues a Read

(X) operation:

o If W_TS(X) >TS(Ti) then the operation is rejected.

o If W_TS(X) <= TS(Ti) then the operation is executed.
o Timestamps of all the data items are updated.

2. Check the following condition whenever a transaction Ti issues

a Write(X) operation:

o If TS(Ti) < R_TS(X) then the operation is rejected.

o If TS(Ti) < W_TS(X) then the operation is rejected and Ti is rolled back otherwise
the operation is executed.

Where,

TS(TI) denotes the timestamp of the transaction Ti.

R_TS(X) denotes the Read time-stamp of data-item X.

W_TS(X) denotes the Write time-stamp of data-item X.

Advantages and Disadvantages of TO protocol:

o TO protocol ensures serializability since the precedence graph is as follows:
 o TS protocol ensures freedom from deadlock that means no transaction ever waits.
o But the schedule may not be recoverable and may not even be cascade- free.

Validation Based Protocol

Validation phase is also known as optimistic concurrency control technique. In the
validation based protocol, the transaction is executed in the following three phases:

1. Read phase: In this phase, the transaction T is read and executed. It is used to
read the value of various data items and stores them in temporary local
variables. It can perform all the write operations on temporary variables without
an update to the actual database.
2. Validation phase: In this phase, the temporary variable value will be validated
against the actual data to see if it violates the serializability.
3. Write phase: If the validation of the transaction is validated, then the temporary
results are written to the database or system otherwise the transaction is rolled
back.

Here each phase has the following different timestamps:

Start(Ti): It contains the time when Ti started its execution.

Validation (Ti): It contains the time when Ti finishes its read phase and starts its
validation phase.

Deadlock in DBMS
A deadlock is a condition where two or more transactions are waiting indefinitely for
one another to give up locks. Deadlock is said to be one of the most feared
complications in DBMS as no task ever gets finished and is in waiting state forever.
For example: In the student table, transaction T1 holds a lock on some rows and needs
to update some rows in the grade table. Simultaneously, transaction T2 holds locks on
some rows in the grade table and needs to update the rows in the Student table held
by Transaction T1.

Now, the main problem arises. Now Transaction T1 is waiting for T2 to release its lock
and similarly, transaction T2 is waiting for T1 to release its lock. All activities come to a
halt state and remain at a standstill. It will remain in a standstill until the DBMS detects
the deadlock and aborts one of the transactions.

Deadlock Avoidance
o When a database is stuck in a deadlock state, then it is better to avoid the database
rather than aborting or restating the database. This is a waste of time and resource.
o Deadlock avoidance mechanism is used to detect any deadlock situation in advance. A
method like "wait for graph" is used for detecting the deadlock situation but this
method is suitable only for the smaller database. For the larger database, deadlock
prevention method can be used.

Deadlock Detection
In a database, when a transaction waits indefinitely to obtain a lock, then the DBMS
should detect whether the transaction is involved in a deadlock or not. The lock
manager maintains a Wait for the graph to detect the deadlock cycle in the database.
Wait for Graph
o This is the suitable method for deadlock detection. In this method, a graph is created
based on the transaction and their lock. If the created graph has a cycle or closed loop,
then there is a deadlock.
o The wait for the graph is maintained by the system for every transaction which is
waiting for some data held by the others. The system keeps checking the graph if there
is any cycle in the graph.

The wait for a graph for the above scenario is shown below:

Deadlock Prevention
o Deadlock prevention method is suitable for a large database. If the resources are
allocated in such a way that deadlock never occurs, then the deadlock can be
prevented.
o The Database management system analyzes the operations of the transaction whether
they can create a deadlock situation or not. If they do, then the DBMS never allowed
that transaction to be executed.
Wait-Die scheme
In this scheme, if a transaction requests for a resource which is already held with a
conflicting lock by another transaction then the DBMS simply checks the timestamp of
both transactions. It allows the older transaction to wait until the resource is available
for execution.

Let's assume there are two transactions Ti and Tj and let TS(T) is a timestamp of any
transaction T. If T2 holds a lock by some other transaction and T1 is requesting for
resources held by T2 then the following actions are performed by DBMS:

1. Check if TS(Ti) < TS(Tj) - If Ti is the older transaction and Tj has held some resource,
then Ti is allowed to wait until the data-item is available for execution. That means if
the older transaction is waiting for a resource which is locked by the younger
transaction, then the older transaction is allowed to wait for resource until it is available.
2. Check if TS(Ti) < TS(Tj) - If Ti is older transaction and has held some resource and if Tj
is waiting for it, then Tj is killed and restarted later with the random delay but with the
same timestamp.

Wound wait scheme

o In wound wait scheme, if the older transaction requests for a resource which is held by
the younger transaction, then older transaction forces younger one to kill the
transaction and release the resource. After the minute delay, the younger transaction
is restarted but with the same timestamp.
o If the older transaction has held a resource which is requested by the Younger
transaction, then the younger transaction is asked to wait until older releases it.