A strategy for semantic integrity enforcement in a parallel database machine

McCarroll, Niall; Kerridge, Jon

Abstract

Semantic integrity constraints represent knowledge about data with which a relational database must be consistent. To enforce semantic integrity we must ensure that transactions which alter the database will preserve database consistency by accompanying each transaction with integrity tests. In this paper we address two problems. Firstly, how can we choose integrity tests that are correct and efficient? Secondly, how do we schedule and control the execution of integrity tests in the context of a parallel database machine? We use a theorem-proving method for deriving integrity tests to prove the integrity of the database which takes into account knowledge about the transaction, the partitioning strategy, and the truth of all constraints in the initial database state. Our method can derive, at schema compilation time, a range of possible sufficient or necessary tests as well as complete tests for transaction safety with respect to a constraint, and can generate separate sub-tests to independently verify changes to a section of the database. When a transaction is to be executed, tests or sub-tests are selected (from the range of alternatives generated at compile time) in order to maximise parallelism, minimise the amount of data accessed in integrity enforcement activity, and allow testing to commence as soon as possible.

Citation

McCarroll, N., & Kerridge, J. (1994, July). A strategy for semantic integrity enforcement in a parallel database machine. Presented at Directions in Databases: 12th British National Conference on Databases, BNCOD 12, Guildford, UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: Directions in Databases: 12th British National Conference on Databases, BNCOD 12
• Start Date: Jul 6, 1994
• End Date: Jul 8, 1994
• Online Publication Date: May 31, 2005
• Publication Date: 1994
• Deposit Date: Jul 24, 2019
• Journal: Directions in Databases; Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Print ISSN: 0302-9743
• Electronic ISSN: 1611-3349
• Publisher: Springer
• Pages: 137-152
• Series Title: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Series Number: 826
• Series ISSN: 0302-9743
• Book Title: Directions in Databases: 12th British National Conference on Databases, BNCOD 12 Guildford, United Kingdom, July 6–8, 1994 Proceedings
• ISBN: 9783540582359
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-58235-5_40
• Keywords: semantic integrity; integrity tests; parallel databases
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1992575