From: Jim Starkey
Date: March 16 2009 6:18pm
Subject: Re: New Transaction State object (Was: Problems with record visibility
 and how it is computed)
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I think TransactionState will also need:

    * Transaction id (for validation and sanity control)
    * Transaction state
    * syncPending (so it can be waited on)

This makes TransactionState the primary operational object and 
Transaction mostly for bookkeeping.  I think this also eliminates the 
need for TransactionManager::activeTransactions.

Olav Sandstaa wrote:
> Subj: New TransactionState object
>
> Hi,
>
> In our Athens meeting I went through the alternatives for how to solve 
> the issues with the "RecordVersion to Transaction object pointer". We 
> agreed on that introducing a "transaction state object" (proposal 9 
> quoted below) seemed to be the best and least intrusive alternative.
>
> I have not looked into the actual existing code yet but here is an 
> initial overview of how my current plan for the "transaction state 
> object" is (it might changes as I look more at the existing code and 
> use of it):
>
> A. New data structure:
> ======================
>
>   A new class called TransactionState will be introduced. This will as 
> a minimum store the following members:
>
>   class TransactionState
>   {
>     TransId commitId;
>     volatile INTERLOCKED useCount;      }
>
>   It is also likely that we will move the transaction id to this
>   class (could save us from storing this in each RecordVersion
>   object). The transaction state of the transaction might also be
>   moved to this object.
>
>   Changes to existing classes:
>
>   1. The Transaction object will have a pointer to a TransactionState
>      object. When committing the transaction the commitId will be
>      stored in the TransactionState object, not in the transaction
>      object.
>
>   2. The RecordVersion object will have a pointer to a
>      TransactionState object (replacing the existing pointer to the
>      Transaction object) (if there is need for accessing the
>      Transaction object from the RecordVersion object we will either
>      keep the transaction pointer or have a transaction pointer from
>      the TransactionState object back to its Transaction object)
>
>   Goal with this new TransactionState object is to let it "live" as
>   long as there is RecordVersion objects refering to it (and let the
>   "real" transaction object be "purged" at "any time").
>
> B. Controlling the "life span" of TransactionState objects
> ==========================================================
>
>   We will use a reference counter in the Transaction state object for
>   controlling when a Transaction state object can be deleted.
>   Operations on this reference counter will be done by using
>   interlocked operations (if would probably be possible to implement
>   this without interlocked instruction but that would make the
>   implementation a bit more complex and harder to maintain and the
>   discussion in Athens concluded that the cost of using interlocked
>   operations for this case should not be a performance problem).
>
>   The reference counter will be incremented the following places:
>
>    1. In the Transcation's constructor when the TransactionState
>       object is created (we can also delay this until the first
>       Record is attached to a Transaction (Transaction::addRecord())
>       but it is simpler to just create it when we create the
>       Transaction object)
>    2. For every RecordVersion having a pointer to it (most likely in
>       the RecordVersion's constructor - have not looked at the code
>       yet)
>
>   The reference counter will be decremented the following places:
>
>    1. In the Transaction's destructor
>    2. When the RecordVersion is deleted (most likely in the
>       destructor)
>
>   There should be no objects using the TransactionState object
>   without having incremented the reference counter (or accessing it
>   indirectly via the a Transaction object or a RecordVersion object).
>
> C. Usage of the TransactionState object:
> ========================================
>
>   The initial usage of the TransactionState objects will be as
>   follows:
>
>    1. Each time when creating a transaction object, we create a
>       transaction state object and a pointer to the transaction state
>       object from the transaction object.
>
>    2. When we commit: the commitId is written to the transaction
>       state object (not the transaction object). So the commit is the
>       update to the transaction state object (not that it is possible
>       that we also will store the state of the Transaction in the
>       TransactionState object)
>
>    3. Each time we create a record version object it has a pointer to
>       the transaction state object - and the reference count is
>       incremented (if needed also a pointer to the
>       transaction object (hopefully not, alternatively have a pointer
>       from the TransactionState object back to the transaction)
>
>    4. When we need to compute visibility of records we only need to
>       use the transaction state object. This will have at least the
>       same life span as the record version objects pointing to it
>       (thus the pointer is guaranteed to be valid)
>
>    5. When the scavenger removes a recordversion it decrement the
>       reference counter in the transaction state object
>
>    6. When we purge old Transaction objects we decrement the referece
>       counter in the Transaction State object
>
>    7. When the reference counter reaches 0 we delete the transaction
>       state object (by "self destruction")
>
>
> That is the current plan - and as most plans it might change :-)
>
> Please let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions.
>
> Olav
>
> Olav Sandstaa wrote:
>> In addition to these I also have two new possible solutions:
>>
>> 9. (This is partly based on something Ann wrote: Make the 
>> transasction pointer indirect combined with my original proposal 
>> number 5: let the transaction objects live as long as there are 
>> record version pointing to them): Introduce a new "Transaction state 
>> object" that contains as a minimum the "commitId" but most likely 
>> also the "transactionId" and "state":
>>
>>     1. Each time when creating a transaction object, we create a 
>> transaction state object and a pointer to the transaction state 
>> object from the transaction object.
>>     2. When we commit: the commitId is written to the transaction 
>> state object (not the transaction object). So the commit is the 
>> update to the transaction state object.
>>     3. Each time we create a record version object it has a pointer 
>> to the transaction state object (and if needed also to the 
>> transaction object)
>>     4. Each time we add a record to a transaction (ie. update a 
>> record) we increment a useCount in the transaction state object: This 
>> should not need any extra locking (I think)
>>     5. When we need to compute visibility of records we only need to 
>> use the transaction state object. This will have at least the same 
>> life span as the record version objects pointing to it (thus the 
>> pointer is guaranteed to be valid)
>>     6. When the scavenger removes a recordversion it decrement the 
>> useCount in the transaction state object (I think this can be done 
>> safely without locking given that we have one scavenger)
>>     7. When the useCount reaches 0 we delete the transaction state 
>> object.
>>
>>   Issue/question: is there any other places in the code that will 
>> access this transaction state object than by accessing it from the 
>> record version object?
>>
>>    I assume when normal transactions accesses record version objects 
>> they are "locked" and this will implicitely also lock the transaction 
>> state object when normal transactions access it?
>
>


-- 
Jim Starkey
President, NimbusDB, Inc.
978 526-1376