Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Bengal Database Replication System

  • Published:
Distributed and Parallel Databases Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mobile computers often suffer from limited connectivity, or even complete lack of network access. Moreover, in wireless networks some machines are often more accessible to mobile computers than others are. Ideally, nomadic users want the same quality and speed of database access as when they are well connected to the network. Replicated databases meet this need by allowing each mobile machine to carry its own copy of key data. But existing replicated systems are not well suited for all nomadic scenarios. Certain important mobile computing situations require optimistic peer-oriented database replication. The Bengal Database Replication System has these characteristics and was designed to operate in difficult nomadic conditions. This paper presents the design assumptions of the system, describes its architecture, presents performance data on its operation, and discusses future enhancements for the system. The paper also contrasts the system to other replicated databases, concentrating on their suitability for nomadic computing. The Bengal technology can play an important role in the development of highly scalable, highly available, fault-tolerant database systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. P.A. Alsberg and J.D. Day, “A principle for resilient sharing of distributed resources,” in IEEE 2nd International Conference on Software Engineering, San Francisco, CA, USA, 1976, pp. 562–570.

  2. M.J. Carey and M. Livny, “Conflict detection tradeoffs for replicated data,” ACM Transactions on Database Systems, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 703–746, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Computer Associates, Inc., CA-OpenIngres/Replicator, Ingres-World' 96, wint.decsy.ru/du/COMPU 2H/OPENI CY/INDEX.HTM, 1996.

  4. S.B. Davidson, H. Garcia-Molina, and D. Skeen, “Consistency in partitioned networks,” Computing Surveys, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 341–370, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  5. A.R. Downing, “Conflict resolution in symmetric replication,” in Proceedings of the European Oracle User Group Conference, April 1995.

  6. M.J. Fischer and A. Michael, “Sacrificing serializability to attain high availability of data in an unreliable network,” in Proceedings of the 4th Symposium on Principles of Database Systems, 1982.

  7. D.K. Gifford, “Weighted voting for replicated data,” in Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium on Operating Systems Principles, Pacific Grove, CA, USA, ACM, 1979, pp. 150–162.

  8. R.G. Guy, J.S. Heidemann, W. Mak, T.W. Page, G.J. Popek, and D. Rothmeier, “Implementation of the Ficus replicated file system,” in USENIX Conference Proceedings, pp. 63–71, June 1990.

  9. R. Guy, P. Reiher, D. Ratner, M. Gunter, W. Ma, and G. Popek, “Rumor: Mobile data access through optimistic peer-to-peer replication,” in Proceedings, Advances in Database Technologies, 1999, pp. 254–265.

  10. J.H. Howard, “Using reconciliation to share files between occasionally connected computers,” in Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on Workstation Operating Systems, October 1993, pp. 56–60.

  11. J.J. Kistler and M. Satyanarayanan, “Disconnected operation in the Coda File System,” ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 3–25, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  12. G.H. Kuenning, R. Bagrodia, R.G. Guy, G.J. Popek, P. Reiher, and A. Wang, “Measuring the quality of service of optimistic replication,” in Proceedings, Object-Oriented Technology, ECOOP'98 Workshop Reader, Brussels, Belgium, 1998, pp. 319–320.

  13. Microsoft, Inc., “OLE DB/ADO: Making universal data access a reality,” White Paper, www.microsoft.com/data/ado/sigmod98.htm, May 1998.

  14. T. Minoura and G. Wiederhold, “Resilient extended true-copy token scheme for a distributed database system,” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. SE-8, no. 3, pp. 173–189, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Novell, Inc., “Novell Replication Services (NRS) product white paper,” available via the Web at http://www.novell.com/whitepapers/nrs, 1997.

  16. D.S. Parker, G.J. Popek, G. Rudisin, A. Stoughton, B.J. Walker, E. Walton, J.M. Chow, D. Edwards, S. Kiser, and C. Kline, “Detection of mutual inconsistency in distributed systems,” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. SE-9, no. 3, pp. 240–247, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  17. D. Ratner, G. Popek, and P. Reiher, “Peer replication with selective control,” UCLA Technical Report CSD-960031, 1996.

  18. D. Ratner, P. Reiher, and G. Popek, Dynamic Version Vector Maintenance, Computer Science Department: University of California, Los Angeles, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  19. P. Reiher, J. Heidemann, D. Ratner, G. Skinner, and G. Popek, “Resolving file conflicts in the Ficus file system,” in Proceedings of the Summer 1994 USENIX Conference, Boston, MA, USA, 1994, pp. 183–195.

  20. P. Reiher, G. Popek, M. Gunter, J. Salomone, and D. Ratner, “Peer-to-peer reconciliation based replication for mobile computers,” in Proceedings of the ECOOP Workshop on Mobility and Replication, July 1996.

  21. M. Satyanarayanan, J.J. Kistler, P. Kumar, M.E. Okasaki, E.H. Siegel, and D.C. Steere, “Coda: A highly available file system for a distributed workstation environment,” IEEE Transactions on Computers, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 447–459, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Sybase, Inc., Sybase SQL Anywhere and Replication Server: The Enterprise Wide Replication Solution, www.sybase.com/products/system11/repsrvr.html, 1998.

  23. Syware Inc., Datasync Architecture and Operation, www.syware.com/datasync/newdsync/ds ao.htm, 1999.

  24. R.A. Tamura (Ed.), “Replication and its administration,” Lotus Notes and Domino Server 4.6, Chapter 40, SAMS Publishing, 1997.

  25. D.B. Terry, M.M. Theimer, K. Petersen, A.J. Demers, M.J. Spreitzer, and C.H. Hauser, “Managing update conflicts in Bayou, a weakly connected replicated storage system,” Operating Systems Review, vol. 29, no. 5, pp. 172–183, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  26. R.H. Thomas, “A solution to the concurrency control problem for multiple copy data bases,” in IEEE Proceedings of Spring Compcon 78, San Francisco, CA, USA, 1978, pp. 56–62.

  27. B. Walker, G. Popek, R. English, C. Kline, and G. Thiel, “The LOCUS distributed operating system,” Operating Systems Review, vol. 17, no. 5, spec. issue, pp. 49–70, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  28. A. Wang, P.L. Reiher, and R. Bagrodia, “A simulation evaluation of optimistic replicated filing in mobile environments,” in Proceedings of International Performance, Computing and Communications Scottsdale, AZ, USA, 1999, pp. 43–51.

  29. K. Watterson, “Database replication explained,” Datamation, 1996, pp. 62–68.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Associates International, Inc., 9800 La Cienega Blvd., Inglewood, CA, 90301, USA

    Todd Ekenstam

  2. Computer Associates International, Inc., 9800 La Cienega Blvd., Inglewood, CA, 90301, USA

    Charles Matheny

  3. Computer Science Department, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Peter Reiher

  4. Computer Science Department, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Gerald J. Popek

Authors
  1. Todd Ekenstam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Charles Matheny
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Peter Reiher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Gerald J. Popek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ekenstam, T., Matheny, C., Reiher, P. et al. The Bengal Database Replication System. Distributed and Parallel Databases 9, 187–210 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019266628724

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019266628724

Search

Navigation