Data mining-based hierarchical transaction model for multi-level consistency management in large-scale replicated databases

Scalability and availability in a large-scale distributed database is determined by the consistency strategies used by the transactions. Most of the big data applications demand consistency and availability at the same time. However, a suitable transaction model that handles the trade-obetween availability and consistency is presently lacking. In this article, we have proposed a hierarchical transaction model that supports multiple consistency levels for data items in a large-scale replicated database. The data items have been classified into different categories based on their consistency requirement, computed using a data mining algorithm. Thereafter, these have been mapped to the appropriate consistency level in the hierarchy. This allows parallel execution of several transactions belonging to each level. The topmost level called the Serializable (SR) level follows strong consistency applicable to data items that are mostly read and updated both. The next level of consistency, Snapshot Isolation (SI), maps to data items which are mostly read and demand unblocking read. Data items which are mostly updated do not follow strict consistent snapshot and have been mapped to the next lower level called Non- monotonic Snapshot Isolation (NMSI). The lowest level in the hierarchy correspond to data items for which ordering of operations does not matter. This level is called the Asynchronous (ASYNC) level. We have tested the proposed transaction model with two different workloads on a test-bed designed following the TPC-C benchmark schema. The performance of the proposed model has been evaluated against other transaction models that support single consistency policy. The proposed model has shown promising results in terms of transaction throughput, commit rate and average latency.