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Chapter 17: Problem 21

Describe situations where each of the different isolation levels would be useful for transaction processing.

Short Answer

Expert verified
Different isolation levels are useful for different situation: Read Uncommitted for scenarios where speed is the highest concern like stock trading applications, Read Committed for preventing uncommitted read like in banking applications, Repeatable Read in systems needing consistency like accounting systems, and Serializable in processing financial transactions where absolute consistency is required.

Step by step solution

01

Analyzing Read Uncommitted Isolation Level

The Read Uncommitted Isolation Level is the least restrictive level where one transaction can read uncommitted changes of another transaction, also known as dirty reads. This isolation level could be useful in situations where data accuracy is not the highest priority but speed is. A good example could be a stock trading application where it's more important to get data quickly than to ensure that every single piece is accurate.
02

Analyzing Read Committed Isolation Level

The Read Committed Isolation Level ensures that any data read is committed at the moment it is read. It means no dirty reads occur, but non-repeatable reads and phantom reads might still occur. This isolation level is useful in scenarios where you want to prevent dirty reads but can handle non-repeatable reads. A typical example would be a banking application that prevents reading uncommitted transaction but allows for non-repeatable reads.
03

Analyzing Repeatable Read Isolation Level

The Repeatable Read Isolation Level has more restrictions and ensures that if a transaction reads a record twice, it gets the same value each time, preventing non-repeatable reads. However, phantom reads are still possible. This is useful in cases where consistency is crucial, like in the case of accounting systems.
04

Analyzing Serializable Isolation Level

The Serializable Isolation Level is the most restrictive one where transactions lock the data they read, write, or range of data, preventing dirty reads, non-repeatable reads, and phantom reads. This is utilized in situations where absolute consistency of the data matters above all else, such as processing of financial transactions.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Describe the four levels of isolation in SQL.

Consider schedules \(S_{3}, S_{4},\) and \(S_{5}\) below. Determine whether each schedule is strict, cascadeless, recoverable, or nonrecoverable. (Determine the strictest recoverability condition that each schedule satisfies.) $$\begin{array}{l} S_{3}: r_{1}(X) ; r_{2}(Z) ; r_{1}(Z) ; r_{3}(X) ; r_{3}(Y) ; w_{1}(X) ; c_{1} ; w_{3}(Y) ; c_{3} ; r_{2}(Y) ; w_{2}(Z) ; w_{2}(Y) ; c_{2} \\ S_{4}: r_{1}(X) ; r_{2}(Z) ; r_{1}(Z) ; r_{3}(X) ; r_{3}(Y) ; w_{1}(X) ; w_{3}(Y) ; r_{2}(Y) ; w_{2}(Z) ; w_{2}(Y) ; c_{1} ; c_{2} ; c_{3} \\ S_{5}: r_{1}(X) ; r_{2}(Z) ; r_{3}(X) ; r_{1}(Z) ; r_{2}(Y) ; r_{3}(Y) ; w_{1}(X) ; c_{1} ; w_{2}(Z) ; w_{3}(Y) ; w_{2}(Y) ; c_{3} ; c_{2} \end{array}$$

Why is an explicit transaction end statement needed in SQL but not an explicit begin statement?

What is the system log used for? What are the typical kinds of records in a system log? What are transaction commit points, and why are they important?

What is a schedule (history)? Define the concepts of recoverable, cascadeless, and strict schedules, and compare them in terms of their recoverability.
See all solutions

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