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Distributed Transaction Processing and The Camelot System

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Distributed Operating Systems

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((NATO ASI F,volume 28))

Abstract

This paper describes distributed transaction processing, a technique used for simplifying the construction of reliable distributed systems. After introducing transaction processing, the paper presents models describing the structure of distributed systems, the transactional computations on them, and the layered software architecture that supports those computations. The software architecture model contains five layers, including an intermediate layer that provides a common set of useful functions for supporting the highly reliable operation of system services, such as data management, file management, and mail. The functions of this layer can be realized in what is termed a distributed transaction facility. The paper then describes one such facility — Camelot. Camelot provides flexible and high performance commit supervision, disk management, and recovery mechanisms that are useful for implementing a wide class of abstract data types, including large databases. It runs on the Unix-compatible Mach operating system and uses the standard Arpanet IP communication protocols. Presently, Camelot runs on RT PC’s and Vaxes, but it should also run on other computers including shared-memory multiprocessors.

This work was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, ARPA Order No. 4976, monitored by the Air Force Avionics Laboratory under Contract F33615-84-K-1520, and the IBM Corporation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15213-9998, USA

    Alfred Z. Spector

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  1. Alfred Z. Spector
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Polytechnic of Central London, 115 New Cavendish Street, London, W1M 8JS, UK

    Yakup Paker

  2. IRISA, Campus Universitaire de Beaulieu, Avenue du General Leclerc, F-35042, Rennes Cedex, France

    Jean-Pierre Banatre

  3. Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

    Müslim Bozyiğit

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© 1987 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Spector, A.Z. (1987). Distributed Transaction Processing and The Camelot System. In: Paker, Y., Banatre, JP., Bozyiğit, M. (eds) Distributed Operating Systems. NATO ASI Series, vol 28. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-46604-5_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-46604-5_13

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-46604-5

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