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315 lines
15 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
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<head>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
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<title>What is Berkeley DB?</title>
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<link rel="stylesheet" href="gettingStarted.css" type="text/css" />
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<meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.73.2" />
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<link rel="start" href="index.html" title="Berkeley DB Programmer's Reference Guide" />
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<link rel="up" href="intro.html" title="Chapter 1. Introduction" />
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<link rel="prev" href="intro_terrain.html" title="Mapping the terrain: theory and practice" />
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<link rel="next" href="intro_dbisnot.html" title="What Berkeley DB is not" />
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</head>
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<body>
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<div xmlns="" class="navheader">
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<div class="libver">
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<p>Library Version 11.2.5.2</p>
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</div>
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<table width="100%" summary="Navigation header">
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<tr>
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<th colspan="3" align="center">What is Berkeley DB?</th>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="intro_terrain.html">Prev</a> </td>
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<th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 1.
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Introduction
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</th>
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<td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="intro_dbisnot.html">Next</a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<hr />
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</div>
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<div class="sect1" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
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<div class="titlepage">
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<div>
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<div>
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<h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="intro_dbis"></a>What is Berkeley DB?</h2>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div class="toc">
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<dl>
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<dt>
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<span class="sect2">
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<a href="intro_dbis.html#id3044327">Data Access Services</a>
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</span>
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</dt>
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<dt>
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<span class="sect2">
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<a href="intro_dbis.html#id3044355">Data management services</a>
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</span>
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</dt>
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<dt>
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<span class="sect2">
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<a href="intro_dbis.html#id3931121">Design</a>
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</span>
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</dt>
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</dl>
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</div>
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<p>
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So far, we have discussed database systems in general terms. It is
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time now to consider Berkeley DB in particular and see how it fits
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into the framework we have introduced. The key question is, what
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kinds of applications should use Berkeley DB?
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</p>
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<p>
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Berkeley DB is an Open Source embedded database library that
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provides scalable, high-performance, transaction-protected data
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management services to applications. Berkeley DB provides a simple
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function-call API for data access and management.
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</p>
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<p>
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By "Open Source," we mean Berkeley DB is distributed under a
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license that conforms to the
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<a class="ulink" href="http://www.opensource.org/osd.html" target="_top"> Open Source Definition</a>.
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This license guarantees Berkeley DB is freely available for use and
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redistribution in other Open Source applications. Oracle
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Corporation sells commercial licenses allowing the redistribution
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of Berkeley DB in proprietary applications. In all cases the
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complete source code for Berkeley DB is freely available for
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download and use.
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</p>
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<p>
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Berkeley DB is "embedded" because it links directly into the
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application. It runs in the same address space as the application.
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As a result, no inter-process communication, either over the
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network or between processes on the same machine, is required for
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database operations. Berkeley DB provides a simple function-call
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API for a number of programming languages, including C, C++, Java,
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Perl, Tcl, Python, and PHP. All database operations happen inside
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the library. Multiple processes, or multiple threads in a single
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process, can all use the database at the same time as each uses the
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Berkeley DB library. Low-level services like locking, transaction
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logging, shared buffer management, memory management, and so on are
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all handled transparently by the library.
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</p>
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<p>
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The Berkeley DB library is extremely portable. It runs under almost
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all UNIX and Linux variants, Windows, and a number of embedded
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real-time operating systems. It runs on both 32-bit and 64-bit
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systems. It has been deployed on high-end Internet servers,
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desktop machines, and on palmtop computers, set-top boxes, in
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network switches, and elsewhere. Once Berkeley DB is linked into
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the application, the end user generally does not know that there is
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a database present at all.
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</p>
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<p>
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Berkeley DB is scalable in a number of respects. The database library
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itself is quite compact (under 300 kilobytes of text space on common
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architectures), which means it is small enough to run in tightly
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constrained embedded systems, but yet it can take advantage of
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gigabytes of memory and terabytes of disk if you are using hardware that
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has those resources.
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</p>
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<p>
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Each of Berkeley DB's database files can contain up to 256
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terabytes of data, assuming the underlying filesystem is capable of supporting
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files of that size. Note that Berkeley DB applications often use
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multiple database files. This means that the amount of data your
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Berkeley DB application can manage is really limited only by the
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constraints imposed by your operating system, filesystem, and physical
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hardware.
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</p>
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<p>
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Berkeley DB also supports high concurrency, allowing thousands of users
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to operate on the same database files at the same time.
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</p>
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<p>
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Berkeley DB generally outperforms relational and object-oriented
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database systems in embedded applications for a couple of reasons.
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First, because the library runs in the same address space, no
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inter-process communication is required for database operations.
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The cost of communicating between processes on a single machine, or
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among machines on a network, is much higher than the cost of making
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a function call. Second, because Berkeley DB uses a simple
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function-call interface for all operations, there is no query
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language to parse, and no execution plan to produce.
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</p>
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<div class="sect2" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
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<div class="titlepage">
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<div>
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<div>
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<h3 class="title"><a id="id3044327"></a>Data Access Services</h3>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<p>
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Berkeley DB applications can choose the storage structure that
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best suits the application. Berkeley DB supports hash tables,
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Btrees, simple record-number-based storage, and persistent
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queues. Programmers can create tables using any of these
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storage structures, and can mix operations on different kinds
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of tables in a single application.
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</p>
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<p>
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Hash tables are generally good for very large databases that
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need predictable search and update times for random-access
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records. Hash tables allow users to ask, "Does this key
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exist?" or to fetch a record with a known key. Hash tables do
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not allow users to ask for records with keys that are close to
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a known key.
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</p>
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<p>
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Btrees are better for range-based searches, as when the
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application needs to find all records with keys between some
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starting and ending value. Btrees also do a better job of
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exploiting <span class="emphasis"><em>locality of reference</em></span>. If the
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application is likely to touch keys near each other at the same
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time, the Btrees work well. The tree structure keeps keys that
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are close together near one another in storage, so fetching
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nearby values usually does not require a disk access.
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</p>
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<p>
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Record-number-based storage is natural for applications that
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need to store and fetch records, but that do not have a simple
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way to generate keys of their own. In a record number table,
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the record number is the key for the record. Berkeley DB will
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generate these record numbers automatically.
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</p>
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<p>
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Queues are well-suited for applications that create records,
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and then must deal with those records in creation order. A good
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example is on-line purchasing systems. Orders can enter the
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system at any time, but should generally be filled in the order
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in which they were placed.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="sect2" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
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<div class="titlepage">
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<div>
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<div>
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<h3 class="title"><a id="id3044355"></a>Data management services</h3>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<p>
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Berkeley DB offers important data management services,
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including concurrency, transactions, and recovery. All of these
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services work on all of the storage structures.
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</p>
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<p>
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Many users can work on the same database concurrently. Berkeley
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DB handles locking transparently, ensuring that two users
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working on the same record do not interfere with one
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another.
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</p>
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<p>
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The library provides strict ACID transaction semantics, by
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default. However, applications are allowed to relax the
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isolation guarantees the database system makes.
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</p>
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<p>
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Multiple operations can be grouped into a single transaction,
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and can be committed or rolled back atomically. Berkeley DB
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uses a technique called <span class="emphasis"><em>two-phase locking</em></span>
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to be sure that concurrent transactions are isolated from one
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another, and a technique called <span class="emphasis"><em>write-ahead
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logging</em></span> to guarantee that committed changes
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survive application, system, or hardware failures.
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</p>
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<p>
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When an application starts up, it can ask Berkeley DB to run
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recovery. Recovery restores the database to a clean state,
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with all committed changes present, even after a crash. The
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database is guaranteed to be consistent and all committed
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changes are guaranteed to be present when recovery
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completes.
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</p>
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<p>
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An application can specify, when it starts up, which data
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management services it will use. Some applications need fast,
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single-user, non-transactional Btree data storage. In that
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case, the application can disable the locking and transaction
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systems, and will not incur the overhead of locking or logging.
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If an application needs to support multiple concurrent users,
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but does not need transactions, it can turn on locking without
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transactions. Applications that need concurrent,
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transaction-protected database access can enable all of the
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subsystems.
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</p>
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<p>
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In all these cases, the application uses the same function-call
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API to fetch and update records.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="sect2" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
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<div class="titlepage">
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<div>
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<div>
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<h3 class="title"><a id="id3931121"></a>Design</h3>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<p>
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Berkeley DB was designed to provide industrial-strength
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database services to application developers, without requiring
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them to become database experts. It is a classic C-library
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style <span class="emphasis"><em>toolkit</em></span>, providing a broad base of
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functionality to application writers. Berkeley DB was designed
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by programmers, for programmers: its modular design surfaces
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simple, orthogonal interfaces to core services, and it provides
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mechanism (for example, good thread support) without imposing
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policy (for example, the use of threads is not required). Just
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as importantly, Berkeley DB allows developers to balance
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performance against the need for crash recovery and concurrent
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use. An application can use the storage structure that
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provides the fastest access to its data and can request only
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the degree of logging and locking that it needs.
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</p>
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<p>
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Because of the tool-based approach and separate interfaces for
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each Berkeley DB subsystem, you can support a complete
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transaction environment for other system operations. Berkeley
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DB even allows you to wrap transactions around the standard
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UNIX file read and write operations! Further, Berkeley DB was
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designed to interact correctly with the native system's
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toolset, a feature no other database package offers. For
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example, on UNIX systems Berkeley DB supports hot backups
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(database backups while the database is in use), using standard
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UNIX system utilities, for example, dump, tar, cpio, pax or
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even cp. On other systems which do not support filesystems
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with read isolation, Berkeley DB provides a tool for safely
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copying files.
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</p>
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<p>
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Finally, because scripting language interfaces are available
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for Berkeley DB (notably Tcl and Perl), application writers can
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build incredibly powerful database engines with little effort.
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You can build transaction-protected database applications using
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your favorite scripting languages, an increasingly important
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feature in a world using CGI scripts to deliver HTML.
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</p>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div class="navfooter">
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||
<hr />
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||
<table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer">
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||
<tr>
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||
<td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="intro_terrain.html">Prev</a> </td>
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||
<td width="20%" align="center">
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||
<a accesskey="u" href="intro.html">Up</a>
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||
</td>
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||
<td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="intro_dbisnot.html">Next</a></td>
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||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
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||
<td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Mapping the terrain: theory and practice </td>
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||
<td width="20%" align="center">
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<a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a>
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</td>
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<td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> What Berkeley DB is not</td>
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</tr>
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||
</table>
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||
</div>
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||
</body>
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</html>
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