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Diverse Database Replication Based on Snapshot Isolation – Performance Implications of Improved Dependability

Popov, P. & Stankovic, V. ORCID: 0000-0002-8740-6526 (2025). Diverse Database Replication Based on Snapshot Isolation – Performance Implications of Improved Dependability. Paper presented at the 44th IEEE International Symposium on Reliable Distributed Systems, SRDS 2025, 29 Sep - 2 Oct 2025, Porto, Portugal.

Abstract

Numerous database replication schemes are built on the crash failure assumption where majority of failures are selfevident as defined in [1]. The study in [1] convincingly refuted this common assumption showing that many of the faults in relational Database Management Systems (DBMSs) cause systematic noncrash failures. Similar results were obtained in the subsequent study [2]. Consequently, the existing database replication solutions, which typically use the same DBMS, are ineffective faulttolerant mechanisms. Conversely, using diverse DBMSs is a suitable way of protecting against non-crash failures.

We have built a middleware-based database replication protocol, DivRep, and deployed it with diverse database servers (DivSQL), for improved fault tolerance. DivSQL provides strict Snapshot Isolation (SI) guarantees, and assumes “incorrect results” failure model (IRFM) – the most realistic one based on the extensive experimental analyses of DBMS faults ([1, 2]). The dependability gain comes with the inherent performance overhead. We provide a comprehensive performance evaluation of DivSQL using 3 diverse DBMSs (two are leaders in the field).

Publication Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Additional Information: For the purpose of open access, the author(s) has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to any Accepted Manuscript version arising
Publisher Keywords: database replication, dependability, design diversity, performance evaluation
Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Departments: School of Science & Technology
School of Science & Technology > Computer Science
School of Science & Technology > Computer Science > Software Reliability
SWORD Depositor:
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