High-Quality Distributed Database Systems - Research Paper Example

10 June INTRODUCTION In the current speedy and constantly advancing technological world, the need tohave high quality distributed database systems is one of the most crucial subjects of concern. To be precise, having a well-organized database system is always an essential aspect particularly in promoting data privacy, security and availability of any business environment. Essentially, the chief purpose of using distributed databases is to guarantee data confidentiality, integrity and availability. On this basis, this paper has laid major emphasis on analyzing the subject of distributed databases via an account of the article that addresses Concurrency Control and Security issues of Distributed Databases (Vinod et al. 1). It is important to acknowledge that this article has outlined a significant set of valuable information about distributed systems. This is specifically on issues based on controlling concurrency of organization data and most importantly, the security of data and transactions handles by distributed database systems. The authors of the article address indicate that concurrency control and security threat is a very crucial subject of concern in distributed database networks. The article goes further to clarify that there has been no guarantee of execution of secure database transactions in most distributed databases. Specifically, the author outlines that, there is no clear platform for ascertaining that database transactions are always maintaining the ACID properties, which are atomicity, Consistency, Isolation and Durability (Vinod et al. 3). EXPLANATION OF THE PAPER This paper describes that there are a number of concerns in the design of most distributed databases, which have negatively affected the performance of their respective distributed networks. Specifically, concurrency issues in the transfer of data along with security of the transactions handled by these systems have been indicated as significant subjects of concern. In a distributed database, the database spread over a wide number of computers, which communicate and share data via a well designed of computer data network. The database applications connected to the distributed database system have to work transparently on the database fragments (Vinod et al. 2). The paper outlines that concurrency control is a database management activity that focuses on coordinating database manipulation processes by a concurrent access to data while potentially interfering with one another. The main subject of concern in concurrency control is to ascertain serialisability of transactions that are executed concurrently. In this sense, whenever transactions of a distributed database are concurrently executed, their respective read and write operations to the set same set of computer data can cause significant conflicting situations. To be precise, the concurrency control techniques applied in local structures of a singular databases (local level) need significant adjustments in order for them to be applied in distributed databases. This is because distributed systems need concurrency control to be applied not only the local level but also on the global level. This added layer in distributed databases brings in a significant set of complexities in the smooth implementation of concurrency control protocols (Vinod et al. 2). In terms of security, this paper indicates the following. In a distributed database, security entails protection of computer data from any unauthorized access, misuse and alteration. Distributed database security focuses on protecting the business data from users or software that has malicious intentions. To apply high quality security, distributed database apply four security components, which include encryption, access control, authorization and authentication. Authentication entails creation of a password that is transferred to the authentication server, which authenticates data access over the network. Secondly, authorization is implemented by use of a set of software servers to enable client computer access resources through its identity as indicated in the authentication server. On the other hand, encryption is applied through complex algorithms that are based on public and private key generation. These algorithms include Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) and Data Encryption Standard (DES). Lastly but certainly not the least, access control is implemented by use of access matrices along with access control lists and capability list (Vinod et al. 3). Upon a thorough analysis of the security measures found in distributed databases, the paper indicates that there are significant threats in the execution of transactions. In essence, lack of clear components or principles that specifically address confidentiality, integrity and availability of the distributed database transactions, it is clear that there are significant threats to the security of these transactions (Vinod et al. 1). MY OPINION It is vital to note that I agree with the key concepts laid in this article. The first concept, which is, concurrency control is a significant concern in the design, development and use of distributed databases. This is because, in order to ensure efficient management of concurrency, both the local and global level data levels of a distributed database need to be perfectly controlled. The use of Locking in controlling concurrency in a distributed database is a challenge particularly in managing data access by different clients at the database level. That is, it is not feasible enough to apply locking both at the local and global level of the distributed transactions. Secondly, I also agree that security is another concern in the implementation of transactions in a distributed database. It is important to make it clear that, for any database system to be considered quality it must guarantee confidentiality, integrity and availability not only for the normal network communication operations but also to each of the unique transactions. To be specific, its transactions must maintain atomicity, Consistency, Isolation Durability. However, all of the security components in a distributed database address general security mitigation techniques but do not specifically tell offer measures for ensuring transaction integrity is guaranteed. SUMMARY In conclusion, it is essential to acknowledge that this article has provided a quality set of subjects of concern in the design and development of high quality distributed databases. Key areas that the authors have laid emphasis on include concurrency control and security threats that exist in distributed databases. Concurrency control is a challenge in distributed databases mainly due to the fact they include another layer, which is the global level. In my opinion, I agree with this article mainly because applying concurrency control is significantly challenging to manage at both the local level and global level of a computer database. In addition, I also agree with this article in terms of security issues found in the distributed databases. This is because the security components in the databases focus mainly on the general aspect of security enhancement but do not specify methodologies to be used in guaranteeing the ACID properties of database transactions (Vinod et al. 3). Works Cited Vinod, Gupta, Jitendra Sheetlani, Dhiraj Gupta and Datta Shukla. Concurrency Control and Security issues of Distributed Databases Transaction: Research Journal of Engineering Sciences. PDF file. 10 Jun 2014. < http://www.isca.in/IJES/Archive/v1i2/10.ISCA-JEngS-2012-047.pdf > Read More