Locking contention resolution for shared resources

• US 5,940,828 A
• Filed: 11/18/1997
• Issued: 08/17/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Anaya, Jaime F., Sherwin, Frank Cullen, Kistler, John A., Yothers, Jay A.
• Primary Examiner(s): AMSBURY, WAYNE P
• Application Number:
  US08/972,327
• Time in Patent Office: 637 Days
• Field of Search: 395/726, 707/8
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2343 Locking methods, e.g. distributed locking or locking implementation details
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database

Abstract

Two methods for resolving locking contention for pseudo-deadlocked transactions without rolling back or aborting any of the deadlocked transactions are provided. In one method, one or more shared lock requests from deadlocked transactions are granted ahead of at least one exclusive lock request from a deadlocked transaction. In another method, all shared lock requests from deadlocked transactions are granted ahead of all exclusive lock requests from deadlocked transactions.

Claims

1. A method of managing lock requests for a resource using a mechanism that serializes lock requests, when at least one exclusive lock request has been received from at least one deadlocked process and at least one shared lock request has been received from at least one deadlocked process, comprising:

determining whether at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request; and

granting at least one shared lock request ahead of at least one exclusive lock request when at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining comprises:

determining whether at least one shared lock request from a deadlocked process has been granted; and

determining whether at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request, and granting includes granting at least one shared lock request ahead of at least one exclusive lock request when at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request and at least one shared lock request from a deadlocked process has been granted.

3. The method according to claim 2 where granting includes granting all shared lock requests from deadlocked processes ahead of at least one exclusive lock request from a deadlocked process when at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request and at least one shared lock request from a deadlocked process has been granted.

4. The method according to claim 1, where granting includes granting all shared lock requests from deadlocked processes ahead of at least one exclusive lock request from a deadlocked process when at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request.

5. The method according to claim 4, where the resource includes at least one tuple of a table.

6. The method according to claim 1, where the mechanism includes a lock request queue.

7. The method according to claims 4, 2, or 3 where each process is a transaction.

8. A method of managing a plurality of lock requests for a plurality of resources using a plurality of mechanisms that serialize lock requests, when at least one exclusive lock request has been received for each resource from at least one deadlocked process and at least one shared lock request has been received for each resource from at least one deadlocked process, comprising:

determining whether at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request for each of the plurality of resources; and

granting at least one shared lock request ahead of at least one exclusive lock request for each of the plurality of resources when at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request.

9. The method according to claim 8, where granting includes granting all shared lock requests ahead of at least one exclusive lock request from deadlocked processes for each of the plurality of resources when at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein determining comprises:

determining whether at least one shared lock request from a deadlocked process has been granted for each of the plurality of resources; and

determining whether at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request for each of the plurality of resources, and granting includes granting at least one shared lock request ahead of at least one exclusive lock request for each of the plurality of resources when at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request for each of the resources and at least one shared lock request from a deadlocked process has been granted for each of the resources.

11. The method according to claim 10, where granting includes granting all shared lock requests ahead of at least one exclusive lock request from deadlocked processes for each of the plurality of resources when at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request for each of the resources and at least one shared lock request from a deadlocked process has been grated for each of the resources.

12. The method according to claim 10, where each of the plurality of resources includes at least one tuple of a table.

13. The method according to claim 8, where the mechanisms comprise lock request queues.

14. The method according to claims 9, 10, or 11 wherein each process is a transaction.

15. A method of resolving locking contention among a plurality of deadlocked processes, where the deadlocked processes have made a plurality of lock requests for a plurality of resources, where at least one exclusive lock request from at least one deadlocked process and at least one shared lock request from at least one deadlocked process have been made for each resource, comprising:

determining whether at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request for each of the plurality of resources; and

granting at least one shared lock request ahead of at least one exclusive lock request for each of the plurality of resources when at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request for each of the plurality of resources.

16. The method according to claim 15, where the plurality of deadlocked processes are a plurality of pseudo-deadlocked processes.

17. The method according to claim 16 where granting includes granting all shared lock requests ahead of at least one exclusive lock request from deadlocked processes for each of the plurality of resources when at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the lock requests are serialized in lock request queues.

19. The method according to claim 16, where determining comprises:

determining whether at least one shared lock request from a deadlocked process has been granted for each of the plurality of resources; and

determining whether at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request for each of the plurality of resources, and granting includes granting at least one shared lock request ahead of at least one exclusive lock request for each of the plurality of resources when at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request and at least one shared lock request from a deadlocked process has been granted for each of the plurality of resources.

20. The method according to claim 19, where granting includes granting all shared lock requests ahead of at least one exclusive lock request for deadlocked processes for each of the plurality of resources when at least one exclusive lock request has been received ahead of at least one shared lock request and at least one shared lock request for a deadlocked process granted for each of the plurality of processes.

21. The method according to claim 19, where each of the plurality of resources includes at least one tuple of a table.

22. The method according to claims 17 and 19 wherein each process of the plurality of deadlocked processes is a transaction.