An Architecture for Nested Transaction Support on Standard Database Systems

摘要

Many applications dealing with complex processes require database support for nested transactions. Current commercial database systems lack this kind of support, offering flat, non-nested transactions only. This paper presents a three-layer architecture for implementing nested transaction support on a commercial multi-database environment. The architecture is directed at high portability and flexibility. The modular approach and the simple, event driven interfaces between the layers of the architecture enable the nested transaction support to be adapted to various applications, nested transaction models and database management systems. The architecture has been implemented to support a prototype of a commercial next-generation workflow management system.