A pledge-based resource allocation system is provided in a client/server environment. In this system, resources, such as database objects, are allocated to clients for a limited time period. Allocating resources to clients for a limited time period ensures that a client cannot allocate a resource for so long as to affect other client's use of the resource. This limited use of resources also has other benefits, such as preventing concurrency problems like deadlock. Additionally, using this scheme, a client knows for how long it can utilize a resource since it knows for how long the resource will be valid (i.e., how long it integrity can be guaranteed) and can plan accordingly. Another aspect of the pledge-based resource allocation system is that it efficiently stores a directory structure containing allocation-related information for all resources in the system. This aspect provides that when accessing resource information, all related information of related resources are grouped closely together (i.e., partitioned) to facilitate their access and reduce memory access time.
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