
2-28 IBM Informix OnLine Database Server Administrator’s Guide
User Processes and Critical Sections
User Processes and Critical Sections
A critical section is a section of OnLine code that comprises a set of disk
modificationsthatmustbeperformedasasingleunit;eitherallofthemodifi-
cations must occur or none can occur. OnLine designates critical sections to
maintain physical consistency in a way that is analogous to the way that
transactions maintain logical consistency.
Important: If any user process dies while it is in a critical section, OnLine initiates
an abort by executing an immediate shutdown.
The abort is required to maintain the physical and logical consistency of
OnLinedata.AnOnLineuserprocessinacriticalsectionisprobablyholding
shared-memory resources needed to modify data. If the user process dies
prematurely, it might be unable to release all these resources.
Within thespaceof a critical section,itis impossible forOnLinetodetermine
which shared-memory resources should be released and which changes
should be undone to return all datato a consistent point. Therefore, if a user
process dies while it is in a critical section, OnLine immediately takes action
to return all data to the last known consistent point.
Fast recovery is the procedure OnLine uses to quickly regain physical and
logical data consistencyup to andincluding thelast recordin the logicallog.
OnLineinitiatesfastrecoveryindirectlybystartinganimmediateshutdown.
After immediate shutdown, the subsequent startup initiates fast recovery
and returns OnLine data to physical and logical consistency. (Refer to
page 4-39 for further information about fast recovery.)
Comentarios a estos manuales