Architecture of a Database System

Foundations and Trends in Databases
Vol. 1, No. 2 (2007) 141–259
2007 J. M. Hellerstein, M. Stonebraker and J. Hamilton
DOI: 10.1561/1900000002
Abstract
Database Management Systems (DBMSs) are a ubiquitous [juːˈbɪkwɪtəs] 似乎无所不在的/十分普遍的 and critical component of modern computing, and the result of decades of research and development in both academia [ˌækəˈdiːmiə] 学术界 and industry. Historically adv. 历史上地/从历史观点上说, DBMSs were among the earliest multi-user server systems to be developed, and thus pioneered 当开拓者/做先锋/倡导 many systems design techniques for scalability [skeɪləˈbɪlɪti]可扩展性/可伸缩性/可量测性 and reliability 可靠性 now in use in many other contexts. While many of the algorithms and abstractions used by a DBMS are textbook material, there has been relatively sparse 稀少的/稀疏的/零落的 coverage in the literature 文学/文学作品/(某学科的) 文献/著作/资料 of the systems design issues that make a DBMS work. This paper presents an architectural discussion of DBMS design principles, including process models, parallel architecture, storage system design, transaction system implementation, query processor and optimizer architectures, and typical shared components and utilities. Successful commercial and open-source systems are used as points of reference, particularly when multiple alternative designs have been adopted by different groups.

1 Introduction
Database Management Systems (DBMSs) are complex, mission-critical
software systems. Today’s DBMSs embody decades of academic and industrial research and intense 很大的/十分强烈的/严肃紧张的/激烈的 corporate software development. Database systems were among the earliest widely deployed online server systems and, as such, have pioneered design solutions spanning not only data management, but also applications, operating systems, and networked services. The early DBMSs are among the most influential software systems in computer science, and the ideas and implementation issues pioneered for DBMSs are widely copied and reinvented.
For a number of reasons, the lessons 一节课/一课时/课/教学单元/经验/ 教训of database systems architecture are not as broadly known as they should be. First, the applied database systems community is fairly small. Since market forces only support a few competitors at the high end, only a handful of successful DBMS implementations exist. The community of people involved in designing and implementing database systems is tight: many attended the same schools, worked on the same influential 有很大影响的/有支配力的 research projects, and collaborated on the same commercial products. Second, academic treatment of database systems often ignores architectural issues. Textbook presentations of database systems traditionally focus on algorithmic 算法的/规则系统的 and theoretical [ˌθɪəˈretɪkl] 理论上的/理论上存在的/假设的 issues — which are natural to teach, study, and test —without a holistic [həˈlɪstɪk] 整体的/全面的/功能整体性的 discussion of system architecture in full implementations. In sum, much conventional wisdom about how to build database systems is available, but little of it has been written down or communicated broadly.
algorithm [ˈælɡərɪðəm] 算法/计算程序

In this paper, we attempt to capture the main architectural aspects
of modern database systems, with a discussion of advanced topics. Some of these appear in the literature, and we provide references where appropriate. Other issues are buried in product manuals, and some are simply part of the oral tradition of the community. Where applicable, we use commercial and open-source systems as examples of the various architectural forms discussed. Space prevents, however, the enumeration 列举事实/逐条陈述/详叙/细目/（详）表 of the exceptions and finer nuances 细微的差别 that have found their way into these multi-million line code bases, most of which are well over a decade old.
Our goal here is to focus on overall system design and stress issues not typically discussed in textbooks, providing useful context for more widely known algorithms and concepts. We assume that the reader is familiar with textbook database systems material (e.g., [72] or [83]) and with the basic facilities of modern operating systems such as UNIX, Linux, or Windows. After introducing the high-level architecture of a DBMS in the next section, we provide a number of references to background reading on each of the components in Section 1.2.
1.1 Relational Systems: The Life of a Query