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A Certain Tendency of the Database Community

A Certain Tendency of the Database Community

Salon des Refusés, Programming 2017
Brussels, Belgium

Christopher Meiklejohn

April 04, 2017
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  1. A Certain Tendency of the Database Community Christopher S. Meiklejohn

    Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal 1 LIGHT ONE
  2. Certain Tendency • Certain tendency
 Replicated databases are treated as

    a “single” system; the databases are the “source of truth” 2
  3. Certain Tendency • Certain tendency
 Replicated databases are treated as

    a “single” system; the databases are the “source of truth” • Data ownership by clients
 Data is “owned” by the clients that create the data and data exists as soon as it is created 2
  4. Certain Tendency • Certain tendency
 Replicated databases are treated as

    a “single” system; the databases are the “source of truth” • Data ownership by clients
 Data is “owned” by the clients that create the data and data exists as soon as it is created • Database is an optimization, bottleneck
 Databases serve as a “convenience” that make it easier to write applications: think: shared memory registers: however, reduced availability 2
  5. Certain Tendency • Certain tendency
 Replicated databases are treated as

    a “single” system; the databases are the “source of truth” • Data ownership by clients
 Data is “owned” by the clients that create the data and data exists as soon as it is created • Database is an optimization, bottleneck
 Databases serve as a “convenience” that make it easier to write applications: think: shared memory registers: however, reduced availability • The edge is the source of truth!
 We need models and abstractions that allow us to write correct applications that operate with distributed data where it is being generated: the edge 2
  6. Consistency Models • Contract
 Between the application developer and the

    system that application will be deployed on • Guaranteed outcomes following certain rules
 Event interleaving, possible partial-orders, update visibility, when and where, etc. 4
  7. Consistency Models • Contract
 Between the application developer and the

    system that application will be deployed on • Guaranteed outcomes following certain rules
 Event interleaving, possible partial-orders, update visibility, when and where, etc. • Required for building applications
 Otherwise, we may pick a system to deploy our application on where our application returns incorrect results 4
  8. Strong vs. Weak • Strong
 Linearizability is the strongest; respects

    the “real-time” order of events • Weak
 Eventual consistency; informally specified, no bound on when an update may be visible 5
  9. Eventual Consistency 6 “...the storage system guarantees that if no

    new updates are made to the [replicated, shared] object, eventually all accesses [to any replica] will return the last updated value.” - W. Vogels
  10. Eventual Consistency 6 “...the storage system guarantees that if no

    new updates are made to the [replicated, shared] object, eventually all accesses [to any replica] will return the last updated value.” - W. Vogels Rather weak model, but used by many large-scale distributed systems today…
  11. CAP Theorem • Consistency is at odds with availability
 If

    systems wish to remain functioning under network partitions, systems must sacrifice one or the other 8
  12. CAP Theorem • Consistency is at odds with availability
 If

    systems wish to remain functioning under network partitions, systems must sacrifice one or the other • Consistency
 Guarantees on event order and event visibility 8
  13. CAP Theorem • Consistency is at odds with availability
 If

    systems wish to remain functioning under network partitions, systems must sacrifice one or the other • Consistency
 Guarantees on event order and event visibility • Availability
 Ability for a system to keep servicing requests under network partitions and/or failures 8
  14. CAP Example • Two replicas of an reservation system…
 Replicated

    for fault-tolerance to ensure system availability 9
  15. CAP Example • Two replicas of an reservation system…
 Replicated

    for fault-tolerance to ensure system availability • Two concurrent requests…
 Tom and Chris attempt to reserve the last available seat on a plane 9
  16. CAP Example • Two replicas of an reservation system…
 Replicated

    for fault-tolerance to ensure system availability • Two concurrent requests…
 Tom and Chris attempt to reserve the last available seat on a plane • Two possible paths…
 If one replica of the system can not reach the other replica, we have two choices: 9
  17. CAP Example • Two replicas of an reservation system…
 Replicated

    for fault-tolerance to ensure system availability • Two concurrent requests…
 Tom and Chris attempt to reserve the last available seat on a plane • Two possible paths…
 If one replica of the system can not reach the other replica, we have two choices: • [Favoring Consistency] Prevent booking
 Return an error to the user and prevent both bookings 9
  18. CAP Example • Two replicas of an reservation system…
 Replicated

    for fault-tolerance to ensure system availability • Two concurrent requests…
 Tom and Chris attempt to reserve the last available seat on a plane • Two possible paths…
 If one replica of the system can not reach the other replica, we have two choices: • [Favoring Consistency] Prevent booking
 Return an error to the user and prevent both bookings • [Favoring Availability] Allow concurrent requests
 However, now the seat is double booked and we must have a “conflict resolution” function for returning the system to a consistent state 9
  19. Recorded Knowledge • Approximation
 Approximation of globally known knowledge that

    is periodically recorded • “Potentially outdated”
 Act of recording this information produces an artifact that is already outdated unless the system has quiesced 11
  20. Message Passing • Exchange messages
 Members of the same system

    exchange messages asynchronously • Dropped or delayed
 Messages can either be dropped or delayed 12
  21. Message Passing • Exchange messages
 Members of the same system

    exchange messages asynchronously • Dropped or delayed
 Messages can either be dropped or delayed • Examples
 Letters via the postal service;
 Text messages;
 Telephone calls 12
  22. Primary Site • Ownership of information
 Each member in the

    system owns the primary copy of their information 13
  23. Primary Site • Ownership of information
 Each member in the

    system owns the primary copy of their information • Coordinates updates
 Members coordinate updates to information they are the primary site for 13
  24. Primary Site • Ownership of information
 Each member in the

    system owns the primary copy of their information • Coordinates updates
 Members coordinate updates to information they are the primary site for • Information can be cached
 Information from other sites can be cached by other members in the system 13
  25. Primary Site • Ownership of information
 Each member in the

    system owns the primary copy of their information • Coordinates updates
 Members coordinate updates to information they are the primary site for • Information can be cached
 Information from other sites can be cached by other members in the system • Local or incomplete replica
 Use memory 13
  26. Primary Site • Ownership of information
 Each member in the

    system owns the primary copy of their information • Coordinates updates
 Members coordinate updates to information they are the primary site for • Information can be cached
 Information from other sites can be cached by other members in the system • Local or incomplete replica
 Use memory • Stale replica
 Outdated printed map 13
  27. Primary Site • Ownership of information
 Each member in the

    system owns the primary copy of their information • Coordinates updates
 Members coordinate updates to information they are the primary site for • Information can be cached
 Information from other sites can be cached by other members in the system • Local or incomplete replica
 Use memory • Stale replica
 Outdated printed map • Primary site
 Google Maps or the USGS, etc. 13
  28. Database: an Optimization • Graph of primary copy locations
 Represents

    all members in the system with the data they create and are responsible for 15
  29. Database: an Optimization • Graph of primary copy locations
 Represents

    all members in the system with the data they create and are responsible for • Contract edges for subgraph
 Reduce several vertices in the graph to a single vertex: database for those entities 15
  30. Database: an Optimization • Graph of primary copy locations
 Represents

    all members in the system with the data they create and are responsible for • Contract edges for subgraph
 Reduce several vertices in the graph to a single vertex: database for those entities • Geo-replicated, EC database
 Contracted edges per country, placing a replica in each country that served as the primary copy 15
  31. Database: an Optimization • Graph of primary copy locations
 Represents

    all members in the system with the data they create and are responsible for • Contract edges for subgraph
 Reduce several vertices in the graph to a single vertex: database for those entities • Geo-replicated, EC database
 Contracted edges per country, placing a replica in each country that served as the primary copy • Wikipedia (for a given topic)
 Information about a given topic is stored here, written and coordinated by multiple authors 15
  32. Why Optimize? • Expensive
 Retrieval from the primary site is

    expensive, if the primary site is geographically distant [latency] or unavailable [availability] 16
  33. Why Optimize? • Expensive
 Retrieval from the primary site is

    expensive, if the primary site is geographically distant [latency] or unavailable [availability] • Replication introduces challenges
 Replication can make maintaining consistency much more challenges if caching/replication is pervasive 16
  34. IoT and Mobile Applications • Centralized won’t scale
 Storing all

    data at a central location for processing won’t scale due to power and DC requirements 17
  35. IoT and Mobile Applications • Centralized won’t scale
 Storing all

    data at a central location for processing won’t scale due to power and DC requirements • Today’s systems assume centralization
 Both programming models and applications used today assume centralization of data (ie. Spark, etc.) 17
  36. Database as a Constraint Satisfaction Problem • Where do we

    route requests?
 When we need to retrieve a certain piece of data, how do we know where to route the request to? 20
  37. Database as a Constraint Satisfaction Problem • Where do we

    route requests?
 When we need to retrieve a certain piece of data, how do we know where to route the request to? • How we do specify acceptable staleness?
 Do we need to route to the primary site or can we use a cache? Does that cache provide a value within an acceptable value of staleness? 20
  38. Database as a Constraint Satisfaction Problem • Where do we

    route requests?
 When we need to retrieve a certain piece of data, how do we know where to route the request to? • How we do specify acceptable staleness?
 Do we need to route to the primary site or can we use a cache? Does that cache provide a value within an acceptable value of staleness? • How do we bound latency?
 How do we select an appropriate cache? How do we choose between a cache and a primary site given we have to match a latency bound? 20
  39. Database as a Constraint Satisfaction Problem • Where do we

    route requests?
 When we need to retrieve a certain piece of data, how do we know where to route the request to? • How we do specify acceptable staleness?
 Do we need to route to the primary site or can we use a cache? Does that cache provide a value within an acceptable value of staleness? • How do we bound latency?
 How do we select an appropriate cache? How do we choose between a cache and a primary site given we have to match a latency bound? • How do we reason about staleness?
 Across multiple requests for the same object, how do we know which version is newer or older? 20
  40. Solution #1 Mergeable Data Structures • Abstract data types for

    AP/EC systems
 Encapsulate AP replication concerns and exist in time and space 21
  41. Solution #1 Mergeable Data Structures • Abstract data types for

    AP/EC systems
 Encapsulate AP replication concerns and exist in time and space • Merge to most “recent” result
 Conflict resolution and provenance information 21
  42. Solution #1 Mergeable Data Structures • Abstract data types for

    AP/EC systems
 Encapsulate AP replication concerns and exist in time and space • Merge to most “recent” result
 Conflict resolution and provenance information • One example: CRDTs
 Conflict-free Replicated Data Types (Shapiro et al. 2011) 21
  43. Solution #1 Mergeable Data Structures • Abstract data types for

    AP/EC systems
 Encapsulate AP replication concerns and exist in time and space • Merge to most “recent” result
 Conflict resolution and provenance information • One example: CRDTs
 Conflict-free Replicated Data Types (Shapiro et al. 2011) • Causality
 Capture causality for object mutations and can identify concurrent operations 21
  44. Solution #1 Mergeable Data Structures • Abstract data types for

    AP/EC systems
 Encapsulate AP replication concerns and exist in time and space • Merge to most “recent” result
 Conflict resolution and provenance information • One example: CRDTs
 Conflict-free Replicated Data Types (Shapiro et al. 2011) • Causality
 Capture causality for object mutations and can identify concurrent operations • Concurrency
 Resolve concurrent operations using a bias (think: concurrent add(e) || remove(e) on the same set for same element) 21
  45. Solution #2 Programming Model • Based on mergeable data structures


    Mergeable data structures form the core data abstraction for a programming model 22
  46. Solution #2 Programming Model • Based on mergeable data structures


    Mergeable data structures form the core data abstraction for a programming model • Programming through composition of mergeable data structures
 Ensure the mergeability property holds through program transformations, data composition 22
  47. Solution #2 Programming Model • Based on mergeable data structures


    Mergeable data structures form the core data abstraction for a programming model • Programming through composition of mergeable data structures
 Ensure the mergeability property holds through program transformations, data composition • One example: Lasp
 Lattice Processing (Meiklejohn, Van Roy 2015) 22
  48. Solution #2 Programming Model • Based on mergeable data structures


    Mergeable data structures form the core data abstraction for a programming model • Programming through composition of mergeable data structures
 Ensure the mergeability property holds through program transformations, data composition • One example: Lasp
 Lattice Processing (Meiklejohn, Van Roy 2015) • Correct-by-construction
 Correct-by-construction distributed programs for infrastructure that provides weak guarantees 22
  49. Solution #2 Programming Model • Based on mergeable data structures


    Mergeable data structures form the core data abstraction for a programming model • Programming through composition of mergeable data structures
 Ensure the mergeability property holds through program transformations, data composition • One example: Lasp
 Lattice Processing (Meiklejohn, Van Roy 2015) • Correct-by-construction
 Correct-by-construction distributed programs for infrastructure that provides weak guarantees • Result provenance
 Extends CRDT causality/concurrency tracking through to results of applications providing mergeable outcomes 22
  50. Solution #3 Remove Role Dichotomy • Eliminate client-server dichotomy
 Servers

    shouldn’t be responsible for canonical data and data sharing, but rather serve as a location where particular code will run with clients data 23
  51. Solution #3 Remove Role Dichotomy • Eliminate client-server dichotomy
 Servers

    shouldn’t be responsible for canonical data and data sharing, but rather serve as a location where particular code will run with clients data • Clients communicate other clients
 Exchange state for latency reduction, serve as the primary site for their information 23
  52. Solution #3 Remove Role Dichotomy • Eliminate client-server dichotomy
 Servers

    shouldn’t be responsible for canonical data and data sharing, but rather serve as a location where particular code will run with clients data • Clients communicate other clients
 Exchange state for latency reduction, serve as the primary site for their information • Servers as business entities
 Necessary for latency reduction of large data sets, durability, location of “exactly-once” side-effects: ie. charge credit card 23
  53. Solution #3 Remove Role Dichotomy • Eliminate client-server dichotomy
 Servers

    shouldn’t be responsible for canonical data and data sharing, but rather serve as a location where particular code will run with clients data • Clients communicate other clients
 Exchange state for latency reduction, serve as the primary site for their information • Servers as business entities
 Necessary for latency reduction of large data sets, durability, location of “exactly-once” side-effects: ie. charge credit card • One example: Skype
 Completely peer-to-peer for operation, but a central server is used for authentication and storage of users “address book.” 23
  54. What about Causality? • Misnomer “Eventually Consistent World”
 We know

    that causality drives interactions in the physical world: relativity, light cones, etc. 25
  55. What about Causality? • Misnomer “Eventually Consistent World”
 We know

    that causality drives interactions in the physical world: relativity, light cones, etc. • Causality in distributed systems
 Happens-before relationship (Lamport 1978) describes capturing causal relationships between entities in a distributed system 25
  56. Causality Tradeoffs • Benefits
 Simplifies the development of systems
 Reason

    about cause/effect; eliminates storage and maintenance of redundant information 26
  57. Causality Tradeoffs • Benefits
 Simplifies the development of systems
 Reason

    about cause/effect; eliminates storage and maintenance of redundant information • Negatives
 Expensive in storage and maintenance of causal message delivery channels; methods for reduction in state introduce false dependencies 26
  58. Where’s the disconnect? • What about causal consistency?
 Does causal

    consistency provide a better formalism for describing consistency in the world given we know causal relationships hold? 27
  59. Where’s the disconnect? • What about causal consistency?
 Does causal

    consistency provide a better formalism for describing consistency in the world given we know causal relationships hold? • Data has decay
 Some information may no longer be important after a given period of time, and forgotten 27
  60. Where’s the disconnect? • What about causal consistency?
 Does causal

    consistency provide a better formalism for describing consistency in the world given we know causal relationships hold? • Data has decay
 Some information may no longer be important after a given period of time, and forgotten • Causality formalism needs explicit decay
 The formalism for describing causal consistency requires data be explicitly “decayed” through messages (or tombstones — keeping data forever to satisfy the causal relationship) 27
  61. Causality Example By Analogy • Driver’s license example
 I learned

    a bunch of rules about driving a car and passed a driver’s test obtaining a license, which I renewed several years later 28
  62. Causality Example By Analogy • Driver’s license example
 I learned

    a bunch of rules about driving a car and passed a driver’s test obtaining a license, which I renewed several years later • What does causality imply?
 Causality captures that I would not have had the license if I had not learned the rules and passed the test 28
  63. Causality Example By Analogy • Driver’s license example
 I learned

    a bunch of rules about driving a car and passed a driver’s test obtaining a license, which I renewed several years later • What does causality imply?
 Causality captures that I would not have had the license if I had not learned the rules and passed the test • What does causal consistency imply?
 Does causal consistency imply that I can still recover the information that I originally used to pass the test? Does it imply that if I can recall my driver’s license number that I should be able to recall the rules that are implied by that license number? 28
  64. Conclusion • Some adoption of ideas: “Uber goes Unconventional”
 Places

    canonical ride state on the device to bootstrap datacenters under failure: device is source of truth 29
  65. Conclusion • Some adoption of ideas: “Uber goes Unconventional”
 Places

    canonical ride state on the device to bootstrap datacenters under failure: device is source of truth • Datacenter-focused designs are limiting
 Impractical from a storage, bandwidth, and power perspective 29
  66. Conclusion • Some adoption of ideas: “Uber goes Unconventional”
 Places

    canonical ride state on the device to bootstrap datacenters under failure: device is source of truth • Datacenter-focused designs are limiting
 Impractical from a storage, bandwidth, and power perspective • Emerging countries have limited access
 Sneakernet, USB, Bluetooth still the pervasive model of communication 29
  67. Conclusion • Some adoption of ideas: “Uber goes Unconventional”
 Places

    canonical ride state on the device to bootstrap datacenters under failure: device is source of truth • Datacenter-focused designs are limiting
 Impractical from a storage, bandwidth, and power perspective • Emerging countries have limited access
 Sneakernet, USB, Bluetooth still the pervasive model of communication • Peer-to-peer designs can provide higher-scale
 Grow to planetary scale, new programming models needed to embrace these network designs, new abstractions needed 29