Using distributed OLTP technology in a high performance storage system

Distributed on-line transaction processing (OLTP) technology can be applied to distributed mass storage systems as the mechanism for managing the consistency of distributed metadata. OLTP concepts are familiar to many industries, such as banking and financial services, but are less well known and understood in others, such as scientific and technical computing. However, as mass storage systems and other products are designed using distributed processing and data-management strategies for performance, scalability, and/or availability reasons, distributed OLTP technology can be applied to solve the inherent challenges raised by such environments. This paper briefly discusses the general benefits in using distributed transaction processing products. Design and implementation experiences using the Encina OLTP product from Transarc in the high performance storage system are presented in more detail as a case study for how this technology can be applied to mass storage systems designed for distributed environments.