Optimal design of multiple hash tables for concurrency control

In this paper, we propose the approach of using multiple hash tables for lock requests with different data access patterns to minimize the number of false contentions in a data sharing environment. We first derive some theoretical results on using multiple hash tables. Then, in light of these derivations, a two-step procedure to design multiple hash tables is developed. In the first step, data items are partitioned into a given number of groups. Each group of data items is associated with the use of a hash table in such a way that lock requests to data items in the same group will be hashed into the same hash table. In the second step, given an aggregate hash table size, the hash table size for each individual data group is optimally determined so as to minimize the number of false contentions. Some design examples and remarks on the proposed method are given. It is observed from real database systems that different data sets usually have their distinct data access patterns, thus resulting in an environment where this approach can offer significant performance improvement.