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authorBjörn Gustavsson <[email protected]>2015-06-15 11:52:18 +0200
committerBjörn Gustavsson <[email protected]>2015-06-15 11:52:18 +0200
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<rev>C</rev>
<file>Mnesia_chap1.xml</file>
</header>
- <p>This book describes the Mnesia DataBase Management
- System (DBMS). <em>Mnesia</em> is a distributed Database Management
- System, appropriate for telecommunications applications and other
- Erlang applications which require continuous operation and soft
- real-time properties. It is one section of the Open Telecom Platform
- (OTP), which is a control system platform for building
- telecommunications applications.</p>
-
- <section>
- <title>About Mnesia</title>
- <p>The management of data in telecommunications system has many
- aspects whereof some, but not all, are addressed by traditional
- commercial DBMSs (Data Base Management Systems). In particular the
- very high level of fault tolerance which is required in many nonstop
- systems, combined with requirements on the DBMS to run in the same
- address space as the application, have led us to implement a brand new
- DBMS. called Mnesia. Mnesia is implemented in, and very tightly
- connected to, the programming language Erlang and it provides the
- functionality that is necessary for the implementation of fault
- tolerant telecommunications systems. Mnesia is a multiuser Distributed
- DBMS specially made for industrial telecommunications applications
- written in the symbolic programming language Erlang, which is also
- the intended target language. Mnesia tries to address all of the data
- management issues required for typical telecommunications systems and
- it has a number of features that are not normally found in traditional
- databases. <br></br>
-
- In telecommunications applications there are different needs
- from the features provided by traditional DBMSs. The applications now
- implemented in the Erlang language need a mixture of a broad range
- of features, which generally are not satisfied by traditional DBMSs.
- Mnesia is designed with requirements like the following in mind:</p>
- <list type="ordered">
- <item>Fast real-time key/value lookup</item>
- <item>Complicated non real-time queries mainly for
- operation and maintenance</item>
- <item>Distributed data due to distributed
- applications</item>
- <item>High fault tolerance</item>
- <item>Dynamic re-configuration</item>
- <item>Complex objects</item>
- </list>
- <p>What
- sets Mnesia apart from most other DBMSs is that it is designed with
- the typical data management problems of telecommunications applications
- in mind. Hence Mnesia combines many concepts found in traditional
- databases, such as transactions and queries with concepts found in data
- management systems for telecommunications applications, such as very
- fast real-time operations, configurable degree of fault tolerance (by
- means of replication) and the ability to reconfigure the system without
- stopping or suspending it. Mnesia is also interesting due to its tight
- coupling to the programming language Erlang, thus almost turning Erlang
- into a database programming language. This has many benefits, the
- foremost is that
- the impedance mismatch between data format used by the
- DBMS and data format used by the programming language, which is used
- to manipulate the data, completely disappears. <br></br>
-</p>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>The Mnesia DataBase Management System (DBMS)</title>
- <p></p>
+ <p>The <c>Mnesia</c> application provides a heavy duty real-time
+ distributed database.</p>
<section>
- <title>Features</title>
- <p>Mnesia contains the following features which combine to produce a fault-tolerant,
- distributed database management system written in Erlang:
- </p>
+ <title>Scope</title>
+ <p>This User's Guide describes how to
+ build <c>Mnesia</c> database applications, and how to integrate
+ and use the <c>Mnesia</c> database management system with
+ OTP. Programming constructs are described, and numerous
+ programming examples are included to illustrate the use of
+ <c>Mnesia</c>.</p>
+ <p>This User's Guide is organized as follows:</p>
<list type="bulleted">
- <item>Database schema can be dynamically reconfigured at runtime.
+ <item><seealso marker="Mnesia_overview">Mnesia</seealso>
+ provides an introduction to
+ <c>Mnesia</c>.
+ </item>
+ <item><seealso marker="Mnesia_chap2">Getting Started</seealso>
+ introduces <c>Mnesia</c> with an example database. Examples
+ are included how to start an Erlang session, specify a
+ <c>Mnesia</c> database directory, initialize a database
+ schema, start <c>Mnesia</c>, and create tables. Initial
+ prototyping of record definitions is also discussed.
+ </item>
+ <item><seealso marker="Mnesia_chap3">Build a Mnesia
+ Database</seealso> more formally describes the steps
+ introduced in the previous section, namely the <c>Mnesia</c>
+ functions that define a database schema, start <c>Mnesia</c>,
+ and create the required tables.
+ </item>
+ <item><seealso marker="Mnesia_chap4">Transactions and Other Access Contexts</seealso>
+ describes the transactions properties that make <c>Mnesia</c> into
+ a fault tolerant, real-time distributed database management
+ system. This section also describes the concept of locking
+ to ensure consistency in tables, and "dirty
+ operations", or short cuts, which bypass the transaction system
+ to improve speed and reduce overheads.
</item>
- <item>Tables can be declared to have properties such as location,
- replication, and persistence.
+ <item><seealso marker="Mnesia_chap5">Miscellaneous Mnesia
+ Features</seealso> describes features that enable the
+ construction of more complex database applications. These
+ features include indexing, checkpoints, distribution and fault
+ tolerance, disc-less nodes, replication manipulation, local
+ content tables, concurrency, and object-based programming in
+ <c>Mnesia</c>.
</item>
- <item>Tables can be moved or replicated to several nodes to improve
- fault tolerance. The rest of the system can still access the tables
- to read, write, and delete records.
+ <item><seealso marker="Mnesia_chap7">Mnesia System
+ Information</seealso> describes the files contained in the
+ <c>Mnesia</c> database directory, database configuration data,
+ core and table dumps, as well as the important subject of
+ backup, fall-back, and disaster recovery principles.
</item>
- <item>Table locations are transparent to the programmer.
- Programs address table names and the system itself keeps track of
- table locations.
+ <item><seealso marker="Mnesia_chap8">Combine Mnesia with
+ SNMP</seealso> is a short section that outlines <c>Mnesia</c>
+ integrated with SNMP.
</item>
- <item>Database transactions can be distributed, and a large number of
- functions can be called within one transaction.
+ <item><seealso marker="Mnesia_App_A">Appendix A: Backup
+ Callback Interface</seealso> is a program listing of the
+ default implementation of this facility.
</item>
- <item>Several transactions can run concurrently, and their execution is
- fully synchronized by the database management system.
- Mnesia ensures that no two processes manipulate data simultaneously.
+ <item><seealso marker="Mnesia_App_B">Appendix B: Activity
+ Access Callback Interface</seealso> is a program outlining
+ one possible implementation of this facility.
</item>
- <item>Transactions can be assigned the property of being executed on
- all nodes in the system, or on none. Transactions can also be bypassed
- in favor of running so called "dirty operations", which reduce
- overheads and run very fast.
+ <item><seealso marker="Mnesia_App_C">Appendix C: Fragmented
+ Table Hashing Callback Interface</seealso> is a program
+ outlining one possible implementation of this facility.
</item>
</list>
- <p>Details of these features are described in the following sections.</p>
- </section>
- <p></p>
-
- <section>
- <title>Add-on Applications</title>
- <p>QLC and Mnesia Session can be used in conjunction with Mnesia to produce
- specialized functions which enhance the operational ability of Mnesia.
- Both Mnesia Session and QLC have their own documentation as part
- of the OTP documentation set. Below are the main features of Mnesia Session
- and QLC when used in conjunction with Mnesia:</p>
- <list type="bulleted">
- <item><em>QLC</em> has the ability to optimize the query
- compiler for the Mnesia Database Management System, essentially making
- the DBMS more efficient.</item>
- <item><em>QLC</em>, can be used as a database programming
- language for Mnesia. It includes a notation called "list
- comprehensions" and can be used to make complex database
- queries over a set of tables.</item>
- <item><em>Mnesia Session</em> is an interface for the Mnesia Database
- Management System</item>
- <item><em>Mnesia Session</em> enables access to the
- Mnesia DBMS from foreign programming languages (i.e. other
- languages than Erlang).</item>
- </list>
- <p></p>
-
- <section>
- <title>When to Use Mnesia</title>
- <p>Use Mnesia with the following types of applications:
- </p>
- <list type="bulleted">
- <item>Applications that need to replicate data.
- </item>
- <item>Applications that perform complicated searches on data.
- </item>
- <item>Applications that need to use atomic transactions to
- update several records simultaneously.
- </item>
- <item>Applications that use soft real-time characteristics.
- </item>
- </list>
- <p>On the other hand, Mnesia may not be appropriate with the
- following types of applications:
- </p>
- <list type="bulleted">
- <item>Programs that process plain text or binary data files
- </item>
- <item>Applications that merely need a look-up dictionary
- which can be stored to disc can utilize the standard
- library module <c>dets</c>, which is a disc based version
- of the module <c>ets</c>.
- </item>
- <item>Applications which need disc logging facilities can
- utilize the module <c>disc_log</c> by preference.
- </item>
- <item>Not suitable for hard real time systems.
- </item>
- </list>
- </section>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Scope and Purpose</title>
- <p>This manual is included in the OTP document set. It describes
- how to build Mnesia database applications, and how to integrate
- and utilize the Mnesia database management system with
- OTP. Programming constructs are described, and numerous
- programming examples are included to illustrate the use of
- Mnesia.
- </p>
</section>
<section>
<title>Prerequisites</title>
- <p>Readers of this manual are assumed to be familiar with system
- development principles and database management systems. Readers
- are also assumed to be familiar with the Erlang programming
- language.</p>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>About This Book</title>
- <p>This book contains the following chapters:
- </p>
- <list type="bulleted">
- <item>Chapter 2, "Getting Started with Mnesia", introduces
- Mnesia with an example database. Examples are shown of how to
- start an Erlang session, specify a Mnesia database directory,
- initialize a database schema, start Mnesia, and create
- tables. Initial prototyping of record definitions is also
- discussed.
- </item>
- <item>Chapter 3, "Building a Mnesia Database", more formally
- describes the steps introduced in Chapter 2, namely the Mnesia
- functions which define a database schema, start Mnesia, and
- create the required tables.
- </item>
- <item>Chapter 4, "Transactions and other access contexts",
- describes the transactions properties which make Mnesia into a
- fault tolerant, real-time distributed database management
- system. This chapter also describes the concept of locking in
- order to ensure consistency in tables, and so called "dirty
- operations", or short cuts which bypass the transaction system
- to improve speed and reduce overheads.
- </item>
- <item>Chapter 5, "Miscellaneous Mnesia Features", describes
- features which enable the construction of more complex
- database applications. These features includes indexing,
- checkpoints, distribution and fault tolerance, disc-less
- nodes, replication manipulation, local content tables, concurrency,
- and object based programming in Mnesia.
- </item>
- <item>Chapter 6, "Mnesia System Information", describes the
- files contained in the Mnesia database directory, database
- configuration data, core and table dumps, as well as the
- important subject of backup, fall-back, and disaster recovery
- principles.
- </item>
- <item>Chapter 7, "Combining Mnesia with SNMP", is a short
- chapter which outlines Mnesia integrated with SNMP.
- </item>
- <item>Appendix A, "Mnesia Errors Messages", lists Mnesia error
- messages and their meanings.
- </item>
- <item>Appendix B, "The Backup Call Back Interface", is a
- program listing of the default implementation of this facility.
- </item>
- <item>Appendix C, "The Activity Access Call Back Interface",
- is a program outlining of one possible implementations of this facility.
- </item>
- </list>
+ <p>It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the Erlang
+ programming language, system development principles, and
+ database management systems.</p>
</section>
- </section>
</chapter>