The CORDS multidatabase project

• Published in: IBM systems journal Vol. 34; no. 1; pp. 39 - 62
• Main Authors: ATTALURI, G. K, BRADSHAW, D. P, COBURN, N, LARSON, P.-A, MARTIN, P, SIBERSCHATZ, A, SLONIM, J, ZHU, Q
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Armonk, NY International Business Machines 1995; International Business Machines Corporation
• Subjects: Applications; Applied sciences; Computer architecture; Computer science; control theory; systems; Data base management systems; Distributed processing; Exact sciences and technology; Information systems. Data bases; Memory organisation. Data processing; Multiprocessing; Multiuser systems; Software; Systems design; US; Deadlock; Integration; Prototype; Database query; Computer network; Distributed database; User interface; Relational database; Database; Transactional analysis; Database management system; Optimization
• ISSN: 0018-8670
• DOI: 10.1147/sj.341.0039

In virtually every organization, data are stored in a variety of ways and managed by different database and file systems. Applications requiring data from multiple sources must recognize and deal with the specifics of each data source and must also perform any necessary data integration. The objective of a multidatabase system is to provide application developers and end users with an integrated view of and a uniform interface to all the required data. The view and the interface should be independent of where the data are stored and how the data are managed. The consortium for research on distributed systems is a research project focused on distributed applications. As part of this project, a multidatabase system is being designed and prototyped. An overview of the system architecture is provided and the approaches taken in the areas of management of catalog information, schema integration, global query optimization, transaction management, and interactions with component data sources are described.