Life Beyond Distributed Transactions: an Apostate's Opinion
đź“ś Abstract
For many years, the sweet spot for database applications has been network partition prevention through the use of distributed transactions or distributed consensus. Sometimes, however, it is not possible or not practical to use these techniques in a federated or partitioned environment. This paper revisits why and when the alternatives to distributed transactions like eventual consistency and compensation are feasible and outlines how developers can effectively build systems that avoid distributed transactions.
✨ Summary
Pat Helland’s paper “Life Beyond Distributed Transactions: an Apostate’s Opinion” explores the limitations and impracticalities associated with distributed transactions, particularly in systems that require network partitioning. Instead of relying on distributed transactions or distributed consensus, the paper advocates for the use of methods such as eventual consistency and compensation to build systems that can manage data in federated or partitioned environments. The emphasis is on guiding developers to explore alternative methodologies for effective systems design in scenarios where traditional database transactions are not suitable.
Post-publication, this work has inspired discussions and influenced research in the domain of distributed systems. Notably, the paper brought attention to the implications of network partitioning and eventual consistency in service-oriented architectures (SOAs). It has been referenced in various subsequent papers and discussions concerning the architecture and development of fault-tolerant distributed applications.
For instance, the paper is cited in Michael Stonebraker’s work on distributed data systems, further examining the trade-offs in distributed databases. It also appears in discussions about CAP theorem implications, especially in advocating eventual consistency models in global-scale applications. More recent insights in cloud service architectures often draw upon Helland’s perspectives on handling distributed states effectively.
References to this paper can also be found in academic and industry presentations which discuss distributed systems at scale, including its adoption in microservices architecture.