data storage and management

I have been using this book in the advanced undegraduate class series on Transaction Processing. Since this book, as emphasised in the preface has eveolved from the class material, it is exemplerary suited for that purpose. But not only in academia, this book has enought coverage to provide a first reference point in such topics as TP monitors, queue design, locking solutions, HA and recovery in databases, 2PC. Additionally, VERY usefull (if somewhat dated) industry survey of Transaction Monitors (this will really benefit to the other edition perhaps including app servers and EJBs). Highly recommended.

This book is my first "real" visit to transaction processing. As a host, this books welcomes me very well. When I knock its door, the preface says welcome in in a very friendly matter, and the words from Jim Gray's is a nice one to get to know each other with the book very well. The first conversation between us in the first two chapters make me very anthusiast to continue the conversation the next day.

The next day (ch.3 &4) , well, we don't know why we have to talk about RPC and Message Queueing. I am wondering if the chapters are interesting for other visitors, for me..., it is a little dry...

And after a little tea, the book shows its photo album. It shows some of its good friends, from the war veteran CICS, Tuxedo until some more sexies friends like Encina, OTS, and MTS...

Then..., we talk more seriously after the chapter. But still the discussion is not too difficult to follow... Who would say that Locking (ch. 6), high availability (ch.7), database recovery (ch.8), two phase commit (ch.9), and replication(ch.10) are easy topics ? Fortunately, the book is friendly enough not to tell all the detail of the locking, commit, and replication in detail..., it asks me to visit its old friend: Jim Gray book and rich of its friends in bibliograpy...

Transaction processing is a daunting topic, and this is one of the few books that provides the basics in a clear, understandable manner without overwhelming the reader. Most of the book is focused solely on transaction processing, but it touches on queuing as well, which makes it the ideal first book for anyone who is seeking details that extend beyond pure TP.

I like the way that the authors use real products to reinforce key points made throughout the book. While some of the products are no longer mainstream (indeed, some were never mainstream), the fact that real world implementations are used makes the information realistic. If you are using CICS, MQSeries, Tuxedo or similar products this book will have even more value. I also like the way difficult topics, such as locking, high availability and database recovery are given entire chapters because these topics need to be thoroughly understood in order to completely understand transaction processing.

After reading this book you will be armed with sufficient knowledge to make intelligent choices in selecting the right approach for transaction processing in a system design, or to understand the nuts and bolts of any TPM that you are supporting. I also agree with Cem Kaner's earlier comments that this book is an ideal resource for software test professionals who need to understand the entire environment that they will be testing. If you want to go deeper into TP, I recommend "Transactional Information Systems: Theory, Algorithms, and the Practice of Concurrency Control" by Gerhard Weikum and Gottfried Vossen, which drills much further down into the details of both transaction processing and queuing systems.