Not just correct, but correct and fast: a look at one of Jim Gray's contributions to database system performance

ABSTRACT

This paper examines Jim Gray's role in the specification of the debit/credit benchmark. The publication of this benchmark in a 1985 paper launched a benchmark war among the vendors that resulted in dramatic improvements in database system performance in the years following its publication. It was the genesis of the TPC, an industry consortium which has reshaped the benchmark landscape. Descendents of this benchmark continue to this day to be an important metric of modern transaction processing systems.

REFERENCES

• 0: Many of the papers cited below are posted at http://research.microsoft.com/~gray/JimGrayPublications.htm; they are marked with a (*).
• 1: "A Measure of Transaction Processing Power," Anon et al., Datamation, April 1, 1985. *
• 2: Dina Bitton , David J. DeWitt , Carolyn Turbyfill, Benchmarking Database Systems A Systematic Approach, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Very Large Data Bases, p.8-19, October 31-November 02, 1983
• 3: "A Measure of Transaction Processing Power," Anon et al., Tandem Technical Report, TR 85.2. *
• 4: "The History of DebitCredit and the TPC," Omni Serlin, The Benchmark Handbook, Chapter 2, 1993. *
• 5: "History and Overview of the TPC," Shanley, Kim, http://www.tpc.org/information/about/history.asp, February 1998.
• 6: "DeWitt Clauses: Can We Protect Purchasers Without Hurting Microsoft?" http://www.redorbit.com/news/ technology/520809/dewitt clauses can we protect purchasers without hurting microsoft/index.html
• 7: "The Evolution of TPC Benchmarks: Why TPC-A and TPC-B Are Obsolete," Charles Levine, Jim Gray, Steve Kiss, and Walt Kohler, San Francisco Systems Center Technical Report 93.1, Digital Equipment Corporation, September 1993. *
• 8: http://research.microsoft.com/barc/sortbenchmark/
• 9: "Thousands of DebitCredit Transactions-Per-Second," Jim Gray, and Charles Levine, Microsoft Research Technical Report, MSR-TR-2005-39, April 1, 2005. *
• 10: "Introduction," Jim Gray, The Benchmark Handbook, Chapter 1, 1993.*

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.2 DATABASE MANAGEMENT
      H.2.4 Systems

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.2 DATABASE MANAGEMENT
      H.2.0 General
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.4 Systems and Software
          Subjects: Performance evaluation (efficiency and effectiveness)

General Terms:
Design, Performance