Coupling production systems and database systems: a homogeneousapproach

Methods for storing and manipulating large rule bases using a relational database management systems (DBMS) are discussed. An approach to decomposing and storing the condition elements in the antecedents of rules such as those used in production rule-based systems is presented. A set-oriented approach, DBCond, which uses a special data structure that is implemented using relations is proposed. A matching algorithm for DBCond uses the relational structures to efficiently identify rules whose antecedents are satisfied. The performance of DBCond is compared with that of DBRete, a DBMS implementation of the Rete match algorithm developed for use with the production rule language OPS5. DBCond is also compared with DBQuery, a method that is based on evaluating queries corresponding to the conditions in the antecedents of the rules. Improvements to the data structure and the algorithms of the DBCond method are described. An advantage of DBCond is that it is fully parallelizable, thus making it attractive for parallel computing environments     

Experiences in database system implementation using a persistent programming language

The EXODUS database toolkit, and in particular the E persistent programming language, have been used in two substantial database system implementation efforts by the authors, the Ariel database rule system and the Triton nested relation DBMS. An important advantage of using a persistent programming language for database system implementation is that it is easy to implement special-purpose persistent objects used by the DBMS such as catalogs, rule indexes, and nested relational structures. Support for transactions built into a persistent programming language greatly reduces the effort required to implement a database system. A disadvantage observed is that it is not possible to map the type system of the DBMS to the type system of the underlying programming language while still retaining good performance for ad hoc queries. Also, software engineering difficulties arise when a persistent language makes a distinction between database types and main-memory types.     

Implementing temporal integrity constraints using an active DBMS

The paper proposes a general architecture for implementing temporal integrity constraints by compiling them into a set of active DBMS rules. The modularity of the design allows easy adaptation to different environments. Both differences in the specification languages and in the target rule systems can be easily accommodated. The advantages of this architecture are demonstrated on a particular temporal constraint compiler. This compiler allows automatic translation of integrity constraints formulated in Past Temporal Logic into rules of an active DBMS (in the current version of the compiler two active DBMS are supported: Starburst and INGRES). During the compilation the set of constraints is checked for the safe evaluation property. The result is a set of SQL statements that includes all the necessary rules needed for enforcing the original constraints. The rules are optimized to reduce the space overhead introduced by the integrity checking mechanism. There is no need for an additional runtime constraint monitor. When the rules are activated, all updates to the database that violate any of the constraints are automatically rejected (i.e., the corresponding transaction is aborted). In addition to straightforward implementation, this approach offers a clean separation of application programs and the integrity checking code     

The design and implementation of the Ariel active database rulesystem

Describes the design and implementation of the Ariel DBMS and its tightly-coupled forward-chaining rule system. The query language of Ariel is a subset of POSTQUEL (the POSTGRES QUEry Language), extended with a new production-rule sublanguage. Ariel supports traditional relational database query and update operations efficiently, using a System R-like query processing strategy. In addition, the Ariel rule system is tightly coupled with query and update processing. Ariel rules can have conditions based on a mix of selections, joins, events and transitions. For testing rule conditions, Ariel makes use of a discrimination network composed of a special data structure for testing single-relation selection conditions efficiently, and a modified version of the TREAT algorithm, called A-TREAT, for testing join conditions. The key modification to TREAT (which could also be used in the Rete algorithm) is the use of virtual α-memory nodes which save storage since they contain only the predicate associated with the memory node instead of copies of data matching the predicate. In addition, the notions of tokens and α-memory nodes are generalized to support event and transition conditions. The rule-action executor in Ariel binds the data matching a rule's condition to the action of the rule at rule fire time, and executes the rule action using the query processor     

The Starburst active database rule system

The paper describes the development of the Starburst Rule System, an active database rules facility integrated into the Starburst extensible relational database system at the IBM Almaden Research Center. The Starburst rule language is based on arbitrary database state transitions rather than tuple or statement level changes, yielding a clear and flexible execution semantics. The rule system has been implemented completely. Its rapid implementation was facilitated by the extensibility features of Starburst, and rule management and rule processing are integrated into all aspects of database processing     

一种基于入侵检测的数据库安全审计

数据库审计是数据库安全的重要组成部分.它包括了日志记录和日志分析两个部分.然而传统的数据库审计系统往往只是一个简单的日志系统,而并不具备对日志进行分析的能力.即使存在审计分析能力,也往往具有语义不足,不易定义的特点.DBIDAUD模型使用入侵检测方法来实现数据库的审计分析能力,在DBIDAUD模型中存在一个规则库,其中定义了入侵检测知识,审计员通过定制规则库来定制系统的安全策略.模型具有丰富的语义和较高的效率,能够用来实现高安全数据库的审计系统.国产OSCARSEC安全数据库使用DBIDAUD实现了审计中心子系统.满足了国家安全标准四级的要求,在航天内部得到了充分的应用.     

E-DEVICE: an extensible active knowledge base system with multiplerule type support

This paper describes E-DEVICE, an extensible active knowledge base system (KBS) that supports the processing of event-driven, production, and deductive rules into the same active OODB system. E-DEVICE provides the infrastructure for the smooth integration of various declarative rule types, such as production and deductive rules, into an active OODB system that supports low-level event-driven rules only by: (1) mapping each declarative rule into one event-driven rule, offering centralized rule selection control for correct run-time behavior and conflict resolution, and (2) using complex events to map the conditions of declarative rules and monitor the database to incrementally match those conditions. E-DEVICE provides the infrastructure for easily extending the system by adding: (1) new rule types as subtypes of existing ones, and (2) transparent optimizations to the rule matching network. The resulting system is a flexible, yet efficient, KBS that gives the user the ability to express knowledge in a variety of high-level forms for advanced problem solving in data intensive applications     

完整性约束规则的自动生成

1．前言 传统数据库一直被动地对用户(应用程序)的要求作出反应,八十年代末期提出的主动数据库突破了这一局限,能够在没有用户干预的情况下,自动地对系统内部或外部产生的事件做出响应[5],其主动性行为的基础是规则系统的有力支持。 后期推出的关系数据库产品(如SYBASE)已经提供了规则机制,有许多基于规则的主动数据库已经或正在形成。但这些系统中提供的规则定义语言都是过程式的,要求用户对规则的条件和动作进行具体描述,规则定义成为一项很繁琐的工作,给用户充分利用规则造成困碓。特别是对于大量的完整性约束保持规则来说,其触发条件和动作都有稳定一致的规律性,应该提供一种说明性的语言使用户能够简明安全地表达约束语义,而规则的细节能由系统自动生成。     

An intelligent database for engineering applications

Many engineering applications need to response to unpredictable events in a timely manner. Active database systems provide an event-driven rule processing capability to meet this requirement. In this paper, we present an intelligent database which integrates an object-oriented database (OODB) with an expert system, CLIPS. The paper describes the design and implementation of the rule manager of this intelligent database. In the rule manager, event-condition-action (ECA) rules are represented as first class objects of the OODB. A rule definition language (RDL) has been developed to manipulate ECA rules in a declarative way. A graphical user interface (GUI) also supplies a template to interactively define, delete, update and check ECA rules. Detection of time events, method events, absolute events and composite events is supported by the rule manager. The CLIPS inference engine is used to control condition evaluation and action execution after an ECA rule is triggered. Finally, a typical workflow application is used to illustrate the functionality of the system.     

OCL2Trigger: Deriving active mechanisms for relational databases using Model-Driven Architecture

Transforming integrity constraints into active rules or triggers for verifying database consistency produces a serious and complex problem related to real time behaviour that must be considered for any implementation. Our main contribution to this work is to provide a complete approach for deriving the active mechanisms for Relational Databases from the specification of the integrity constraints by using OCL. This approach is designed in accordance with the MDA approach which consists of transforming the specified OCL clauses into a class diagram into SQL:2003 standard triggers, then transforming the standard triggers into target DBMS triggers. We believe that developing triggers and plugging them into a given model is insufficient because the behaviour of such triggers is invisible to the developers, and therefore not controllable. For this reason, a DBMS trigger verification model is used in our approach, in order to ensure the termination of trigger execution. Our approach is implemented as an add-in tool in Rational Rose called OCL2Trigger.     

Generalized production rules as a basis for integrating active anddeductive databases

The authors address the problem of providing a homogeneous framework for integrating, in a database environment, active rules, which allow the specification of actions to be executed whenever certain events take place, and deductive rules, which allow the specification of deductions in a logic programming style. Actually, it is widely recognized that both kinds of rules enhance the capabilities of database systems since they provide very natural mechanisms for the management of various important activities (e.g., knowledge representation, complex data manipulation, integrity constraint enforcement, view maintenance). However, in spite of their strong relationship, little work has been done on the unification of these powerful paradigms. They present a rule-based language with an event-driven semantics that allows programmers to express both active and deductive computations. The language is based on a new notion of production rules whose effect is both a change of state and an answer to a query. By using several examples, they show that this simple language schema allows one to uniformly define different computations on data, including complex data manipulations, deductive evaluations, and active rule processing. They define the semantics of the language and then describe the architecture of a preliminary implementation of the language. Finally, they report on the application and experience of using the language     

ORACLE 7 的主动式数据库机制与应用

本文讨论了主动式数据库应用的优势和难点。并对数据库管理系统ＯＲＡＣＬＥ７的主动式数据库技术特征作出较详尽的剖析,主要包括数据库的触发器机制以及ＦＯＲＭ４．５的触发器机制。最后应用主动规则的分层化设计思想与ＯＲＡＣＬＥ７的数据库触发器机制实现一修理与维护系统。     

Delta abstractions: A technique for managing database states in runtime debugging of active database rules

Delta abstractions are introduced as a mechanism for managing database states during the execution of active database rules. Delta abstractions build upon the use of object deltas, capturing changes to individual objects through a system-supported, collapsible type structure. The object delta structure is implemented using object-oriented concepts such as encapsulation and inheritance so that all database objects inherit the ability to transparently create and manage delta values. Delta abstractions provide an additional layer to the database programmer for organizing object deltas according to different language components that induce database changes, such as methods and active rules. As with object deltas, delta abstractions are transparently created and maintained by the active database system. We define different types of delta abstractions as views of object deltas and illustrate how the services of delta abstractions can be used to inspect the state of active rule execution. An active rule analysis and debugging tool has been implemented to demonstrate the use of object deltas and delta abstractions for dynamic analysis of active rules at runtime.     

主动数据库规则集的Petri网建模

讨论了利用Petri网作为建模工具对主动数据库中ECA规则集的建模问题.建立了存储ECA规则状态的Pelri网子网结构,用此子网可构造出单奈规则的Petri网结构,再由单条规则的Petri网构造整个规则集的Petri网模型.结果表明,用Petri网建模能准确地表达主动数据库规则集的语义,并且有利于进一步分析规则集的动态行为特征.     

On transaction boundaries in active databases: a performanceperspective

A performance model designed for studying active DBMS performance issues is described. The authors present the results of simulation experiments in which system performance was studied as a function of transaction boundary semantics for varying levels of data contention, rule complexity, and data sharing between externally submitted tasks and rule management tasks. The results demonstrate that the way in which transaction boundaries are imposed can have a major impact on the performance of an active DBMS. It is therefore concluded that this aspect of rule semantics must be carefully considered at the time that rules are specified     

Abstract Interpretation for Termination Analysis in Functional Active Databases

An active database consists of a traditional database supplemented by a set of Event-Condition-Action (ECA) rules. One of the key questions for active database designers is that of termination of the ECA rules. The behaviour of the ECA rules may be obscure and their semantics is often not specified formally. Consequently, developing termination analysis algorithms and proving their correctness is a challenging task. In this paper we address this problem for functional active databases by adopting an abstract interpretation approach. By functional active databases we mean active databases whose transaction execution semantics have been expressed in a purely functional language. Although we demonstrate our techniques for a specific active DBMS which supports a functional database programming language interface, these techniques are directly applicable to other active DBMSs whose execution semantics have been specified using a functional or a denotational approach.     

EXACT: an extensible approach to active object-oriented databases

Active database management systems (DBMSs) are a fast-growing area of research, mainly due to the large number of applications which can benefit from this active dimension. These applications are far from being homogeneous, requiring different kinds of functionalities. However, most of the active DBMSs described in the literature only provide a fixed, hard-wired execution model to support the active dimension. In object-oriented DBMSs, event-condition-action rules have been propo sed for providing active behaviour. This paper presents EXACT, a rule manager for object-oriented DBMSs which provides a variety of options from which the designer can choose the one that best fits the semantics of the concept to be supported by rules. Due to the difficulty of foreseeing future requirements, special attention has been paid to making rule management easily extensible, so that the user can tailor it to suit specific applications. This has been borne out by an implementation in ADAM, an object -oriented DBMS. An example is shown of how the default mechanism can be easily extended to support new requirements. Edited by Y. Vassiliou. Received May 26, 1994 / Revised January 26, 1995, June 22, 1996 / Accepted November 4, 1996     

The implementation of POSTGRES

The design and implementation decisions made for the three-dimensional data manager POSTGRES are discussed. Attention is restricted to the DBMS backend functions. The POSTGRES data model and query language, the rules system, the storage system, the POSTGRES implementation and the current status and performance are discussed     

PRISMA/DB: a parallel, main memory relational DBMS

PRISMA/DB, a full-fledged parallel, main memory relational database management system (DBMS) is described. PRISMA/DB's high performance is obtained by the use of parallelism for query processing and main memory storage of the entire database. A flexible architecture for experimenting with functionality and performance is obtained using a modular implementation of the system in an object-oriented programming language. The design and implementation of PRISMA/DB are described in detail. A performance evaluation of the system shows that the system is comparable to other state-of-the-art database machines. The prototype implementation of the system runs on a 100-node parallel multiprocessor     

Data structures and DBMS for computer-aided design systems

The structures for the storage of data in CAD systems influence to a large extent the effectiveness of the system. This paper reviews the wide range of data structures and database management systems (DBMS) available for structuring CAD data. Examples of basic data types are drawn from the MODULA-2 language. The relationship between these basic data types, their composite structures and the classical data models (on which many DBMS are based) is discussed, and the limitations of existing DBMS in modelling CAD data highlighted. A set of requirements for CAD database management systems is drawn up and the emerging role of product models (which seek to encapsulate the totality of data elements required to define fully an engineering artefact) is explored.