VLDB2025

Enhancing Transaction Processing through Indirection Skipping

Riki Otaki, Jun Hyuk Chang, Aaron J. Elmore, Goetz Graefe

2 citations

Abstract

In modern database management systems (DBMS), data retrieval typically requires traversing multiple layers—such as secondary indexes, primary indexes, and buffer pools—which introduces significant overhead and creates performance bottlenecks. In this paper, we propose a novel method that minimizes this overhead by establishing more direct access paths during data retrieval. Our experimental results demonstrate substantial efficiency gains across various DBMS components, including secondary indexing and concurrency control mechanisms. Specifically, we observe that implementing direct access paths can boost the throughput of transaction processing systems by up to 19.7× when executing the TPC-C-like benchmark with 40 threads. Furthermore, our approach holds promise for broader applications, potentially transforming data retrieval practices by enabling efficient handling of data movements with minimal overhead.