What does durability mean in the context of transaction management?

What does durability mean in the context of transaction management?

• A. Transactions can be modified before finalization
• B. Completed transactions cannot be undone
• C. Temporary data can be restored
• D. Incomplete transactions can be saved

Answer: (B)

In the context of transaction management, durability refers to the property that guarantees that once a transaction has been completed and acknowledged as successful, its effects will persist even in the event of power failures, crashes, or other system issues. This means that once a transaction is committed, the data changes it introduced will remain in the database and cannot be rolled back or undone. This assurance is crucial for maintaining the integrity and consistency of the data, as users can trust that their completed transactions are safe and reliable. In practice, durability is typically achieved through mechanisms such as logging changes to a persistent storage medium before the transaction is considered complete. The other options do not accurately capture the essence of durability in transaction management. Modifying transactions before finalization pertains more to the notion of atomicity. Restoring temporary data is related to recovery methods rather than durability specifically, and saving incomplete transactions touches on the aspect of ensuring that transactions can be worked on later, which is more aligned with the properties of atomicity and isolation rather than durability.

In the context of transaction management, durability refers to the property that guarantees that once a transaction has been completed and acknowledged as successful, its effects will persist even in the event of power failures, crashes, or other system issues. This means that once a transaction is committed, the data changes it introduced will remain in the database and cannot be rolled back or undone.

This assurance is crucial for maintaining the integrity and consistency of the data, as users can trust that their completed transactions are safe and reliable. In practice, durability is typically achieved through mechanisms such as logging changes to a persistent storage medium before the transaction is considered complete.

The other options do not accurately capture the essence of durability in transaction management. Modifying transactions before finalization pertains more to the notion of atomicity. Restoring temporary data is related to recovery methods rather than durability specifically, and saving incomplete transactions touches on the aspect of ensuring that transactions can be worked on later, which is more aligned with the properties of atomicity and isolation rather than durability.