Transactional Semantics for Compound Operations in Distributed Storage

Michael Johnson

Abstract

This systems review examines transactional semantics for compound operations in distributed storage. The organizing question is how clients should reason about atomicity when one request spans files, objects, or storage nodes. Ten related scholarly sources are synthesized through a decision-centered framework spanning problem definition, mechanism, measurement, evaluation, implementation, and governance. The review does not invent experiments, pooled estimates, or unreported quantitative results. It instead evaluates the strength and transferability of the available evidence, with particular attention to mistaking fewer network round trips for transactional atomicity. The resulting framework links technical or empirical performance to explicit use conditions and identifies tests that should precede wider adoption in storage APIs serving data-intensive and scientific applications.

Keywords

distributed storagetransactionsatomicityfile systemsrecovery

References

Cui, F., Lo, E., Srivastava, S., & Lai, Z. (2025). Bonspiel: Low Tail Latency Transactions in Geo-Distributed Databases. Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment, 18(11), 3840-3853. https://doi.org/10.14778/3749646.3749658 DOI
Daraghmi, E., Zhang, C. P., & Yuan, S. M. (2022). Enhancing Saga Pattern for Distributed Transactions within a Microservices Architecture. Applied Sciences, 12(12), 6242. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12126242 DOI
Harding, R., Aken, D. V., Pavlo, A., & Stonebraker, M. (2017). An evaluation of distributed concurrency control. Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment, 10(5), 553-564. https://doi.org/10.14778/3055540.3055548 DOI
Helland, P. (2016). Life Beyond Distributed Transactions. Queue, 14(5), 69-98. https://doi.org/10.1145/3012426.3025012 DOI
Lu, Y., Yu, X., Cao, L., & Madden, S. (2021). Epoch-based commit and replication in distributed OLTP databases. Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment, 14(5), 743-756. https://doi.org/10.14778/3446095.3446098 DOI
Sarode, R. P., Poudel, M., Shrestha, S., & Bhalla, S. (2021). Blockchain for committing peer-to-peer transactions using distributed ledger technologies. International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering, 24(3), 215. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijcse.2021.115651 DOI
Schmidt, C. G., & Wagner, S. M. (2019). Blockchain and supply chain relations: A transaction cost theory perspective. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 25(4), 100552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pursup.2019.100552 DOI
V., O. S. (2019). Distributed database on blockchain technology for new era of electricity transactions. Scientific Bulletin of Naval Academy, XXII(1), 44-51. https://doi.org/10.21279/1454-864x-19-i1-006 DOI
Zamanian, E., Binnig, C., Kraska, T., & Harris, T. (2016). The End of a Myth: Distributed Transactions Can Scale. arXiv (Cornell University). https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1607.00655 DOI
Zhang, J., Zhong, S., Wang, J., Yu, X., & Alfarraj, O. (2021). A Storage Optimization Scheme for Blockchain Transaction Databases. Computer Systems Science and Engineering, 36(3), 521-535. https://doi.org/10.32604/csse.2021.014530 DOI

Publication details

Journal: Computational Systems & Infrastructure
Volume: 1 (2026)
Article number: cs20260001
License: CC BY 4.0

[1] Cui, F., Lo, E., Srivastava, S., & Lai, Z. (2025). Bonspiel: Low Tail Latency Transactions in Geo-Distributed Databases. Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment, 18(11), 3840-3853. https://doi.org/10.14778/3749646.3749658 DOI

[2] Daraghmi, E., Zhang, C. P., & Yuan, S. M. (2022). Enhancing Saga Pattern for Distributed Transactions within a Microservices Architecture. Applied Sciences, 12(12), 6242. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12126242 DOI

[3] Harding, R., Aken, D. V., Pavlo, A., & Stonebraker, M. (2017). An evaluation of distributed concurrency control. Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment, 10(5), 553-564. https://doi.org/10.14778/3055540.3055548 DOI

[4] Helland, P. (2016). Life Beyond Distributed Transactions. Queue, 14(5), 69-98. https://doi.org/10.1145/3012426.3025012 DOI

[5] Lu, Y., Yu, X., Cao, L., & Madden, S. (2021). Epoch-based commit and replication in distributed OLTP databases. Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment, 14(5), 743-756. https://doi.org/10.14778/3446095.3446098 DOI

[6] Sarode, R. P., Poudel, M., Shrestha, S., & Bhalla, S. (2021). Blockchain for committing peer-to-peer transactions using distributed ledger technologies. International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering, 24(3), 215. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijcse.2021.115651 DOI

[7] Schmidt, C. G., & Wagner, S. M. (2019). Blockchain and supply chain relations: A transaction cost theory perspective. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 25(4), 100552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pursup.2019.100552 DOI

[8] V., O. S. (2019). Distributed database on blockchain technology for new era of electricity transactions. Scientific Bulletin of Naval Academy, XXII(1), 44-51. https://doi.org/10.21279/1454-864x-19-i1-006 DOI

[9] Zamanian, E., Binnig, C., Kraska, T., & Harris, T. (2016). The End of a Myth: Distributed Transactions Can Scale. arXiv (Cornell University). https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1607.00655 DOI

[10] Zhang, J., Zhong, S., Wang, J., Yu, X., & Alfarraj, O. (2021). A Storage Optimization Scheme for Blockchain Transaction Databases. Computer Systems Science and Engineering, 36(3), 521-535. https://doi.org/10.32604/csse.2021.014530 DOI