Commitment control for less than an entire record in an in-memory database in a parallel computer system

A computer-implemented method for commitment control for an in-memory database in a parallel computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

• (A) defining at least one portion of a record in the in-memory database as mandatory that must be present for a change to the record to commit;
• (B) defining at least one portion of the record as secondary that need not be present for a change to the record to commit;
• (C) allocating portions of the record to a plurality of nodes in the parallel computer system;
• (D) monitoring mandatory portions of the record during a transaction;
• and
• (E) when all mandatory portions of the record are available during the transaction and at least one secondary portion is not available, committing changes to all mandatory portions of the record.

A computer-implemented method for commitment control for an in-memory database in a parallel computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

• (A) marking at least one portion of a record in the in-memory database as mandatory that must be present for a change to the record to commit;
• (B) marking at least one portion of the record as secondary that need not be present for a change to the record to commit;
• (C) allocating portions of the record to a plurality of nodes in the parallel computer system;
• (D) starting a transaction to the record in the in-memory database;
• (E) monitoring all mandatory portions of the record during the transaction;
• (F) when all mandatory portions of the record are available during the transaction and at least one secondary portion is not available and the transaction has not timed out, committing changes to the mandatory portions of the record;
• (G) after performing step (F), committing changes to all secondary portions of the record when all secondary portions of the record are available during the transaction and the transaction has not timed out, wherein the committing changes to all secondary portions of the record is done in a commit cycle that is separate and asynchronous to the commit cycle for the mandatory portions of the record in step (F).