Performing synchronization among relational database tables with minimal contention

A system, comprising:

• a memory unit for storing a computer program for performing synchronization between source and target tables;
• and
• a processor coupled to said memory unit, wherein said processor, responsive to said computer program, comprises:
• circuitry for locking one or more rows in a first table, wherein said first table stores one or more primary key values associated with one or more rows in a source table that have been one of modified and created by an external data source;
• circuitry for copying distinct values for said one or more primary keys from said first table;
• circuitry for inserting said copied distinct values for said one or more primary keys into one or more rows of a second table;
• and
• circuitry for performing uncommitted read operations on said source table for each row corresponding to each distinct value stored in said second table;
• and
• circuitry for one or more of updating and inserting of one or more rows in a target table that correspond to each row in said source table where an uncommitted read operation was performed.

A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium for performing synchronization between source and target tables comprising the programming steps of:

• locking one or more rows in a first table, wherein said first table stores one or more primary key values associated with one or more rows in a source table that have been one of modified and created by an external data source;
• copying distinct values for said one or more primary keys from said first table;
• inserting said copied distinct values for said one or more primary keys into one or more rows of a second table;
• and
• performing uncommitted read operations on said source table for each row corresponding to each distinct value stored in said second table;
• and
• one or more of updating and inserting of one or more rows in a target table that correspond to each row in said source table where an uncommitted read operation was performed.