An Evaluation of Multiversion Concurrency Control forWeb Service Directories

Web service directories are shared resources that have to accommodate a high number of concurrent read requests, whereas updates are relatively infrequent. To allow for the automatic composition of complex web services based on those contained in a directory, read requests may involve a series of queries which require a consistent view of the data. We have developed an efficient web service directory that is based on the Multiversion Generalised Search Tree (MVGiST), an integration of a multidimensional index structure with multiversion concurrency control. The MVGiST is able to index web services according to their input and output parameters, supports a high level of concurrent read requests, and guarantees consistency across multiple subsequent read queries. In this paper we evaluate the performance and scalability of the MVGiST and compare it with a traditional, locking-based concurrency control mechanism.