User’s responsibility

Defining tables groups content

Defining the content of tables group is essential to guarantee the database integrity. It is the E-Maj administrator’s responsibility to ensure that all tables updated by a given operation are really included in a single tables group.

Appropriate call of main functions

The emaj_start_group(), emaj_stop_group(), emaj_set_mark_group(), emaj_rollback_group() and emaj_logged_rollback_group() functions (and their related multi-groups functions) set explicit locks on tables of the group to be sure that no transactions updating these tables are running at the same time. But it is the user’s responsibility to execute these operations “at the right time”, i.e. at moments that really correspond to a stable point in the life of these tables. He must also take care of warning messages that may be reported by E-Maj rollback functions.

Management of application triggers

Triggers may have been created on application tables. It is not rare that these triggers perform one or more updates on other tables. In such a case, it is the E-Maj administrator’s responsibility to understand the impact of E-Maj rollback operations on tables concerned by triggers, and if needed, to take the appropriate measures.

By default, E-Maj rollback functions neutralize application triggers during the operation. But the E-Maj administrator can change this behaviour using the “ignored_triggers” and “ignored_triggers_profiles” properties of the emaj_assign_table(), emaj_assign_tables(), emaj_modify_table() and emaj_modify_tables() functions.

If the trigger simply adjusts the content of the row to insert or update, the logged data contain the final columns values. In case of rollback, the log table contains the right columns content to apply. So the trigger must be disabled at rollback time (the default behaviour), so that it does not disturb the processing.

If the trigger updates another table, two cases must be considered:

  • if the updated table belongs to the same tables group, the automatic trigger disabling and the rollback of both tables let them in the expected state,

  • if the updated table does not belong to the same tables group, it is essential to analyse the consequences of a rollback operation, in order to avoid a de-synchronisation between both tables. If needed, the triggers can be left enabled. But some other actions may also be required.

For more complex triggers, it is essential to perfectly understand their impacts on E-Maj rollbacks and take any appropriate mesure at rollback time.

For parallel rollback operations, a trigger kept enabled that updates other tables from the same tables group, would likely generate a freeze between sessions.

Internal E-Maj table or sequence change

With the rights they have been granted, emaj_adm roles and superusers can update any E-Maj internal table.

Caution

But in practice, only the emaj_param table may be updated by these users. Any other internal table or sequence update my lead to data corruption.