On Sunday 02 July 2006 13:10, Andrew Piskorski wrote: > On Tue, Apr 18, 2006 at 01:52:44PM +0100, John Buckman wrote: > > >Incidentally, I know next nothing about BerkelyDB, but why are you > > >using it in the first place? Are you forced to because some 3rd party > > > > BerkeleyDB is (one of) the underlying databases to MySQL, and is > > psychotically fast, much faster than SQL is, and the web site I'm > > writing (a book sharing site) needs high scalability. I also run > > www.magnatune.com, which uses MySQL, and run against scalability > > problems all the time. > > That sounds like the wrong answer. Obviously you know much more about > the specific problem you're trying to solve then I do, but assuming > that what you've conveyed in passing so far is representative of the > whole picture (even though in reality it may not be!), I'd suggest > that you revisit your design and make sure your assumptions and > analysis are right.
Andrew, Nice to see this topic revived. I think I started to respond to this two months ago, but never finished it. Anyway, scalability is a large topic, hardly one that can be solved by selecting a different database. I think that there are developers who are not familiar or comfortable with SQL and database management systems. This can lead to a number of bad choices if you are trying to develop a system which needs to store, select and maintain data. Also, using a DBMS never precludes the opportunity to create an in memory array of semi-static data, write semi-static html files, or use any other type of cache. Until traffic develops, it is hard to predict where the slow points will show up, but putting data into a key-value system from the beginning, when you need to provide for the usual insert/update/delete functions, will probably lengthen development time. Of course, if scalability is really the main problem, this should imply that going for a higher initial investment in equipment and development would ensure success. Scalability probably needs to include the possibility of scaling beyond one (reasonably sized) machine. tom jackson -- AOLserver - http://www.aolserver.com/ To Remove yourself from this list, simply send an email to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with the body of "SIGNOFF AOLSERVER" in the email message. You can leave the Subject: field of your email blank.
