Hello, We have been developing a high-availability and version control solution for Postgres, called ChronicDB[1], that aims to combine live schema changes, replication, live connection migration, and scalability in a cohesive manner. We are requesting feedback[2] on the most desireable features Postgres users would like to have in such a solution.
ChronicDB is available for Postgres 7.4, 8.x, and 9, and can already apply live schema changes with zero downtime through live query-rewritting and live connection migration. The vision for ChronicDB is to eventually be able to apply: Complex live schema changes: - Partition operations such as vertical and horizontal splitting - Field merge and splitting operations - Field renaming - Field relocation to a different table - Table renaming - All these operations applied together atomically, without downtime - Allowing an old version and a new version of an application to run concurrently, indefinitely - Reversing schema changes Replication: - Master/slave replication, with an unlimited number of slaves - Not having to restart replication when 95% of a database is replicated over a WAN link and a timeout interrupts replication - Synchronous replication between a master and a primary backup - Hot swap of master with primary backup without downtime - Simple configuration Live connection migration: - The client applications will not be interrupted, and won't need to reconnect; downtime will be eliminated Scalability: - Live query inspection and routing to read-only replicas. This assumes the application is capable of handling such a weaker consistency model. We would like to invite you to learn more about ChronicDB, to download it and to request new features. We would like to ask: (1) What are the major types of schema changes you need to be able to apply ? (2) If it was possible for us to fix a single (or two) frustrating, database update problems, which problems would those be? (3) What is the major cause of downtime in your database applications ? References: [1] http://chronicdb.com [2] http://chronicdb.com/request_new_features Sincerely, ChronicDB Community Team http://chronicdb.com/benefits_of_chronicdb
