3 ms·

Do you know of or could list which databases support raw block devices?

• jandrewrogers 7y ago
  Most of your classic closed source RDBMS (e.g. Oracle) had this as an option, no idea if they still do. Some purpose-built cloud databases operate this way because it makes perfect sense in that environment. Many domain specialized databases kernels (e.g. for real-time sensor data models) support or require this. It isn't something I recall seeing in open source but that is probably because it only works if you are doing full kernel bypass, which also hinders portability. I started implementing raw block device support for my own databases about five years ago and it turned out to be brilliant for more reasons than I expected. I should have tried it much sooner. Ironically, it requires less code than using the file system.
  • inetknght 7y ago
    I saw and replied to a question on StackOverflow [1] recently which discussed it. That was the first time I've tried using a block device. It was kinda fun. 1: https://stackoverflow.com/a/55737206/1111557 https://stackoverflow.com/a/55737206/1111557
  • ncmncm 7y ago
    Yes, because a database really is just a filesystem. And a filesystem is just a (cranky) database. A database that uses files is like networking through a NAT.
• jolmg 7y ago
  Maybe sqlite? :P sqlite3 /dev/sda (Don't try to hold me responsible if you run that with root)