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We realized how great Dynamo was only after we migrated off AWS. Dynamo was a key factor to us when we were releasing the MVP of our News API [0]. We used Dyna

We realized how great Dynamo was only after we migrated off AWS. Dynamo was a key factor to us when we were releasing the MVP of our News API [0]. We used Dynamo, ElasticSearch, Lambda and could make it running in 60 days while being full-time employed. Also, the best tech talk I saw was given by Rick Houlihan on re:Invent [1] I highly recommend every engineer to watch it: it's a great overview of SQL vs NoSQL [0] https://newscatcherapi.com/blog/how-we-built-a-news-api-beta-in-60-days https://newscatcherapi.com/blog/how-we-built-a-news-api-beta... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaEPXoXVf2k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaEPXoXVf2k

pier25 5y ago
BTW Rick Houlihan left AWS recently to work for Mongo. https://twitter.com/houlihan_rick/status/1472969503575265283 https://twitter.com/houlihan_rick/status/1472969503575265283 On that thread he criticizes AWS regarding DynamoDB openly. > I will always love DynamoDB, but the fact is it is losing ground fast because AWS focuses most of their resources on the half baked #builtfornopurpose database strategy. I always hated that idea, I just bit my tongue instead of saying it. > The problem is the other half-baked database services that all compete for the same business. DocumentDB, Keyspaces, Timestream, Neptune, etc. Databases take decades to optimize, the idea that you can pump them out like web apps is silly. > I was very tired of explaining over and over again that DynamoDB is actually not the dumbed down Key-Value store that the marketing message implied. When AWS created 6 different NoSQL databases they had to make up reasons for each one and the messaging makes no sense.
- throwdbaaway 5y ago
  Interesting. MongoDB actually came to mind while I was reading the other comment here: > No one uses DynamoDB alone: they bolt it onto Postgres after realizing they have availability or scale needs beyond what a relational database can do, then they bolt on Elasticsearch to enable querying, and then they bolt on Redis to make the disjointed backend feel fast. And I'm just talking operational use cases; ignoring analytics here. Perhaps MongoDB is prime for a comeback?
  - leetrout 5y ago
    Not snark: did MongoDB ever go away? I've seen it used in many places over the years. Today I would choose JSON in Postgres before I would just jump to Monogo but it certainly serves a purpose for many shops and it is still widely used AFAIK. I _really_ miss RethinkDB.
    - jd_mongodb 5y ago
      What do you miss about RethinkDB?
      - leetrout 5y ago
        The table model with joins that mostly "just worked" and the sweet web ui that came with it by default. Hat tip for compass, very nice tool I was just losing last week. We use Atlas and it "just works" so no comment on administering mongo vs rethink haha.
  - pier25 5y ago
    In my circles Mongo has always been considered a bad database. If Rick's vouching for it maybe it's time to give it a try. It must be pretty mature by now.
    - leetrout 5y ago
      It had some operational quirks 10 years ago (allocating giant chunks of space was more of an issue that dataloss) and I've not used it directly in that many years. We lost some data during an OOM process kill but it was just twitter firehose data so not a huge deal. Lots of good info in the response in this SO post https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10560834/to-what-extent-are-lost-data-criticisms-still-valid-of-mongodb https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10560834/to-what-extent-...

pier25 5y ago

BTW Rick Houlihan left AWS recently to work for Mongo. https://twitter.com/houlihan_rick/status/1472969503575265283 https://twitter.com/houlihan_rick/status/1472969503575265283 On that thread he criticizes AWS regarding DynamoDB openly. > I will always love DynamoDB, but the fact is it is losing ground fast because AWS focuses most of their resources on the half baked #builtfornopurpose database strategy. I always hated that idea, I just bit my tongue instead of saying it. > The problem is the other half-baked database services that all compete for the same business. DocumentDB, Keyspaces, Timestream, Neptune, etc. Databases take decades to optimize, the idea that you can pump them out like web apps is silly. > I was very tired of explaining over and over again that DynamoDB is actually not the dumbed down Key-Value store that the marketing message implied. When AWS created 6 different NoSQL databases they had to make up reasons for each one and the messaging makes no sense.

throwdbaaway 5y ago
Interesting. MongoDB actually came to mind while I was reading the other comment here: > No one uses DynamoDB alone: they bolt it onto Postgres after realizing they have availability or scale needs beyond what a relational database can do, then they bolt on Elasticsearch to enable querying, and then they bolt on Redis to make the disjointed backend feel fast. And I'm just talking operational use cases; ignoring analytics here. Perhaps MongoDB is prime for a comeback?
- leetrout 5y ago
  Not snark: did MongoDB ever go away? I've seen it used in many places over the years. Today I would choose JSON in Postgres before I would just jump to Monogo but it certainly serves a purpose for many shops and it is still widely used AFAIK. I _really_ miss RethinkDB.
  - jd_mongodb 5y ago
    What do you miss about RethinkDB?
    - leetrout 5y ago
      The table model with joins that mostly "just worked" and the sweet web ui that came with it by default. Hat tip for compass, very nice tool I was just losing last week. We use Atlas and it "just works" so no comment on administering mongo vs rethink haha.
- pier25 5y ago
  In my circles Mongo has always been considered a bad database. If Rick's vouching for it maybe it's time to give it a try. It must be pretty mature by now.
  - leetrout 5y ago
    It had some operational quirks 10 years ago (allocating giant chunks of space was more of an issue that dataloss) and I've not used it directly in that many years. We lost some data during an OOM process kill but it was just twitter firehose data so not a huge deal. Lots of good info in the response in this SO post https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10560834/to-what-extent-are-lost-data-criticisms-still-valid-of-mongodb https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10560834/to-what-extent-...