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Nice and simple. Question: Is it theoretically possible to build a cloud hash-database that uses mysql on the front-end? Any joins would automatically be handl

Nice and simple. Question: Is it theoretically possible to build a cloud hash-database that uses mysql on the front-end? Any joins would automatically be handled for you and the system would watch what queries you are running to dynamically balance/distribute/reindex data as needed. SimpleDB/Couch/etc work, but they require a steep learning curve for people used to working with relational databases. At the end of the day you are just saving/getting data, I don't understand why the database service can't deal with the pain.

justinsb 18y ago
I think it's definitely possible to front-end a cloud database with MySQL, but the question is: would it be faster or better in some other way? Relational databases are very functional, reasonably efficient and powerful, and give you some nice guarantees (ACID). The 'alternative' databases trade off some of those properties for scalability; reintroduce them with a layer on top and I'd guess you'd lose those benefits.
- dasil003 18y ago
  I would go further than just saying "reasonably efficient and powerful". More like "extremely powerful and optimized". No offense to the grandparent, but that comment strikes me as a direct result of the hype around these key-value store DBs. The idea that you could build out a relational database using a key-value store as the backend and the end result would somehow have the underlying system's scalability properties needs to be shot down with extreme prejudice. The philosophy behind a key-value store DB is that, if we don't need 99% of the powerful features and ad-hoc queries of a relational database, we can build something that scales much better. There is some (growing) subset of relational functionality that can easily be implemented on top of a key-value store, but the developer better know what that is. Emulating a full-on relational database is not going to perform at anywhere near the level of a real relational database. You'd be better off working on the problem of better ways of replicating and sharding regular relational databases rather than conflating two different models with competing assumptions.
Andys 18y ago
This seems to be the holy grail for designing a new database: something with the reliable scalability of a cloud hash DB with the front of a regular SQL. IMO it'll never have a regular SQL front-end but would require additional instructions or statements, because it needs to know more about how to shard your particular application.

justinsb 18y ago

I think it's definitely possible to front-end a cloud database with MySQL, but the question is: would it be faster or better in some other way? Relational databases are very functional, reasonably efficient and powerful, and give you some nice guarantees (ACID). The 'alternative' databases trade off some of those properties for scalability; reintroduce them with a layer on top and I'd guess you'd lose those benefits.

dasil003 18y ago
I would go further than just saying "reasonably efficient and powerful". More like "extremely powerful and optimized". No offense to the grandparent, but that comment strikes me as a direct result of the hype around these key-value store DBs. The idea that you could build out a relational database using a key-value store as the backend and the end result would somehow have the underlying system's scalability properties needs to be shot down with extreme prejudice. The philosophy behind a key-value store DB is that, if we don't need 99% of the powerful features and ad-hoc queries of a relational database, we can build something that scales much better. There is some (growing) subset of relational functionality that can easily be implemented on top of a key-value store, but the developer better know what that is. Emulating a full-on relational database is not going to perform at anywhere near the level of a real relational database. You'd be better off working on the problem of better ways of replicating and sharding regular relational databases rather than conflating two different models with competing assumptions.

Andys 18y ago

This seems to be the holy grail for designing a new database: something with the reliable scalability of a cloud hash DB with the front of a regular SQL. IMO it'll never have a regular SQL front-end but would require additional instructions or statements, because it needs to know more about how to shard your particular application.