Default DB

Default DB

We would like to find a default database that is our go-to option when setting up a new project. While we are in the process of selecting the right db for us this page holds a summary of the pros and cons of the different options.

Selection process

Needs (What is important?)

• No-SQL
• Long-term support
• Support various platforms/languages
• Support for hierarchies (documents in documents)
• Easy to deploy yet capable of scaling (and cloud compatibility)

Wants (What is nice to have?)

• Subscription to changes
• Migrations (versioning) tooling

TODO

• Compare costs when self-hosting
• Compare costs in managed cloud
• Compare drivers/platform/language support
• Compare versioning/migration tools

Candidates

• MongoDB
• Apache Cassandra
• Apache CouchDB

MongoDB

Pros

• Easy to use
• Developer friendly
• Simple
• Scalable
• Managed in AWS, Azure, GC

TODO

• Test change streams

Apache Cassandra

Cassandra is new to me and my first impression is that it feels a lot like working with a traditional SQL database, like mysql or postgres. Getting started was rather straightforward. It is a good sign that cassandra is easy to run inside docker on my laptop and is available as a managed database in all major clouds as well.

Pros

• Very straightforward if you are familiar with SQL
• Straightforward docker deployment
• Has several managed hosting options
• Fault-tolerant
• Scalable

Cons

• A bit of a learning curve if you are unfamiliar with SQL
• You need to create a keyspace before you can store data

Apache CouchDB

Pros

• HTTP REST API

Cons

• Write operations do not lock db; conflicts need to be handed in the application code