They’re also launching a new distributed database called Plazma, which offers significant improvements over HDFS (Hadoop Distributed Files System). Plazma is significantly better than HDFS precisely because it’s more efficient and is able to compile and parse data at a much faster rate.
Tag Archives: databases
MySQL’s creator on why the future belongs to MariaDB
MariaDB was created to be a drop-in replacement for MySQL. Widenius says that as long as MySQL has a larger user base than MariaDB, remaining drop-in compatibility will be essential, in order to make the transition between the databases trivial.
“However, being a drop-in replacement doesn’t stop us from changing the underlying code to make it faster and better or add new features,” he says.
K-12 student database jazzes tech startups, spooks parents
But the most influential new product may be the least flashy: a $100 million database built to chart the academic paths of public school students from kindergarten through high school.
via K-12 student database jazzes tech startups, spooks parents | Reuters.
A New Approach to Databases and Data Processing
The simplest way to handle more data using more cores (whether on a single machine or in cluster) is to partition it into disjoint subsets, and work on each subset in isolation. In the database world this is called sharding, and it makes scaling relatively simple; only downside is -— it makes writing compellingly complex applications hard.
Why My Team Went with DynamoDB Over MongoDB
Even though our team specializes in MongoDB (and initially considered using CouchDB), we ended up using Amazon’s DynamoDB to complete the task. Here are the steps that led to the decision:
Fedora Looks To Replace MySQL With MariaDB
Out of fears that Oracle is making MySQL a more closed software project and not being happy with the overall direction of this widely-used database software, Fedora developers are looking at replacing MySQL with MariaDB in Fedora 19.
via [Phoronix] Fedora Looks To Replace MySQL With MariaDB.
MySQL would still be available in the Fedora repository for at least one release as the more conservative users make the migration from MySQL to MariaDB.
Which consultants built Romney’s “Project Orca?” None of them
The interface for Orca was a mobile Web application connected to a set of mirrored databases of voter rolls. When a user logged in, the app would load a page with a scrollable list of all the registered voters in the precinct they were assigned to. By swiping a checkbox next to a voter’s name, they could record them as having voted; the entry was then transmitted back to Orca’s application server. A back-up call response system—similar in nature to the Houdini system used by the Obama campaign in 2008 (a system which also ran into trouble)—provided a way for volunteers to report possible voting irregularities into the system even if their data connectivity failed. Using information gathered through the campaign’s digital outreach and pulled from the campaign’s voter contact vendor, FLS Connect, the system was supposed to give volunteers in Boston a complete view of Romney supporters in swing states who hadn’t yet voted. It would then prompt phone calls asking supporters to vote.
via Which consultants built Romney’s “Project Orca?” None of them | Ars Technica.
Obama Wins: How Chicago’s Data-Driven Campaign Triumphed
For all the praise Obama’s team won in 2008 for its high-tech wizardry, its success masked a huge weakness: too many databases. Back then, volunteers making phone calls through the Obama website were working off lists that differed from the lists used by callers in the campaign office. Get-out-the-vote lists were never reconciled with fundraising lists.
via Obama Wins: How Chicago’s Data-Driven Campaign Triumphed | TIME.com.
The new megafile didn’t just tell the campaign how to find voters and get their attention; it also allowed the number crunchers to run tests predicting which types of people would be persuaded by certain kinds of appeals.
Lies We Tell Our CEOs About Database Security
What makes that so dangerous, of course, is that distorted views of security often lead to bad risk decisions. Because when senior executives of any public or private organizations don’t understand industry best practices or what really constitutes a sophisticated attack, they’ll probably fail to properly fund protection measures against securing sensitive databases.
via Lies We Tell Our CEOs About Database Security – Dark Reading.
“I think she’s right, an attack is inevitable; losing 3.8 million social security numbers is not,” Murray says. “That someone bad is going to keep trying to do something bad to you, yes, that’s absolutely inevitable. That they’re going to be very, very successful like they were here, not so much.”
Twitter, PayPal reveal database performance
Cole revealed that Twitter’s MySQL database handles some huge numbers — three million new rows per day, the storage of 400 million tweets per day replicated four times over — but it is managed by a team of only six full-time administrators and a sole MySQL developer.
via Twitter, PayPal reveal database performance – Software – Technology – News – iTnews.com.au.
Daniel Austin, a technology architect at Paypal, has built a globally-distributed database with 100 terabytes of user-related data, also based on a MySQL cluster.
Austin said he was charged with building a system with 99.999 percent availability, without any loss of data, an ability to support transactions (and roll them back), and an ability to write data to the database and read it anywhere else in the world in under one second.