Ask HN: How difficult is it to shift a database?

4 points·iocpctrl··5 comments

We are planning to move from Neo4j in the future to a more cheaper option like OrientDb or IBMGraph. Can some one help us to know how difficult this process is going to be.

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Most of the Neo4j users don't use the TinkerPop, otherwise, it would be a drop-in replacement. If you're using Neo4j Cypher, you should use the SQL MATCH in OrientDB (very similar). Take a look at this page for the migration: https://dzone.com/articles/introducing-the-neo4j-to-orientdb....

For IBM Graph (that is Titan under the hood) you should install the TinkerPop plugin in Neo4j, export it as GraphML and then import it into IBM Graph. The query must be completely rewritten. In Gremlin 3 there is a minimal pattern matching, maybe you could try using that.

I don't think it is going to be easy. If you had a SQL db, moving to a different one would be hard enough. GraphDBs are quite unstandardized last time I looked. Migrating the data is one thing, changing a lot of application logic is going to be a challenge. Unless you used an ORM or some other layer? Also, how big is the data and how much of downtown can you take?

We are working for enterprise companies with a large dataset. If we are using a middle layer like gremlin, wouldn't it be much easier to migrate data from one graph db to another. We are expecting a downtime of around a week.

> enterprise companies with a large dataset

If you want to do it properly it will most likely take around 6 months.

I would consider again moving to OrientDB. I've tried it before and was dissatisfied. Indexing a small 3GB dataset of CSVs crashed badly...

Test well before you move forward.

EDIT: Also Neo4j Community is pretty good. What are your requirements?

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