Implementing Backup | Hacker News Reader

Implementing Backup

cockroachlabs.com

112 pointsbenesch19 comments

Hmm I think I missed the memo that CockroachDB is no longer a beta:

https://www.cockroachlabs.com/blog/cockroachdb-1-0-release/

Does anyone have experience with replacing small MySQL / Postgres instances with CockroachDB? I know it's not a target market but I wonder how flexible CockroachDB is.

I was testing table loads with a few millions rows and kept running into issues with deleting the data and consistent performance (compared to postgres). Postgres won the performance over view and after finding out DELETE would lock the entire DB process (you should use DROP instead) - I moved on.

I understand that when building a business around the "open core" model it can be hard to draw the right line between no-cost and commercial features. Still, making backups a commercial feature surprises me. I can't imagine running a database without backing up the data. Is the intent to let people run CockroachDB in preproduction environments at no cost, but require anyone running it in production to purchase an enterprise license?

I haven't used CockroachDB, but it looks like they have a `SQL Dump` command [0] that can work as a backup. It looks like it is a simpler backup command than the command described in the blog post.

[0]:https://www.cockroachlabs.com/docs/stable/sql-dump.html

This is mentioned at the end of the article, but perhaps deserves to be called out more loudly:

> While CockroachDB was built to survive failures and prevent data loss, we want to make sure every team, regardless of size, has the ability to survive any type of disaster. Backup and restore were built for large clusters that absolutely need to minimize downtime, but for smaller clusters, a simpler tool will work just fine. For this, we’ve built cockroach dump [0], which is available in CockroachDB Core.

As you say, it's a hard line to draw, but our expectation is that any customer who has enough data that `cockroach dump` is infeasible is the kind of customer who is already quite familiar with enterprise licenses.

[0]: https://www.cockroachlabs.com/docs/stable/sql-dump.html

Can you give an estimate of how much data we're talking about here?

Users want backups in resilient DB for the same reason RAID isn't considered a backup strategy.

> So as it turns out, even in a system that was built to never lose your data, backup is still a critical feature for many of our customers."

Wow, what a surprising insight! /s

It's the MVP philosophy - get the DB out and get users first. Features when users realize they need them.

For anyone wondering like me: MVP: minimum viable product

CockroachDB does many thing really well but please for the love social acceptance please change the name.

I really hope they don't.

You may want to check out BikeshedDB [0], which is built exactly for this use case.

[0] https://github.com/tschottdorf/bikesheddb

What an absolutely fantastic response from one of the CockroachDB guys to the endlessly tedious naming criticism! (The only open issue on it also made me laugh.)

MongoDB didn't. Maybe for the best?

Is there some controversy surrounding the name MongoDB?

A mong or mongoloid was originally a racial description/slur, then it transformed into a disability description (a downs syndrome person has mongoloid features) and finally became synonymous with stupid. It's a bit like being called NegroDB.

In this time of PC outrage I honestly don't understand how it doesn't attract more attention.

> In this time of PC outrage I honestly don't understand how it doesn't attract more attention.

Possibly because the shortened slur ("mongo") isn't prevalent in English speaking countries (while PC outrage seems to be a predominantly English effect). It is in other places and in these places it gives the MongoDB project name an extremely negative connotation.

TBH that's actually one of the reasons (besides the poor track record) that I never used it, avoided it and argued for software not requiring it / against using software requiring it.

mongo was short for humongous

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