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Using Multiple Database Platforms
I had asked a few days back about how you choose the platform of choice for a specific project… or do you? Specifically, do you just lock in on a single platform and that’s it, or do you consider multiple platforms for a project and pick the one you feel is most suited to the task?
Patrick wrote in to say "[We are] looking at a typical ecommerce load profile (i.e. potentially huge but very difficult to predict how much and when). Currently [we rely] heavily on Sql Server based implementations but are actively shifting to use of hadoop and other NoSql platforms.
There are lots of very hard to solve systemic problems. Introducing hadoop doesn’t help if the database implementations assume they have to read everything every day and remember it indefinitely.
It’s hard to gauge what make sense; where, for example should we use Cassandra versus MongoDb versus Couch, versus HBase versus some Sql flavor. We are tackling the platform problem by distancing ourselves from a particular store as much as possible using the CI sponsored open source CIPl project (cipl.codeplex.com). For example all the list storage in one project is done through CIPl and we have used it switched store strategies three times so far and expect to do so at least once more (probably MongoDB)."
I think there is a draw to consider other platforms, but frankly, supporting a whole host of systems scares me when it comes to recoverability and support. How do you keep up on the nitty-gritty of things if you have so many different flavors running around? Sure, there are tools that are cross-platform, but some of these are so different administratively and simply not supported by cross-platform tools yet. I personally find that keeping up on all the tiny details and things to remember with SQL Server is intense; I’d be afraid of missing a tip, trick or tactic if I had 5x the number of platforms to manage at the same level.
That said, I can see the strong draw to use the right tool for the job.
How’s THAT for a wishy-washy answer??