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Open Source SQL Database CockroachDB Hits 1.0 (infoworld.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the New-SQL dept.

An anonymous reader quotes InfoWorld: CockroachDB, an open source, fault-tolerant SQL database with horizontal scaling and strong consistency across nodes -- and a name few people will likely forget -- is now officially available. Cockroach Labs, the company behind its development, touts CockroachDB as a "cloud native" database solution -- a system engineered to run as a distributed resource. Version 1.0 is available in both basic and for-pay editions, and both boast features that will appeal to enterprises.

The company is rolling the dice with its handling of the enterprise edition by also making those components open source and trusting that enterprises will pay for what they use in production.

50 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. And remember by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Especially in these times.
    This one will still work when all the other SQL-Databases have died a nuclear death.

    1. Re:And remember by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      still work when all the other SQL-Databases have died a nuclear death.

      And bundled with "Twinkie SQL"

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  2. Small subset of SQL by mi · · Score: 3, Insightful

    From their FAQ (emphasis mine):

    Can a MySQL or PostgreSQL application be migrated to CockroachDB?

    The current version of CockroachDB is intended for use with new applications. The initial subset of SQL we support is small relative to the extensive standard, and every popular database implements its own set of extensions and exhibits a unique set of idiosyncrasies. This makes porting an existing application non-trivial unless it is only a very lightweight consumer of SQL functionality.

    It may be a really cool software package, but, I gather, if you allowed for only a "small subset" of SQL to be supported, you could have MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and Sybase as "fault tolerant" and with "strong consistency".

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    1. Re:Small subset of SQL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It may be a really cool software package, but, I gather, if you allowed for only a "small subset" of SQL to be supported, you could have MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and Sybase as "fault tolerant" and with "strong consistency".

      CockroachDB is based on the Spanner paper. Within Google Spanner has had a huge impact (apparently? it's discussed in the paper.). The impact is in efficiency, fewer failure modes, and API simplicity over the tools they had before it (internal versions of Cloud Bigtable and Datastore). Both the paper and informal discussions with Googlers attribute most of this impact to the core ideas introduced with it, the ideas which inspired CockroachDB. Therefore, while CockroachDB guys could still fumble it, I've been taking CockroachDB seriously.

    2. Re:Small subset of SQL by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      The biggest innovation I see is that it does some kind of automatic sharding. Good comparison here.

      A lot of the source code is written in Go, which is interesting and probably not a bad choice. The code is clean and easy enough to understand. Its primary weakness is poor organization, which is also the primary weakness of their documentation. Both would benefit from the concept of "topic sentence, supporting sentences," so when I approach and ask, "what are the most important points here?" the answer is immediately obvious.

      Looking at alternative databases these days, you always need to evaluate them in terms of the CAP theorem. What do they give up? The website mentions several times that they are consistent. They are big on partitioning, so that isn't what they've given up, so they must have given up availability. They claim to have good survivability. It seems they can keep running even if one of the servers running a shard dies (they expect sharding based on geography), and they don't offer consistency for queries across shards.

      It's an interesting approach, but given the name, if the idea's any good someone else will take the idea and win with a better name. Ebola is an easier sell.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  3. No, not shards by mi · · Score: 3, Informative

    Horizontal scaling - does that mean it uses shards?

    No, not according to the the FAQ, which says (emphasis mine):

    Does CockroachDB support distributed transactions?

    Yes. CockroachDB distributes transactions across your cluster, whether it’s a few servers in a single location or many servers across multiple datacenters. Unlike with sharded setups, you don’t need to know the precise location of data; you just talk to any node in your cluster and CockroachDB gets your transaction to the right place seamlessly. Distributed transactions proceed without downtime or additional latency while rebalancing is underway. You can even move tables – or entire databases – between data centers or cloud infrastructure providers while the cluster is under load.

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    1. Re:No, not shards by sodul · · Score: 2

      How well does it work in practice and at scale? The marketing claims are 'cute' but they stay marketing claims until independently verified. I have tried other 'distributed' SQL' DBs such as crate and you can paint me unimpressed with the performance and, pun intended, bugs.

    2. Re:No, not shards by Bite+The+Pillow · · Score: 1

      But is it web scale?

    3. Re:No, not shards by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      It's still sharded, the sharding happens more automatically though. The question is how hard it is for programmers to avoid bugs while dealing with it conceptually.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    4. Re:No, not shards by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      But is it web scale?

      Only if it's run by Mongo-scale cockroaches.

  4. Sooo... Bugs are a feature now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What's the target platform?

    1. Re:Sooo... Bugs are a feature now? by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Any Android platform - Honeycomb, Jellybean, Nougat, Lollypop... Cockroach would just LOVE those

    2. Re:Sooo... Bugs are a feature now? by tigersha · · Score: 1

      Windows. It likes having other bugs around.

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
  5. Can't get past the name... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does CockroachDB work with RAID?

    1. Re:Can't get past the name... by tigersha · · Score: 1

      /. should hold a collection and enroll you for this course:

      https://www.masterclass.com/cl...

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
    2. Re:Can't get past the name... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      /. should hold a collection and enroll you for this course:

      That would be a waste. Comedy requires intelligence and the ability to play the fool. The AC has neither.

  6. Oracle will kill this by hlavac · · Score: 1

    Cue Oracle buing then shutting down the company in 3... 2... That was probably the whole cockroachy business plan anyway

  7. They need a decent marketing dept... by Viol8 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... because the men in suits who sign the cheques are really not going to go a bundle over something called Cockroach. No doubt it sounded amusing after a few beers on a friday night, but I'm struggling to think of any current IT products with a worse name.

    1. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by haruchai · · Score: 1

      ... because the men in suits who sign the cheques are really not going to go a bundle over something called Cockroach. No doubt it sounded amusing after a few beers on a friday night, but I'm struggling to think of any current IT products with a worse name.

      So, worse than Gimp & Git?

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    2. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by Viol8 · · Score: 1

      Fair point, though neither of them are marketed products. I'm guessing wrt the latter, Torvalds learnt american english and so never found out that in british english "git" is a somewhat unpleasent insult.

    3. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Slightly better than Gimp and Git nut on the same level as Subversion and subversive.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    4. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Actually, as Torvalds is from Finland, he likely learned british english, like most of the world.
      I'm German, and did not know as well that 'git' means 'idiot'. Seems to be a rarely used word, in that context.
      But good to know.
      Actually, I don't even know what the long term is behind the acronym git. Well, I always assumed it is an acronym.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    5. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by epine · · Score: 1

      ... because the men in suits who sign the cheques are really not going to go a bundle over something called SCSI.

      And it did eventually get a name upgrade: SAS.

      Another fifteen years from now, after another transport remake, it will probably be called LAPP or HED or VD4U.

    6. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by Tupper · · Score: 1

      I'm guessing wrt the latter, Torvalds learnt american english and so never found out that in british english "git" is a somewhat unpleasent insult.

      Torvalds knew the meaning of git at release time and quipped: "I'm an egotistical bastard, and I name all my projects after myself. First 'Linux', now 'git'."

    7. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by haruchai · · Score: 1

      Fair point, though neither of them are marketed products. I'm guessing wrt the latter, Torvalds learnt american english and so never found out that in british english "git" is a somewhat unpleasent insult.

      I looked up the company's staffers and the founders are Spencer Kimball & Peter Mattis, the UCBerkeley roommates who gave us GIMP. Guess their sense of humor hasn't changed since their salad days.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    8. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      It doesn't mean idiot. It's a rather generic insult, which is why it's often clarified by adding an adjective - stupid git, lazy git, fat git ...

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    9. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by Gavagai80 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If your marketing pitch is fault-tolerance, cockroach is a good way to convey that it's hard to kill.

      --
      This space intentionally left blank
    10. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      ... because the men in suits who sign the cheques are really not going to go a bundle over something called Cockroach. No doubt it sounded amusing after a few beers on a friday night, but I'm struggling to think of any current IT products with a worse name.

      Look up "Adobe" in Spanish.

      According to RAE, it means bricks made out of clay (and sometimes straw). Soft mixed clay, sometimes with straw, molded in the form of a brick and dried in the air, which is used in the construction of various types of walls.

      I would add that adobe is typically sun-dried, not just air-dried, but the point is that they are not fired.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    11. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by present_arms · · Score: 1

      Brit here, a "git" is actually a bastard of a bastard.

      --
      http://chimpbox.us
    12. Re: They need a decent marketing dept... by MemeRot · · Score: 1

      Chocolatey nuget?

    13. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Yorkshireman here, fuck off and stop talking shite.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    14. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Reminds me when I suggested to my company around 1997 to build a refactoring and fast forward generator based IDE for C++ and Java. I wanted to call it Rapid Application Programming Environment. RAPE.

      One of the CEOs was from Australia and suggested I should consult a dictionary to see what "rape" means.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    15. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by tigersha · · Score: 1

      Blackadder uses it all the time

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
    16. Re:They need a decent marketing dept... by tigersha · · Score: 2

      Bill Gates did the same when he named MicroSoft

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
  8. So they give you SELECT and call it "SQL" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Hey, now you can have that same thing in a "next gen" (or "3.0" or whatever term you like) software package, free from all that "legacy" code, well-tested over decades. I'm sure it makes sense if you grew up with MySQL and PHP and thought those were really good bits of software.

    Me, I think I'm going to take their name at face value and break out the professional grade pest poisons.

  9. Re:Making a Commitment to Satan by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    What happens when I make a formal commitment to Satan?

    Wrong SATAN, Santa.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_Administrator_Tool_for_Analyzing_Networks

  10. Re:I would've guessed it's a pest control product by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Informative

    You mean ANTSY SQL

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  11. Dev Tools by js290 · · Score: 1

    Development tools are probably the most important factor in wide adoption.

    --
    "Tempers are wearing thin. Let's just hope some robot doesn't kill everybody." --Bender
  12. Re:I would've guessed it's a pest control product by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    "Cockroaches check in... but they don't check out!"

    Be careful or you'll get sued by The Eagles.

  13. Re:Making a Commitment to Satan by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    "Satan comes to us on his own. Many times, we can feel him. He comes to guide us "

    Shut up, Steve Bannon!

  14. Re:Making a Commitment to Satan by slashrio · · Score: 1

    Satan, that is our political leaders who wage war for geo-political reasons and out of financial self-interest, like shares in weapons factories.
    Satan, that is the leaders and owners of the military-industrial complex that lobby and pay the people in governments to start wars, so their weapons can be sold and used.
    Satan, that is the bankers who want to take away our cash and financial freedom, and want to destroy any non-western bank in order to establish their own and get all countries under their control. Oh, and charge negative interest of course once we are 'cash less'.

    There is absolutely no reason to look into the sky or soil, looking for a satan--or god for that matter--somewere outside of this world.
    Satan is here, where most of us don't see him because most people don't see hell from the satans.

    --
    "Trump!!", the new Godwin.
  15. Cockroach Labs makes CockroachDB. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 2

    Couldn't they have found a better name? Maybe PukeDB? FatalCancerDB? FootSmellDB? PottyTrainingDB?

    From the article: "CockroachDB may sound like a joke project..."

    1. Re:Cockroach Labs makes CockroachDB. by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Uh, Mongoloid is an East Asian race - one that includes Mongols, Chinese, Koreans & Japanese.

  16. moderately difficult to setup timings by planckscale · · Score: 2

    I spun up 4 vm's on my LAN and tried to get it to work reliably but it seems a lot of how this database maintains cohesion and consistency depends on ensuring your servers have highly accurate times. It works and it's a great database for 'free' but it's not a non-trivial setup either. Anyone else have setup problems and maintaining the cluster due to time issues? https://jasoncoltrin.com/2017/...

    --
    Namaste
    1. Re: moderately difficult to setup timings by MemeRot · · Score: 1

      Interesting. Spanner works through custom hardware with atomic clocks. The whole point of cockroach was to not require something like atomic clocks

    2. Re: moderately difficult to setup timings by dknj · · Score: 1

      No but time in a vm is not very accurate. If you are using kvm/qemu this becomes even worse due to lack of fine grained scheduling compared to xen,VMware. In my experience, kvm can lose time due to runaway I/O on the hypervisor. Try this experiment again with the vms using tmpfs or otherwise minimizing disk writes.

      If I can contact you through your blog, I will follow up directly. Your project sounds interesting :)

      -dk

    3. Re:moderately difficult to setup timings by planckscale · · Score: 1

      What I found was that the clocks on my servers had to at least all have the same time settings so just getting linux to behave in terms of all machines using the same time settings was a challenge.

      --
      Namaste
  17. Re:I would've guessed it's a pest control product by unixisc · · Score: 1

    Would it use Terminix libraries? And more importantly, can it be hosted on a RAID?

  18. Customer relations by tigersha · · Score: 1

    So, what are you going to run our website on?
    We decided on "CockroachDB" greatest thing since sliced...
    Sorry, uhm, sad to say we decided to go with your, well, competitor

    --
    The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
  19. Re:I wonder by tigersha · · Score: 1

    It is basically one big bug, likes having other bugs around and gets hunted by debuggers?

    --
    The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism