Wondering if there was a scenario where one would use a document-based DB and a relational DB together in a best-of-both-worlds scenario?
3 Answers
In my view, until I see an actual (open source or otherwise transparent) application successfully doing this, I will remain skeptical that it's worthwhile for projects with fewer than a dozen developers.
I suspect that by choosing one database over another and sticking with it--in good times and in bad--developers will reduce both the complexity of the data model and the maintenance cost of the code. Also, by choosing two databases, one runs the risk of a worst-of-both-worlds scenario, with data which is both difficult to manipulate and report on (CouchDB) and also not scalable (RDBMS).
2 Comments
mt3
answer chosen based on skepticism and doubt. i always prefer to see both perspectives in an answer.
JasonSmith
CouchDB is a domain-specific database, not a general-purpose database. I would say use the same policy as with domain-specific languages. CouchDB's strength is peer-to-peer replication / synchronization.
One idea is to use a relational database as the main data store and a document-based db as a data distribution mechanism from the back end to the front end(s).
Comments
We use a mix of RDBMS and CouchDB. The RDBMS (IBM DB/2) is used for "exact" data where transactions make things easier. Examples are bookkeeping of money and inventory. CouchDB is used for archival of "finished" records from the RDBMS, digital asserts (JPEGs, scanned documents) and badly structured information, e.g. information acquired via shipping companie's track and trace systems.
