[ZODB-Dev] ZODB Compared to Commercial RDBMS

Jim Fulton jim@zope.com
Thu, 25 Apr 2002 06:04:27 -0400


Kip Cartwright wrote:
> 
> I'm new to Zope and I am trying to determine if the platform is a good fit
> for my project.  My main concern is whether ZODB has all the functionality
> of a commercial RDBMS (at least where it applies to an OODB). FYI, I have no
> experience with ZODB or any other OODB.  Forgive me if any of my questions
> are not valid in an OO environment.
> 
> Basic concerns are:
>    Record level locking (or equiv OODB functionality)

Yes

>    Backup & restore including applying log to last backup

No. You can only restore the last backup, however, ZODB
can be deployed using Oracle or Berkeley DB (Berkeley DB 
support is still at an "alpha" level), which provide this
capability.

>    Data partitioning (spreading database across multiple volumes/partitions)

Only when deployed using Oracle or Berkeley DB.

>    Multi-phase commits

Yes.

>    Query optimization

ZODB doesn't do queries itself. Queries must be provided
at the application level.
 
> General concerns are:
>    High availability & clustering

Clustering is supported through ZEO.

Partial high availability is provided through ZEO.
We have a commercial database replication product that 
provides high availability for the ZEO storage server.

You could also use Oracle or Berkeley DB high availability
features when ZODB is run with those.

>    Disaster recovery

This is provided with our replication product or via
Oracle or Berkeley DB.

>    DB management (runaway queries alerts, query throttling)

Not applicable, since queries are not done in the database.

>    DB tuning

Sure. I consider this a liability, not a feature.

>    Performance

Yes

>    Scalability

Yes

>    DB Replication

Yes, via our add on product or via Oracle or Berkeley DB.

 
> And some non database concerns:
>    Ease of formatting data in ready to print format (e.g., pdf or flash)

Of course ZODB doesn't provide this as this is not a database concern.

Jim

--
Jim Fulton           mailto:jim@zope.com       Python Powered!        
CTO                  (888) 344-4332            http://www.python.org  
Zope Corporation     http://www.zope.com       http://www.zope.org