Category: DevOps

A Detailed Guide to Big Data Architecture

Introduction In recent years, big data has taken the world by storm. Legacy relational database storage on premises has been transformed into complex cloud systems with multiple databases, NoSQL databases, ingestion engines, and so forth. In this post, I’ll explain big data architecture and how it differs from legacy database architecture and describe the different types of big data architectures. What Is Big Data? Legacy Systems Big data refers to extremely large and complex data sets that cannot be effectively processed or analyzed using traditional data processing tools and techniques. When we …

Distributed Database Architecture: What Is It?

Databases power all modern applications. They’re behind your Angry Birds mobile game as much they’re behind the space shuttle. In the beginning, databases were hosted on a signal physical machine. Basically, it was a computer running only one program: the database. Then we moved to running databases on virtual machines, where resources are shared among multiple operating systems and applications. In recent years we moved to running databases in the cloud. And we no longer use a single database instance to store the data. Modern database systems are spread across multiple computers …

The Most Effective SQL Server Activity Monitor Strategy

Databases power all modern applications, from banking and ATM software to space shuttle systems and your Angry Birds game. Wherever you go, you will find databases. The most common databases used today are relational or SQL databases, where data is stored in interconnected tables. In turn, you can query those tables using a query language that resembles plain English, Standard Query Language (SQL). To get the most value of the SQL databases you use as a developer, system administrator, or database administrator, it’s vital that you have visibility into what’s going on. …

Server Management Software: 5 Tools to Check Out

Introduction Around 30 years ago, a server was usually a standalone PC or mainframe that provided only one service. Think of a dedicated mainframe for emails, for instance. Things evolved from this to single standalone hardware that provides multiple services (email, http, ftp combined, for example) through virtual machines that can host multiple operating systems running dozens of services, and up to today, where servers are software defined and can run on anything from your washing machine to a drone. What Is Server Management Software? Even in the scenario of a single …

RDS Instance Types Explained & How to Choose and Size Yours

Introduction Cloud computing provides us with the ability to deploy infrastructure as code. Not so long ago, to deploy a new database server you had to buy physical hardware: a hard disk, CPU, RAM, power supply, etc. Afterward, you had to install the database server, make it run once the machine starts, provision replicas, set up a backup policy and allocate space for it, handle errors, and routinely update it with security patches and new versions. Wow, it took a while even to write what’s required if you manage databases yourself. Just …

SQL vs NoSQL Performance: Where One Outperforms the Other

NoSQL databases have taken the world by storm in recent years. What started as a niche phenomenon grew to rival the popularity of the “old” SQL relational databases. However, relational databases still have their use cases and are not going to disappear anytime soon. In this post, I’ll discuss the differences between SQL and NoSQL databases and do an analysis of their respective performance. Lastly, I’ll give a list of use cases for which one is better than the other and vice versa. What Are SQL Databases? SQL databases, or relational databases, …

Column-Oriented Database Examples: A Helpful List

Column-oriented databases have seen a resurgence in interest in recent years. The first column-oriented databases appeared decades ago. However, they have never gained a lot of traction in the market. In recent years, though, big data and cloud computing spurred a new interest in these types of databases. The reason for this is that the unique implementation of columnar databases fits surprisingly well into the workloads and applications run in cloud computing. More on this below. In this post I’ll discuss the following: What are column-oriented databases? How do they differ from …

How to Facilitate a DevOps Culture in Your Organization

DevOps has taken the world by storm in recent years. The job boards, forums, Facebook groups, etc. are all exploding with DevOps positions, DevOps tools and DevOps events. This post is about best practices in facilitating a DevOps culture in your organization. It’s easier to do your job as a DevOps expert when everyone are on board. DevOps Best Practices for facilitating a DevOps culture in your organization Best practice #1 – get the management team on board You certainly know your craft well: you can deploy CI/CI Jenkins pipelines with your …