Re: PostgreSQL vs MySQL

Dan, Robert

> This is an issue frequently raised with Bacula (http://www.bacula.org/).
> How do I backup my 20GB database if I have only 1GB free diskspace?
> Bacula can use a FIFO, although I've never used it myself.

My answer to this would be "stop being such a cheapskate and spend $150 on
another HDD, darn it!"

> and the like, with varying degrees of success. Between that and really
> big disks/raid setups you can get pretty far, certainly into the triple
> digit GB range. Beyond that I'm not quite sure how people handle TB
> sized databases, but those folks are out there so it must be doable.

As someone who admins some of these large databases, right now it's a PITA.
I'm constantly trying to get my clients to chip in to fund development of
table partitioning -- we could really use it.

Mostly, right now, we make do with huge SANs. But it's a problem for the
clients whose data is growing but don't have $35,000 to spend on a
high-quality SAN.

On the otherhand, if one of my clients told me they wanted to load 500GB of
data into a MySQL database, I'd tell them "Nice knowing you!". Total
suicide -- you wouldn't be able to back it up, for one thing. Let alone
trying to manage disk I/O -- forget it.

--
-Josh Berkus
Aglio Database Solutions
San Francisco