Database School

Sam Lambert, CEO of PlanetScale and ex-technical leader at GitHub and Facebook, dives into the strategic shift from MySQL to Postgres. He discusses technical differences between MySQL and Postgres, emphasizing the cultural impact this change has had within PlanetScale. Sam shares insights on why developer vibes and control for startups drove the move and the challenges faced in integrating sharding with Postgres. Plus, stick around for a special surprise at the end!

Marcel Kornacker, the mastermind behind Apache Impala and co-creator of Apache Parquet, shares insights into his innovative project, Pixeltable. This multimodal AI database adeptly blends structured and unstructured data with seamless Python workflows. He discusses the evolution of SQL, the challenges in computer vision data management, and how Pixeltable tackles transformation and transactional guarantees. Listen for fascinating examples like processing video and audio, proving how this tool can revolutionize AI data handling.

Lev Kokotov, founder of PgDog and previously a database engineer at Instacart, discusses his journey from creating PgCat to developing PgDog, an innovative sharding solution for Postgres. He dives into the challenges of scaling databases without extensive rewriting or extensions. Lev shares insights about applying to Y Combinator as a solo founder and PgDog's unique architecture that enhances query handling across multiple instances. The conversation also touches on future developments and the importance of community engagement in shaping PgDog's features.

Glauber Costa, CEO of Turso and an expert in database development, dives into the bold initiative of rewriting SQLite from scratch. He discusses the technical motivations behind this project and how deterministic simulation testing enhances reliability. Glauber also reflects on the journey of transitioning to an open contribution model, the challenges of forking SQLite, and the creation of Turso Cloud. Along the way, he shares personal anecdotes about adjusting to life in Texas, making for an engaging blend of tech talk and human experience.

Sugu Sougoumarane, co-creator of Vitess and co-founder of PlanetScale, discusses his journey from scaling YouTube's database to his latest project, Multigres, aimed at sharding in Postgres. He shares insights on intelligent query parsing, preventing outages, and the evolution of Vitess. Sugu reflects on personal growth during his sabbatical and the significance of community in developing user-friendly database solutions. With a focus on small team efficiency, he explores how they tackle challenges in distributed systems and the ambitions for enhancing compatibility and performance.

In this episode, I chat with Richard Crowley from PlanetScale about their new offering: PlanetScale Metal.We dive deep into the performance and reliability trade-offs of EBS vs. locally attached NVMe storage,and how Metal delivers game-changing speed for MySQL workloads.Links:Database School: https://databaseschool.comPlanetScale: https://planetscale.comPlanetScale Metal: https://planetscale.com/blog/announcing-metalFollow Richard:Twitter: https://twitter.com/rcrowleyWebsite: https://rcrowley.orgFollow Aaron:Twitter: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancisLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarondfrancisWebsite: https://aaronfrancis.com — find articles, podcasts, courses, and more.Chapters:00:00 - Intro: What is PlanetScale Metal?00:39 - Meet Richard Crowley01:33 - What is Vitess and how does it work?03:00 - Where PlanetScale fits into the picture09:03 - Why EBS is the default and its trade-offs13:03 - How PlanetScale handles durability without EBS16:03 - The engineering work behind PlanetScale Metal22:00 - Deep dive into backups, restores, and availability math25:03 - How PlanetScale replaces instances safely27:11 - Performance gains with Metal: Latency and IOPS explained32:03 - Database workloads that truly benefit from Metal39:10 - The myth of the infinite cloud41:08 - How PlanetScale plans for capacity43:02 - Multi-tenant vs. PlanetScale Managed44:02 - Who should use Metal and when?46:05 - Pricing trade-offs and when Metal becomes cheaper48:27 - Scaling vertically vs. sharding49:57 - What’s next for PlanetScale Metal?53:32 - Where to learn more

Johannes Schickling, the original founder of Prisma and creator of LiveStore, dives into the innovative world of local-first applications. He discusses the significance of event sourcing and how it simplifies state management, particularly in user-centric apps. Schickling also highlights the growing popularity of local-first approaches and their impact on data ownership. Furthermore, he shares insights on syncing data efficiently using SQLite and explores the challenges of distributed systems. Tune in for a fascinating look at the future of app development!

Josh Howard, Senior Engineering Manager at Cloudflare, dives into the innovative world of Durable Objects and D1 products. He discusses how Cloudflare's unique approach to stateful serverless infrastructure revolutionizes cloud computing. Explore the intricacies of V8 isolates, routing strategies, and the tradeoffs between stateless and durable models. Learn about the performance of local storage writes, storage replication, and the fascinating relationship between Durable Objects and modern game applications. Discover how these advancements enhance developer experiences!

Heikki Linnakangas, co-founder of Neon and a PostgreSQL expert since 2003, shares insights from his extensive journey in the Postgres community. He discusses the evolution of Postgres governance and the importance of community contributions. The conversation dives into the architecture of Neon, emphasizing serverless databases and latency improvements. Heikki also explores the exciting future of multi-threaded Postgres, addressing its challenges and potential impact on cloud services. Tune in for a wealth of technological insights and personal anecdotes!

Carl Sverre, the creator of SQLSync and Graft, delves into the world of edge-native, partially replicated databases. He argues that syncing everything isn’t efficient and unveils Graft's innovative approach to optimize data transfer. The discussion covers the challenges of traditional database synchronization, the groundbreaking features of SQL Sync, and how Graft's architecture scales effectively. Full of insights on transactional guarantees and caching performance, this conversation highlights the future of serverless database replicas and efficient data retrieval.