[dba-SQLServer] OK, I give up - was "John needs NoSQL"

Martin,

LOL.  I read it.  Every time I read any of this stuff it says the same thing.  SQL databases do one 
thing, NOSQL databases do something entirely different.

I had to laugh.  All the analysts in that article are saying that SQL is dead, then they immediately 
say that the data in SQL databases and the job SQL databases do are entirely different from NOSQL. 
They keep talking about email and pictures and documents and internet pages and...

Documents!  And searching through... Emails!  And getting information out of... Documents!

And then the next one says that SQL could just quietly go away and never be missed...

And then they talk about scaling up to tens of thousands of servers...

I have a good solution in my office.  Where exactly do I put those tens of thousands of servers? 
DIS, my client in Connecticut runs a call center.  They are in the process of building a server 
expressly for handling relational data.  They have 50 employees and a small office.  Where are they 
going to put these tens of thousands of server blades?  And what are they going to do with them if 
they had them?

There are about a billion companies out there, and by every estimate I have ever seen 95% of all 
companies are under 50 people.  And they need business databases.  Relational databases.  Which does 
not mean that they have no use for NOSLQ, simply that the need for SQL doesn't look to me like it is 
going away next week.

We have been talking for a long time about getting rid of paper entirely.  Maybe this is it, maybe 
NoSQL is the start of the paperless office.  Everything stored electronically.  That would be a good 
thing.  Even so I still have books to keep.  GM still has a supply chain to track.  DIS still has a 
call center to run.  These do not appear (to me) to map nicely into NOSQL.

Notice that in this entire thread on this list, *nobody* has spoken up and discussed how they are, 
as we speak, writing a call center app in NOSQL, or a book keeping app, or a manufacturing app, or 
anything at all in fact.  So far nobody has spoken up at all except for Jim, who said he was 
(peripherally from the sounds of it) involved in installing a NOSQL app to track documents for a 
government entity.  And Hans who says he can tell us all about what NOSQL does but so far hasn't 
done so.

Now I understand that this is an SQL list, but you would think that if NOSQL was storming the gates 
of SQL land someone on this list would be chattering about all the cool things they are doing with it.

I can tell you that I have engineered a SQL system that handles what I do with aplomb.  Yes, it took 
a lot of hardware (lol, a single server / OS)  and it took a lot of software but it sure looks like 
it took a miniscule amount compared to what NOSQL seems to expect me to need.

I will continue to watch NOSQL unfold and I expect that I will find uses for it as it gets to the 
point where any tom, dick and developer can install / use it.  In the meantime I bill thousands a 
month in SQL and... hm... zero in NoSQL.

I'm thinking I will keep my day job.  ;)

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting

Reality is what refuses to go away
when you do not believe in it

On 10/16/2011 2:41 PM, Martin Reid wrote:
> Had to read up on this as never heard of it.
> http://m.cio.com/article/690262/NoSQL_is_Eclipsing_the_Old_Time_RDBMS
>
> I am running a four instance cluster with just over 2 million documents. SQL ser 2008 r2.  We use 30000 users and SQL server seems fine.
>
> Martin
>
> Sent from my Windows Phone
> ________________________________
> From: jwcolby
> Sent: 16/10/2011 13:30
> To: Discussion concerning MS SQL Server
> Subject: Re: [dba-SQLServer] OK, I give up - was "John needs NoSQL"
>
> I can Google, and I do.  What I see is that they are not intended to solve the same problem set as
> SQL.  I have spent several hours now reading articles on what they do.
>
> Are you saying that you actually use NOSQL?  If so why don't you discuss what kinds of problems you
> are solving with NOSQL.
>
> John W. Colby
> Colby Consulting
>
> Reality is what refuses to go away
> when you do not believe in it
>
> On 10/16/2011 2:08 AM, Hans-Christian Andersen wrote:
>>
>> Hi John,
>>
>> If you have any questions as to what NoSQL databases are, their history and/or what problems they are trying to solve, please do ask. I will be happy to explain.
>>
>> - Hans