[dba-Tech] MemSQL Claims to be Fastest Database on the Planet - 80, 000 queries per second

Jim Lawrence accessd at shaw.ca
Mon Jun 25 19:06:35 CDT 2012


I was wondering how this application could be useful as no matter how much
memory in a PC, it will never be enough to run a full database but there is
another feature which makes this all possible.

According to the company:
" MemSQL enables you to connect multiple machines together to store massive
amounts of data in memory for lightning fast performance. MemSQL handles
terabyte-scale workloads by connecting MemSQL and MySQL nodes together,
conferring real-time access for your most valuable data as well as long-term
historical lookback. And, MemSQL scales up with multiple CPU cores.  Bottom
line: the more CPU on the machine, the faster MemSQL can go. "

The ability to use banks of computers in a single database instance. It must
have similar capabilities of Google and Facebook's system. Every connected
computer just becomes another node and their resources are used. 

This is the part that I find most interesting. I wonder if the application
is picky as to the type and quality of box it will include in a cluster? In
other wards what is the programs minimum requirements? Is it only expecting
server class (16GB or better) or can it still function on boxes with only
two and four GBs? Is setting up each node a complex process or is it mostly
automated?

Anyway it looks very interesting. 

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2012 12:51 PM
To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Subject: [dba-Tech] MemSQL Claims to be Fastest Database on the Planet - 80,
000 queries per second

Snippet from iProgrammer:

Two former Facebook developers have created a new database that they say is
the world's fastest and a video to demonstrate its superiority compared to
MySQL.

According to former Facebook developers Eric Frenkiel and Nikita Shamgunov,
MemSQL, the database they have developed over the past year, is thirty
times faster than conventional disk-based databases.

The team employed techniques they had used at Facebook to create a database
that would be very fast. The key ideas are that SQL code is translated into
C++, so avoiding the need to use a slow SQL interpreter, and that the data
is kept in memory, with disk read/writes taking place in the background.

Shamgunov has excellent credentials in the database world, having worked at
Microsoft on SQL
Server<http://www.i-programmer.info/news/84-database/4397-memsql-80000-queri
es-per-second.html#>
for
six years. He also has several patents to his name, and is a world medalist
in ACM programming contests.

MemSQL has put together a video showing MySQL versus MemSQL carrying out a
sequence of queries, in which MySQL performs at around 3,500 queries per
second, while MemSQL achieves around 80,000 queries per second.

This is, of course, impressive, but the question remains of how much of
this was achieved by clever picking of the queries. What would be
interesting would be to see MemSQL running some of the Transaction
Processing<http://www.i-programmer.info/news/84-database/4397-memsql-80000-q
ueries-per-second.html#>Performance
Council (TPC) tests to see how it performs against known benchmarks.

The main reason that MemSQL achieves the speed it does is because of being
memory based, with all the benefits and drawbacks in terms of size limits
and potential data loss that carries.

The documentation says that MemSQL writes back to disk/SSD as soon as the
transaction is acknowledged in memory, and that using a combination of
write-ahead logging and snapshotting ensures your data is secure.

MemSQL is fully compatible with MySQL, giving a clue as to the target
audience, and the website <http://memsql.com/> describing the product
suggests that:

*"MemSQL handles terabyte-scale workloads by connecting MemSQL and MySQL
nodes together, conferring real-time access for your most valuable data as
well as long-term historical lookback". *

MemSQL runs on 64-bit Linux, and is described as ideally suited for
machines with multi-core processors and at least 8 GB of RAM. There's a
free developer edition that's limited to 10 GB in capacity, and a trial
edition that supports unlimited storage but is time limited to 30 days.

So far, no details of the license fee for commercial use seem to be
available. To visit the site click MemSQL <http://memsql.com/>.

-- 
Arthur
Cell: 647.710.1314

Prediction is difficult, especially of the future.
  -- Niels Bohr
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