Hello everyone!
tl;dr: How well is PostgreSQL positioned to serve as the database of choice
for a DBaaS operator? Specifically, how much open source is (may be) missing?
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Im un-lurking hoping to learn more about PostgreSQL in DBaaS land.
You may have seen this announcement.
https://blog.yugabyte.com/why-we-changed-yugabyte-db-licensing-to-100-open-source/
YugaByte bills itself as a PostgreSQL compatible database (yay to at least the
intent) but most importantly, it decided to single-license its database under
a permissive license, including "the enterprise features" that frequently are
held back by single-vendor open source firms who want to earn a RoI for their
VC investment.
The interesting part (and why I'm posting it here) is the following staging of
functionality implied in that post.
1. Core database (permissively licensed)
2. Enterprise features (permissively licensed)
3. DBaaS features (trial license, commercial, no open source)
4. Managed by YugaByte (commercial)
Point 3. suggests that they want to make money from self-managed DBaaS, but in
the post they also write they really only expect significant income from 4,
i.e. YugaByte (the database) managed by YugaByte (the company).
Where is PostgreSQL in relation to this?
1. PostgreSQL itself is certainly 1 above, the core database.
2. PostgreSQL permissive license allows commercial offerings to build and not
share enterprise features (and I'm sure some companies are holding back).
However, PostgreSQL is true community open source so whatever enterprise
features become relevant, they'll eventually be commoditized and out in the
open. Is there a lot that is missing? And that some companies have but are not
contributing?
3. So, PostgreSQL as-a-service. There are several companies (plenty?) who
service PostgreSQL. I wonder how this is being shared back? I don't have a
clear picture here, my impression is that the software to run these
potentially large farms is proprietary? Or, that operators would argue, this
is all configuration and shell scripts and not really shareable open source?
One aspect related to as-a-service is scaling out, i.e. not just having many
small customers, but also serving large customers in the cloud. I looked
around for scaling out solutions. There used to be CitusData (not any longer
it seems), there is PostgresXL which seems to be moving slowly. Is that it?
4. Managed DBaaS is not relevant here but always a commercial offering.
So, back to my main question above. If I wanted to run a DBaaS shop with only
PostgreSQL open source, how far away from being able to compete with AWS or
Azure (or YugaByte for that matter) would I be?
Thanks for any thoughts and opinions! Dirk
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Website: http://dirkriehle.com - Twitter: @dirkriehle
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