Consistent Hashing is a specific implementation of hashing that is well suited for many of today’s web-scale load balancing problems. Specifically, it can be seen in use in various caching solutions like Memcached and is applicable to NoSQL solutions as well. Consistent Hashing is used particularly because it provides
The world of NoSQL and alternative database implementations (i.e. non-relational) is deeply fascinating to me. I can’t help but be swept up in the whirl of planet-scale web development scalability techniques and the evolution of how developers think about building their applications knowing that with success comes the
I can’t even count the number of times that I’ve heard this phrase: “don’t worry about scaling your web application, worry about visitor (or customer) acquisition.” My response to this is always that you don’t need to choose one or the other, you can do both!
NoSQL is a trend that is gaining steam primarily in the world of Open Source. There are numerous NoSQL solutions available for all levels of complexity: from queryable distributed solutions like MongoDB to simpler distributed key-value storage solutions like Cassandra. Then there’s Riak, Tokyo Cabinet, Voldemort, CouchDB, and Redis.
I’ve largely steered clear of publicly commenting on the “NoSQL vs. Relational” conflict. Keeping in mind that this argument is more about currently available solutions and the features their developers have chosen to build in, I’d like to dig into this and provide a decidedly neutral viewpoint. In