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Multi-node TimescaleDB is now free

blog.timescale.com

201–210 of 220 posts

Re: Multi-node TimescaleDB is now free

#201
post #198

Free multi-node TSDB solution sound cool! I wonder if someone tried to use TimescaleDB as remote-storage for some heavy-loaded Prometheus [1] setups. [1] https://prometheus.io/

I've had luck with https://thanos.io/ for a big (~1 billion timeseries across all our DCs) Prometheus scale out project. Horizontally sharded Prometheus that can be queried and alerted on in a unified view with object store backend.

Do you consider TimescaleDB as replacement for Thanos? Would be nice to read some operational and performance comparisons for real world cases.

Re: Multi-node TimescaleDB is now free

#202

Why should someone use TimescaleDB over ClickHouse for time-series/analytics workloads?

The biggest reason is if you're using Postgres already as an operational database and want some timeseries/analytical capabilities. Originally Timescale wasn't much more than automatic partitioning but with the new compression and scale out features, along with the automatic aggregations and other utilities, it can actually be pretty good overall performance. It still won't get you the raw speed of Clickhouse but ins…

Microsoft also offers Timescale on Azure, but only the Apache-licensed parts.

Re: Multi-node TimescaleDB is now free

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The differences are pretty substantial. The GPL puts no restrictions whatsoever on how you can use software that falls under it. Timescale's license, on the other hand, gives you very limited usage rights. You can use unmodified versions of the software, but you can't allow clients to make schema changes, nor can you use it to provide any service that is "primarily [a] database storage or operations product or servic…

> In addition, Timescale's license is much more restrictive about allowing derivative works. The GPL lets you create modified versions and/or reuse code in other products, no matter how extensive your changes, as long as the results are also GPL-licensed I mean, to be fair and add some balance here, a lot of people find that part of the GPL to be very restrictive. There are many organisations who have banned the use…

> I mean, to be fair and add some balance here, a lot of people find that part of the GPL to be very restrictive.

I often see comments like this, but they make no sense. If you don't agree with the GPL, then don't use software licensed under it. The same as if there's proprietary software you don't want to license, don't use it. There's nothing to debate.

> There are many organisations who have banned the use of GPL code altogether because of this

Good, they read the license and don't want to follow it, so they don't use it. Exactly as intended.

You're confusing the GPL viral nature, which is a central feature, with something different that you wished for, but isn't real.

And by the way, since Linux is GPL, those same companies almost always make an exception, don't they now?

Re: Multi-node TimescaleDB is now free

#206
post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't you required to release it even if you run it yourself with GPLv3? Or am I thinking of another version?

You are thinking of the AGPLv3. Not to be confused with the GPLv3 =) https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.en.html "It has one added requirement: if you run a modified program on a server and let other users communicate with it there, your server must also allow them to download the source code corresponding to the modified version running there."

As the term you cited says, the AGPL only requires distribution if you are providing it to some one else, including as service over a network- if you use it yourself, and don't distribute it (including over a network service) to anyone else, you still don't have to share your source.

Re: Multi-node TimescaleDB is now free

#207
post #199

Very happy to see Timescale making more features available in the community edition. We first started evaluating time series databases a month or two ago, some features like continuous aggregation (rollups) were enterprise only. Perhaps their strategy is to drive adoption and letting people try their feature out, hoping that some of these adoptors will end up using their managed solution. I checked their pricing, and…

Thanks for the feedback. Really glad to hear that your experience is going well with TimescaleDB! Feel free to ping me directly ajay (at) timescale.com if there's anything I can do to help.

Re: Multi-node TimescaleDB is now free

#208
post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest reason is if you're using Postgres already as an operational database and want some timeseries/analytical capabilities. Originally Timescale wasn't much more than automatic partitioning but with the new compression and scale out features, along with the automatic aggregations and other utilities, it can actually be pretty good overall performance. It still won't get you the raw speed of Clickhouse but ins…

Microsoft also offers Timescale on Azure, but only the Apache-licensed parts.

Yes, along with Aiven and a few others. Unfortunately the free community license is great but require either the Timescale Cloud or running it yourself.

Re: Multi-node TimescaleDB is now free

#209
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We did consider the Commons Clause when investigating our own licensing approach, but ended up concluding that its definition of "Sell" were actually much vaguer than we felt comfortable with: “Sell” ...a product or service whose value derives, entirely or substantially, from the functionality of the Software. I realize that opinions might differ, though.

But then you have put a limitation on use in production instead of sell ? Commons Clause might be (too?) vague, but the concept is imho more fair to end users. Still, I for one applaud you for this step. We need better non-OSS licenses and it's good to be having this discussion.

I appreciate the discussion here, and as mentioned elsewhere, this has been good motivation for us to revisit this clause in the Timescale License, as a bit has changed since we released it in 2018.

That said, I think a lot of this discussion misattributes the frequency of behaviors. For example, I bet the percentage of organizations that modify the source code of open-source databases like MySQL or Postgres before using them production is some tiny tiny fraction of 1%. While on the other hand, a huge fraction of TimescaleDB users (and MySQL/PG users) use it to build external-facing services and products that they in turn sell to their customers. So it was especially important to us that folks felt confident in their ability to use TimescaleDB in commercial settings.

Anyway, thanks for the thoughts.

Re: Multi-node TimescaleDB is now free

#210
post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then you have put a limitation on use in production instead of sell ? Commons Clause might be (too?) vague, but the concept is imho more fair to end users. Still, I for one applaud you for this step. We need better non-OSS licenses and it's good to be having this discussion.

I appreciate the discussion here, and as mentioned elsewhere, this has been good motivation for us to revisit this clause in the Timescale License, as a bit has changed since we released it in 2018. That said, I think a lot of this discussion misattributes the frequency of behaviors. For example, I bet the percentage of organizations that modify the source code of open-source databases like MySQL or Postgres before u…

> modify the source code ... before using them production

The freedom-to-modify-and-use and the right-to-repair argument are not restricted to "before using them in production".

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