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The Great Migration from MongoDB to PostgreSQL

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Re: The Great Migration from MongoDB to PostgreSQL

#121

Post by harry_ord »

akie wrote: post #73

Did anyone here ever see a migration _from_ PostgreSQL/MySQL _to_ MongoDB? I've only ever seen startups pick Mongo, then regret it a few months or years down the line and migrate to a relational database. Did anyone ever see the opposite?

I work with the aftermath of going from postgres to couchdb. The migration was done years before I joined. There are still customer records showing postgres ids.

It didn't seem like it made things better since there were issues with dates and lost data. Working with it now isn't fun either.

Re: The Great Migration from MongoDB to PostgreSQL

#122

Post by benterix »

onetimeuse92304 wrote: post #55
thih9 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, Mongodb’s pr team did their best to present it as the solution to all problems. > In 2012, 10gen’s VP of Corporate Strategy Matt Asay argued “there will remain a relatively small sphere of applications unsuitable for MongoDB … the majority of application software that developers write will be in use cases that are better fits for MongoDB and other NoSQL technology … Those functions that really help a comp…

To be fair, almost all product PR teams do the same. I just ignore most of what they say in favour of my own opinion that I try to build based on reading actual technical documentation, experimenting with the product, etc. Anybody who makes tech decisions based solely on what PR teams say is naive and incompetent at best.

> To be fair, almost all product PR teams do the same.

As it is their "duty" to twist the truth in this way, it is our role as the users of these technologies to present things as they are.

Re: The Great Migration from MongoDB to PostgreSQL

#123

Post by ako »

endisneigh wrote: post #82
ako wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not if you use a rdbms to store your key/values. Then you can do arbitrary queries with joins over multiple tables, add views, stored procedures, etc.

Sure, but that’s not related to what you said prior. Again, right tool for the job.

Sure. I meant grow in number of ways you use your data, not in volume of data.

Re: The Great Migration from MongoDB to PostgreSQL

#124

Post by benterix »

JJMcJ wrote: post #119
onetimeuse92304 wrote: post #38

Ah, the old "I used a wrong product for my problem and now I complain the product is bad because it does not suit my case." defence. MongoDB is a document database. It is not supposed to be good at relations. Also lacking support with cloud providers and lacking experience with MongoDB is not MongoDB's problem, it is your poor decisionmaking. If you value those things, you should have taken it into account when you w…

> MongoDB is a document database. Thank you. A one sentence clarification of the issues in Mongo vs RDBMS.

It's a bit more nuanced than that. PostgreSQL supports JSON/JSONB data types so if you need, you can use it in a way similar to MongoDB, with less structure and the remaining caveats, but with transactions and all other goodies working out of the box and being able to use standard RDBMS features if needed.

Re: The Great Migration from MongoDB to PostgreSQL

#125

Post by Jolter »

jpgvm wrote: post #45

I have done this migration twice and rethinkdb to PostgreSQL once. At this point I think document DBs are as good as dead for new projects. They will live for a really long time still but are in contraction and rent seeking mode now. Expect MongoDB licensing and hosting to increase in price and languish in terms of feature development from here on out.

Maybe you’re just experiencing the trough of disillusionment, from the Gartner curve? I think it’s fair to call document databases a mature technology now, rather than “dead”.

Re: The Great Migration from MongoDB to PostgreSQL

#126

Post by rullopat »

That's what happens when you choose the next product / framework / methodology because of fashion or because FAANG is giving you the stuff for free, without thinking if it really fits your use case and that 99.9999% of the companies will not have the problems Google, Facebook, etc. have.

Re: The Great Migration from MongoDB to PostgreSQL

#127

Post by benterix »

renegade-otter wrote: post #36
sph wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Postgres is no hype, it was already in plateau of productivity when MongoDB came to the web scale scene. Hadoop just like Mongo had their hyped time in the sun, but RDBMS are far too advanced and versatile than any of them were.

I am not calling Postgres hype - it should have never been NOT hype. It's a reasonable default for most problems, Now all I read about is how Postgres is awesome, as if it's this great new thing. I guess that makes sense, as the new generation of engineers is rediscovering stable, reliable, lean technologies after a decade of excesses with "exotic" tech. For grey beards, it's all very odd. Like, "where have you all b…

> For grey beards, it's all very odd. Like, "where have you all been?"

To be frank, PostgreSQL has evolved a lot since the late nineties. There was a time where people preferred MySQL over it at it seemed to work faster, certain things were easier and so on.

Re: The Great Migration from MongoDB to PostgreSQL

#128

Post by benterix »

sph wrote: post #52
renegade-otter wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not calling Postgres hype - it should have never been NOT hype. It's a reasonable default for most problems, Now all I read about is how Postgres is awesome, as if it's this great new thing. I guess that makes sense, as the new generation of engineers is rediscovering stable, reliable, lean technologies after a decade of excesses with "exotic" tech. For grey beards, it's all very odd. Like, "where have you all b…

Excited, vocal users make the most noise. Somehow the entire Mongo DB era passed me through and I never used it once. I used to use MySQL in the 2000s, and switched to PostgreSQL in the 2010s.

You haven't missed much TBH. I think the only case where you'd use it in new projects in DynamoDB if you work with AWS.

Re: The Great Migration from MongoDB to PostgreSQL

#129

Post by finaard »

dangtony98 wrote: post #94
onetimeuse92304 wrote: post #38

Ah, the old "I used a wrong product for my problem and now I complain the product is bad because it does not suit my case." defence. MongoDB is a document database. It is not supposed to be good at relations. Also lacking support with cloud providers and lacking experience with MongoDB is not MongoDB's problem, it is your poor decisionmaking. If you value those things, you should have taken it into account when you w…

Author of the article here! The article itself does not "complain the product is bad" but some other comments in this thread would certainly suggest so. Instead, the article says that the use-case evolved, states reasons for why MongoDB was no longer suitable (while at some point it was) and why PostgreSQL was chosen instead, and discusses the migration process involved in the transition and the results. Regarding la…

To me the article read more that PostgreSQL might have been the better choice from the beginning - but due to lack of experience in the team MongoDB was "good enough" at that point.

Re: The Great Migration from MongoDB to PostgreSQL

#130

Post by p4ul »

tianzhou wrote: post #97
iambateman wrote: post #65

I use MySQL for everything - always have. Can someone hit me with a few reasons why you would use Postgres over MySQL? I don’t have any familial affinity to any database, but I’m not sure what the benefits to Postgres are relative to MySQL.

Architecture-wise, Postgres is more extensible. Another reason is licensing. Both contribute to a viral ecosystem. https://www.bytebase.com/blog/postgres-vs-mysql/

This is exactly what I would argue. PostgreSQL makes it straightforward to create extremely powerful extensions.

PostGIS is one such extension, and I would argue that if your use case involves geospatial data, then PostGIS alone is enough of a reason to use PostgreSQL!

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