Every now and then, one of our clients considers adopting an alternative database platform – sometimes NoSQL, sometimes a brand new relational database. They’ll ask for our help in evaluating the vendor’s solution.
One of the best ways to do it is ask the database vendor to set us up on a WebEx or GoToMeeting with one of their happy customers. I want to hear from the technical folks, not management.
I run the call with six PowerPoint slides – here’s how:
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Good stuff. I see many companies trying alternatives due to licensing costs. If you are an ISV and are considering software with a GPL or similar license you may want to seriously reconsider that product. You may be threatened by your vendor to open source all of your derivative works, which you may not want to do. Or you may need to buy a pricey commercial license later. An ISV I consulted for was held hostage by a vendor for just this reason. The commercial license ended up being more expensive than SQL Server. Non-ISVs likely don’t need to worry about all of this. Caveat emptor…free != no-cost.
Hi Brent,
This is a wonderful wonderful post/video.
It reminds me of your Hierarchy of Needs. In fact I often take your hierarchy of needs, change backups to HA and DR (just terminology) and then I’ve got broad categories that cover the ops in devops for almost all IT projects. Does that make sense? It becomes a handy list I use to mentally answer “Okay, before I go, did I forget anything important?”
This video takes those categories and finds the parts that are likely to have interesting differences. For example, the category “Capacity Planning” is important, but not technically difficult to accomplish. In contrast knowing where the current bottlenecks for each candidate platform is super-interesting.
For NoSQL solutions, it’s also interesting to focus on what letters you’re giving up in the acronym ACID, and what letters you’re giving up in the acronym CAP (in Brewer’s CAP theorem).
Thanks sir! Glad you like the video and the Hierarchy of Needs. I still use that Hierarchy of Needs all the time myself too, like during client finding sessions.