Browsing by Author "Paakkola, Kalle"

SQLite has been called the most widely deployed database system but its use in web services has been somewhat limited compared to client/server database engines. Today due to the continued development of SQLite it has the needed features to be a serious option for certain kinds of web services. SQLite is also the technology behind many emerging globally distributed database technologies. In a case study, an existing web application that is backed by centralized SQLite is evaluated in the context of what trade-offs would have to be made when switching to a globally distributed database. This is done by benchmarking the difference in latency users experience depending on their geographical location. Outside of that known challenges in the context of distributed computing as well as challenges specific to migrating from a centralized embedded database to a globally distributed one are evaluated as well. In the results, we found out that there are latency improvements to be made with the globally distributed approach. That said optimizing application code is likely to be the most effective latency improvement for many projects. In addition, especially the increased complexity of running a distributed system compared to a centralized one was in our estimations a big rea- son why the application being studied ultimately decided not to migrate towards a globally distributed deployment. Our findings relate primarily to this one application and other applications with different cir- cumstances could come to a different answer. These technologies are still rapidly advancing so it is likely we will see continued development and properties of these globally distributed database technologies evolving.