Engineering

Online Data Definition Language (DDL) is a crucial feature for modern databases. It allows schema changes without significant downtime or locking that could disrupt database operations. This means these operations carry out while the database continues to be available for reads and writes, minimizing downtime and avoiding disruption to ongoing activities. Online DDL is particularly […]

In the era of cloud computing and Software as a Service (SaaS), it’s essential to optimize resource use and scalability in databases. Multi-tenant architecture meets these needs by allowing a single database instance to serve multiple customers, or tenants. This ensures each tenant’s data remains isolated and secure, leading to enhanced cost efficiency, simplified management, […]

HTAP Summit, the only industry-leading conference focused on Hybrid Transactional/Analytical Processing (HTAP), has officially opened its 2024 call for proposals. Now in its third year, HTAP Summit, organized by PingCAP, gathers database experts, innovators, and enthusiasts to share knowledge and experience about distributed database architecture, real-time operational intelligence and ways modern data technologies can drive […]

This blog introduces Web3Bench, a hybrid transaction/analytical processing (HTAP) benchmark that addresses earlier limitations. Web3Bench is based on real-world Web3 use cases that utilize HTAP. Our data model is a simplified version of the decentralized blockchain Ethereum. We leverage a sample data set from Ethereum to build a scale factor-based data generator. The workload in […]

In this blog, we introduce TiDB Index Advisor—or TiAdvisor for short—a novel tool that automates index discovery to enhance user workload performance. We also outline the techniques employed in building this tool and provide use cases that validate its results. Why Do We Need a TiDB Index Advisor? Database indexes provide faster access to data. […]

When building applications for global users, it is common for users to make requests to servers located far from the region where the application is deployed. This often leads to a poor user experience due to network latency. Therefore, reducing latency is vital in such scenarios. OSSInsight, our open-source GitHub project insight platform, faces the […]

While TiDB is already the trusted system of record for some of the most data-intensive applications ever, there is still room to improve. Subsequently, TiDB 7.5, our second long-term support (LTS) release of 2023, emphasizes stability at scale. As application data continues to grow, we see more and more scaling challenges. The most common antidote […]

Documentation (or “docs”) is such a key part of any open-source software project. If you have good docs, users will find it easy to get started. They’ll also be able to find answers on their own for the majority of questions as they use the software.  Even before I start evaluating technical products or organizations, […]

We are excited to unveil TiDB Cloud Serverless Driver (Beta) for JavaScript, your gateway to seamless database connectivity in edge computing environments. With this driver, you can now effortlessly connect to TiDB Serverless from edge environments such as Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge Functions, and Netlify Edge Functions.  TiDB Serverless is a fully managed cloud Database-as-a-Service […]

In our previous article, MySQL 5.7 EOL: Migrating to a MySQL Alternative, we explored the various alternatives to MySQL 5.7 after its imminent end of life (EOL). Among the alternatives discussed, migrating from MySQL to TiDB, an advanced open-source, distributed SQL database, emerged as a promising solution for those seeking scalability, high availability, and MySQL […]

The world of database management systems (DBMS) is constantly evolving, offering a wide range of options to meet the diverse needs of businesses. Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) has become a common choice as more and more companies move to or get started with their technology infrastructure on public cloud platforms. This is not surprising, given the broad […]

With the explosive growth of data and the need for scalable and efficient systems, traditional relational and NoSQL databases have faced limitations. This has led to the emergence of distributed SQL databases, revolutionizing how organizations handle their data.  Choosing the right database to power modern applications can be challenging. For starters, as data volumes grow […]