Mariposa (database)
Encyclopedia
Mariposa was a relational database
research project run by Michael Stonebraker
at UC Berkeley. Mariposa focused on creating wide-area distributed databases using an economic model in which querying servers "buy" data from data servers which "sell" it. The result is a network of servers that quickly reaches a best-performance point.
Other distributed RDBMSs rely on a heavyweight solution for moving data in which every server maintains a complete copy of the "master" database. While this works with private databases of small size, it simply cannot work with thousands of servers with aggregate data sets on the order of those being commonly found on the Internet
.
Mariposa uses an entirely different paradigm for distribution in which each server includes only the data it needs, but maintains links to other servers and knows what data they contain. If the data needs of a particular server mean it is constantly "buying" data from another server, notably one with a high cost (say on the far side of the Atlantic
), the servers will automatically copy the data over.
Mariposa's system is also largely automatic. Traditional systems require the dedicated resources of a database administrator in order to maintain performance as the data load changes over time, whereas in Mariposa the basic system will automatically handle such cases.
Unlike Stonebraker's earlier efforts which were groundbreaking, Mariposa seems to have had little effect on the marketplace as a whole to date. The project has since ended.
Relational database
A relational database is a database that conforms to relational model theory. The software used in a relational database is called a relational database management system . Colloquial use of the term "relational database" may refer to the RDBMS software, or the relational database itself...
research project run by Michael Stonebraker
Michael Stonebraker
Michael Ralph Stonebraker is a computer scientist specializing in database research.Through a series of academic prototypes and commercial startups, Stonebraker's research and products are central to many relational database systems on the market today...
at UC Berkeley. Mariposa focused on creating wide-area distributed databases using an economic model in which querying servers "buy" data from data servers which "sell" it. The result is a network of servers that quickly reaches a best-performance point.
Other distributed RDBMSs rely on a heavyweight solution for moving data in which every server maintains a complete copy of the "master" database. While this works with private databases of small size, it simply cannot work with thousands of servers with aggregate data sets on the order of those being commonly found on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
Mariposa uses an entirely different paradigm for distribution in which each server includes only the data it needs, but maintains links to other servers and knows what data they contain. If the data needs of a particular server mean it is constantly "buying" data from another server, notably one with a high cost (say on the far side of the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
), the servers will automatically copy the data over.
Mariposa's system is also largely automatic. Traditional systems require the dedicated resources of a database administrator in order to maintain performance as the data load changes over time, whereas in Mariposa the basic system will automatically handle such cases.
Unlike Stonebraker's earlier efforts which were groundbreaking, Mariposa seems to have had little effect on the marketplace as a whole to date. The project has since ended.