Greenplum vs PostgreSQL

sql database django postgresql greenplum
0atman picture 0atman · Mar 15, 2011 · Viewed 19.1k times · Source

What are the arguments for and against using Greenplum instead of PostgreSQL in a webapp (django) environment?

My gut reaction is to prefer PostgreSQL's open-source approach and huge knowledgebase.

My configuration (though I'd love to hear about any other configuration) is a medium-sized business with 2 web servers and (at the moment) 2 database servers.

Areas to contrast are binary data crunching, number of nodes in the replication and my personal favorite: communitiy support and skilled engineer support.

What are the pros and cons of using Greenplum instead of PostgreSQL?

Answer

duffymo picture duffymo · Mar 15, 2011

I don't know much about Greenplum, except for quickly skimming the link you send. A data warehouse is not the same thing as a transactional operational data store. The former is for ad hoc queries, statistical analysis, dimensional analysis, read-mostly access to historical data. The latter is for real-time, read/write of operational data. They're complimentary.

I'm guessing that you want PostgreSQL.

Who is pushing Greenplum on you and why? If it's being presented as an alternative, I'd dig deeper and rebut the argument.

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