Apache Aurora vs Microsoft SQL Server

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Apache Aurora vs Microsoft SQL Server: What are the differences?

## Key Differences between Apache Aurora and Microsoft SQL Server

1. **Architecture**: Apache Aurora is a distributed, horizontally scalable job scheduler, designed to support large-scale clusters, while Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system used for storing and retrieving data in a structured format.

2. **Use Case**: Apache Aurora is commonly used for managing long-running services and cron jobs in a data center, prioritizing fault tolerance and scalability, whereas Microsoft SQL Server is primarily utilized for managing and storing transactional and analytical data for applications.

3. **Language Support**: Apache Aurora is written in Java and Python, providing a flexible and extensible framework for developers, whereas Microsoft SQL Server primarily uses T-SQL, a proprietary language, for querying and manipulating data.

4. **Horizontal Scalability**: Apache Aurora allows for easy horizontal scaling by adding more nodes to the cluster to handle increased workloads, whereas horizontal scaling in Microsoft SQL Server often involves sharding or partitioning the database to distribute data across multiple servers.

5. **Open Source vs Proprietary**: Apache Aurora is open-source, freely available for users to modify and contribute to its codebase, while Microsoft SQL Server is a proprietary software product developed and sold by Microsoft Corporation, with licensing fees associated with its use.

6. **Community Support**: Apache Aurora has a large and active open-source community contributing to its development and providing support through forums and documentation, whereas Microsoft SQL Server has a strong support network from Microsoft, including regular updates, patches, and technical assistance for licensed users.

In Summary, Apache Aurora and Microsoft SQL Server differ in their architecture, use cases, language support, scalability options, licensing models, and community support.
Advice on Apache Aurora and Microsoft SQL Server

I am a Microsoft SQL Server programmer who is a bit out of practice. I have been asked to assist on a new project. The overall purpose is to organize a large number of recordings so that they can be searched. I have an enormous music library but my songs are several hours long. I need to include things like time, date and location of the recording. I don't have a problem with the general database design. I have two primary questions:

  1. I need to use either MySQL or PostgreSQL on a Linux based OS. Which would be better for this application?
  2. I have not dealt with a sound based data type before. How do I store that and put it in a table? Thank you.
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Replies (6)

Hi Erin,

Honestly both databases will do the job just fine. I personally prefer Postgres.

Much more important is how you store the audio. While you could technically use a blob type column, it's really not ideal to be storing audio files which are "several hours long" in a database row. Instead consider storing the audio files in an object store (hosted options include backblaze b2 or aws s3) and persisting the key (which references that object) in your database column.

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Aaron Westley
Recommends
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PostgreSQLPostgreSQL

Hi Erin, Chances are you would want to store the files in a blob type. Both MySQL and Postgres support this. Can you explain a little more about your need to store the files in the database? I may be more effective to store the files on a file system or something like S3. To answer your qustion based on what you are descibing I would slighly lean towards PostgreSQL since it tends to be a little better on the data warehousing side.

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Julien DeFrance
Principal Software Engineer at Tophatter · | 3 upvotes · 485.6K views
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Amazon AuroraAmazon Aurora

Hi Erin! First of all, you'd probably want to go with a managed service. Don't spin up your own MySQL installation on your own Linux box. If you are on AWS, thet have different offerings for database services. Standard RDS vs. Aurora. Aurora would be my preferred choice given the benefits it offers, storage optimizations it comes with... etc. Such managed services easily allow you to apply new security patches and upgrades, set up backups, replication... etc. Doing this on your own would either be risky, inefficient, or you might just give up. As far as which database to chose, you'll have the choice between Postgresql, MySQL, Maria DB, SQL Server... etc. I personally would recommend MySQL (latest version available), as the official tooling for it (MySQL Workbench) is great, stable, and moreover free. Other database services exist, I'd recommend you also explore Dynamo DB.

Regardless, you'd certainly only keep high-level records, meta data in Database, and the actual files, most-likely in S3, so that you can keep all options open in terms of what you'll do with them.

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Christopher Wray
Web Developer at Soltech LLC · | 3 upvotes · 486K views
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DirectusDirectus
at

Hey Erin! I would recommend checking out Directus before you start work on building your own app for them. I just stumbled upon it, and so far extremely happy with the functionalities. If your client is just looking for a simple web app for their own data, then Directus may be a great option. It offers "database mirroring", so that you can connect it to any database and set up functionality around it!

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Recommends
on
PostgreSQLPostgreSQL

Hi Erin,

  • Coming from "Big" DB engines, such as Oracle or MSSQL, go for PostgreSQL. You'll get all the features you need with PostgreSQL.
  • Your case seems to point to a "NoSQL" or Document Database use case. Since you get covered on this with PostgreSQL which achieves excellent performances on JSON based objects, this is a second reason to choose PostgreSQL. MongoDB might be an excellent option as well if you need "sharding" and excellent map-reduce mechanisms for very massive data sets. You really should investigate the NoSQL option for your use case.
  • Starting with AWS Aurora is an excellent advise. since "vendor lock-in" is limited, but I did not check for JSON based object / NoSQL features.
  • If you stick to Linux server, the PostgreSQL or MySQL provided with your distribution are straightforward to install (i.e. apt install postgresql). For PostgreSQL, make sure you're comfortable with the pg_hba.conf, especially for IP restrictions & accesses.

Regards,

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Klaus Nji
Staff Software Engineer at SailPoint Technologies · | 1 upvotes · 485.7K views
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PostgreSQLPostgreSQL

I recommend Postgres as well. Superior performance overall and a more robust architecture.

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Pros of Apache Aurora
Pros of Microsoft SQL Server
    Be the first to leave a pro
    • 139
      Reliable and easy to use
    • 101
      High performance
    • 95
      Great with .net
    • 65
      Works well with .net
    • 56
      Easy to maintain
    • 21
      Azure support
    • 17
      Always on
    • 17
      Full Index Support
    • 10
      Enterprise manager is fantastic
    • 9
      In-Memory OLTP Engine
    • 2
      Easy to setup and configure
    • 2
      Security is forefront
    • 1
      Great documentation
    • 1
      Faster Than Oracle
    • 1
      Columnstore indexes
    • 1
      Decent management tools
    • 1
      Docker Delivery
    • 1
      Max numar of connection is 14000

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    Cons of Apache Aurora
    Cons of Microsoft SQL Server
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      • 4
        Expensive Licensing
      • 2
        Microsoft
      • 1
        Data pages is only 8k
      • 1
        Allwayon can loose data in asycronious mode
      • 1
        Replication can loose the data
      • 1
        The maximum number of connections is only 14000 connect

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      What is Apache Aurora?

      Apache Aurora is a service scheduler that runs on top of Mesos, enabling you to run long-running services that take advantage of Mesos' scalability, fault-tolerance, and resource isolation.

      What is Microsoft SQL Server?

      Microsoft® SQL Server is a database management and analysis system for e-commerce, line-of-business, and data warehousing solutions.

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      What companies use Apache Aurora?
      What companies use Microsoft SQL Server?
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      What tools integrate with Apache Aurora?
      What tools integrate with Microsoft SQL Server?

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