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Some parts of my web app would work very well with a RDBMS, such as user and URL handling - I want to normalize users, emails, hosts (ie stackoverflow.com), and urls (ie https://stackoverflow.com/questions/ask) so that updating things in one place update things in all places and to minimize redundancy.

But some parts of my web app would very well with a document-based database, like Mongo, because they have a lot of components that would work more efficiently as embedded objects.

Would it make sense to use MySQL for the relational objects and Mongo for the document objects, or would it be not worth the hassle to have to manage two types of databases? I know that Mongo has references, but I get the idea that it is not really designed and optimized for references.

Thanks!

PS: I read this: Using combination of MySQL and MongoDB and it scratches the edge of what I am asking, but it is really a completely different question.

Community
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cjroth
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2 Answers2

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We use Mongo and MySQL in unision. Yes there is additional maintenance involved but it is about using the right tool for the right job. We use Mongo for a more real-time scenario where we need fast reads and writes and can do without persisting data for long periods of time. MySQL for everything else.

That being said, your needs may be unique and you need to figure out the right tool for the job.

Deep Kapadia
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  • What are some of the challenges you have encountered while using the 2 databases in unison? Do you churn and populate Mongo on schedule? Is there data consistency issues? – Dennis Y. Mar 02 '12 at 17:01
  • I would not say we encountered any significant challenges. Yes we populated Mongo on schedule. Fortunately the data that was shared between MySQL and Mongo stayed fairly constant on the MySQL end so consistency was never an issue for us. We were constantly looking at the MySQL data to populate Mongo on schedule – Deep Kapadia Mar 02 '12 at 22:59
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I recently built a system using MySql for as the RDBMS managing users and blogging and MongoDB for searchable attributes. It works well however keeping data in sync, especially user Id's etc requires a bit of work. It is a case of basically choosing the right tool for the job.

Luke Tarplin
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