Rethinking Database Architecture for the SSD Era: Beyond Spinning Disk Constraints
By
charleshn
Baker's choice. Dense with flavour, light on filler.
Summary
The article explores how traditional relational databases (like Postgres, MySQL, SQLite) were designed for spinning disk era hardware and examines what a database specifically optimized for modern NVMe SSDs would look like. It discusses how SSDs offer ~1000x improvements in throughput and latency compared to spinning disks, making many traditional database design decisions (write-ahead logs, large page sizes, buffered table writes) potentially obsolete. The article considers fundamental architectural changes needed for SSD-optimized databases, questioning whether we should rethink core database structures from scratch for the SSD era.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledPostgres, MySQL, SQLite and many others were invented in the 90s and 00s, the era of spinning disks.
A local NVMe SSD has ~1000x improvement in both throughput and latency.
Design decisions like write-ahead logs, large page sizes, and buffering table writes in bulk were built around disks where I/O was SLOW, and where sequential I/O was order(s)-of-magnitude faster than random.
If we had to throw these databases away and begin from scratch in 2025...
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