# Whither CockroachDB?

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2024-08-21
- Length: 1h 34m
- Episode: 22
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-08-21-whither-cockroachdb
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/6d94f044

## Summary

Dave Pacheco, a co-founder of Oxide Computer Company, joins Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal to discuss Oxide's rigorous evaluation and adoption of CockroachDB for its control plane, and the company's response to Cockroach Labs' switch to a proprietary license. Pacheco details how past negative experiences with PostgreSQL at Joyent drove a decision-making process based on rigorous testing rather than 'vibes,' leading to CockroachDB's selection for its strong consistency and autonomous operation. The episode covers the technical trade-offs, including handling client-side retries and partial index corruption, and outlines Oxide's strategy to self-support the database indefinitely, leveraging its upcoming license flip to Apache 2.0.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-08-21-whither-cockroachdb#t=0) Introduction: Dave Pacheco and the CockroachDB Decision
- [2:57](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-08-21-whither-cockroachdb#t=177) The Licensing Shift and RFD 508
- [12:48](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-08-21-whither-cockroachdb#t=768) Joyent's PostgreSQL Struggles: Auto-vacuum and Replication Lag
- [23:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-08-21-whither-cockroachdb#t=1394) Samsung Era Postgres Failures: Apply Lag and Checkpointing
- [37:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-08-21-whither-cockroachdb#t=2231) Oxide's Database Evaluation: Jepsen Reports and CockroachDB
- [43:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-08-21-whither-cockroachdb#t=2613) CockroachDB Testing: Stability, Crashes, and AWS IOPS
- [55:55](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-08-21-whither-cockroachdb#t=3355) Production Issues: Partial Indexes and Client-Side Retries
- [1:05:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-08-21-whither-cockroachdb#t=3909) Open Source Builds, Go Language, and Self-Support
- [1:19:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-08-21-whither-cockroachdb#t=4751) Reaction to Proprietary License and Future Strategy

## Topics

- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Microcontrollers & dev platforms](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/microcontrollers-and-platforms)
- [Policy, trade & tariffs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/policy-trade-and-tariffs)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- CockroachDB (product)
- PostgreSQL (product)
- Joyent (company)
- Manta (product)
- Cockroach Labs (company)
- RethinkDB (product)
- Chrony (product)
- Jepsen (other)
- TiKV (product)
- FoundationDB (product)
- Cassandra (product)
- YMM registers (other)
- Helios (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Deploying Successful IoT Solutions | Christian Lutz, Founder & CEO of Crate.io | #IoTFounders E024](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/iot-for-all-podcast/2019-04-24-deploying-successful-iot-solutions-christian-lutz-founder-ceo-of-crate-io-iotfou) (IoT For All Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-08-21-whither-cockroachdb. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Oxide and Friends.