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Database Internals: A deep-dive into how distributed data systems work
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When it comes to choosing, using, and maintaining a database, understanding its internals is essential. But with so many distributed databases and tools available today, it’s often difficult to understand what each one offers and how they differ. With this practical guide, Alex Petrov guides developers through the concepts behind modern database and storage engine internal
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Paperback, 376 pages
Published
November 4th 2019
by O'Reilly Media
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Start your review of Database Internals: A deep-dive into how distributed data systems work

One of the best tech books I've read in the last 12 months.
It consists of 2 parts: DB internals & DB distribution internals.
The 1st part is pure gold - one can learn about B*-trees, LSM-trees, differences between locks and latches, memory VS disk optimizations, rebalancing, concurrency models for transactions and much, much more. I can't recall any single book that covers as much deep-level knowledge on these topics.
The 2nd part is less unique - there are other good resources on distributed syst ...more
It consists of 2 parts: DB internals & DB distribution internals.
The 1st part is pure gold - one can learn about B*-trees, LSM-trees, differences between locks and latches, memory VS disk optimizations, rebalancing, concurrency models for transactions and much, much more. I can't recall any single book that covers as much deep-level knowledge on these topics.
The 2nd part is less unique - there are other good resources on distributed syst ...more

I liked this one a lot.
It complements nicely "Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems" by Martin Kleppmann.
While Kleppmanns' book provides pretty solid overview of data processing landscape, this book goes deeper into implementation details, data structures and algorithms.
It's a bit more dry and more technical, but still it's a relatively easy read. ...more
It complements nicely "Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems" by Martin Kleppmann.
While Kleppmanns' book provides pretty solid overview of data processing landscape, this book goes deeper into implementation details, data structures and algorithms.
It's a bit more dry and more technical, but still it's a relatively easy read. ...more

“Database Internals: A Deep Dive Into How Distributed Data Systems Work” by Alex Petrov, belongs to a very special category of O’Reilly books such as “Designing Data-Intensive Applications” and “Cassandra: The Definitive Guide“, in the sense that it is a serious deep dive into the most fundamental and challenging aspects of big and distributed data systems that we rely on daily basis.
Today there’s an unprecedented proliferation of distributed database technologies, combined with an ever-growing ...more
Today there’s an unprecedented proliferation of distributed database technologies, combined with an ever-growing ...more

The book is a strange mix - the second part is really about distributed data systems and it's ok - while "Designing Data Intensive applications" is better in this part.
The first part contains a lot of descriptions of different implementations of B*-Trees (replace * with any other symbol(s)) - most of them unreadable. ...more
The first part contains a lot of descriptions of different implementations of B*-Trees (replace * with any other symbol(s)) - most of them unreadable. ...more

Good and interesting content. But some chapters are scattered with missing transitioning between topics or algorithms. Some other parts are developed well. Diagrams are missing where I have expected better explanation or are present for obvious things. The writing is 3/5, but the content is 5. So it is 4/5. I'm glad I've read the book and definitely will get back to some chapters to refresh some details.
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Unfortunately i have read this book after Martin Kelppman's Designing Data Intensive apps and probably this is the reason i rated it poorly.
The book starts really good by describing the intetnal systems that are encompassed in any dbms ( Connection Listener layer , Query parser+ optimizer layer , execution layer and of course the storage layer).
I wanted the book to explore more on this subject , how the components are drsigned and how they deal with concurrency etc.
The book then took a deep dive ...more
The book starts really good by describing the intetnal systems that are encompassed in any dbms ( Connection Listener layer , Query parser+ optimizer layer , execution layer and of course the storage layer).
I wanted the book to explore more on this subject , how the components are drsigned and how they deal with concurrency etc.
The book then took a deep dive ...more

The book is divided into two parts: The first part deals with storage on hard disk and solid state storage but in the context of a singular system; while the second part deals with distributed systems. In this sense it differs from most other books on distributed storage that typically do not discuss the topics in the first part of this book.
I found the book informative, but not very effective in building a solid understanding of concepts. I felt the author jumps from idea to (related) idea too ...more
I found the book informative, but not very effective in building a solid understanding of concepts. I felt the author jumps from idea to (related) idea too ...more

I like this book for the content, if you would like to know more about databases and distributed systems plus get long list of further reads then go for this book. What I don't like is actually that this material does not read like book (e.g. DDIA), it's more like compendium of algorithms, data structures and theories. Some of the algorithms could be better presented (more diagrams).
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I part 1, book explains internal database structure in details and examines its parts like storage engine very well.
“The storage engine (or database engine) is a software component of a database management system responsible for storing, retrieving, and managing data in memory and on disk, designed to capture a persistent, long-term memory of each node.”
Part 2 explains distributed systems characteristics in general and examine some specific topics related to distributed databases.
Book also intr ...more
“The storage engine (or database engine) is a software component of a database management system responsible for storing, retrieving, and managing data in memory and on disk, designed to capture a persistent, long-term memory of each node.”
Part 2 explains distributed systems characteristics in general and examine some specific topics related to distributed databases.
Book also intr ...more

This book comes along nicely together with "Designing Data-Intensive Applications" by Martin Klepmann: they both focus on core, fundamental concepts of persistent, distributed systems, providing wide variety of known algorithms and protocols for common problems in that area, including rationale behind each one, which helps to build intuition about their trade offs. It's also full of references for anyone, who wants to continue more in-depth exploration for a given topic.
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This book really feels like two incomplete books in one. The first half of the book focuses on database internals, file formats, caching strategies etc. The second half of the book switches gears and dives into the components (algorithms, and strategies) used by distributed systems.
The problem is that there is nothing to tie the first and second parts of the book together. You could be reading entirely different books. The second issue is that even within each part, you are presented with a lot ...more
The problem is that there is nothing to tie the first and second parts of the book together. You could be reading entirely different books. The second issue is that even within each part, you are presented with a lot ...more

Excellent book! It goes a bit in the direction of what Design Data-intensive applications goes when it talks about distributed systems, dist transactions and so on.
But this book goes some steps further: explaining how the db represents data internally, and also explaining distributed systems algorithms.
Excellent read!
But this book goes some steps further: explaining how the db represents data internally, and also explaining distributed systems algorithms.
Excellent read!

Informative but would have preferred more examples with practical scenarios. No code and this all mostly conceptual. Some good references to papers for subsequent reading. The first part of the book deals primarily with storage and covers an in-depth discussion of b-trees and types. The second half is focused on distributed systems and has useful sections on consensus protocols. Concepts like "2-phase commits" are explained well with figures. However, the lack of practical examples/code and over
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A book that I really appreciated to expand and have a 360 degree refresh on Database essentials. The progression of the book is built in an organic way, parting from basic concepts at low level implementation to modern distributed challenges. This helps you build comprehension naturally, in constructs with some other technical books that jump from topic to topic without any respect to cognitive challenges.
Totally recommended to get a solid understanding on databases to help solve contemporary pr ...more
Totally recommended to get a solid understanding on databases to help solve contemporary pr ...more

I liked very much reading this book! It complements nicely "Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems" Book by Martin Kleppmann. I highly recommend!
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Mar 27, 2020
Miloš
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
my-own-my-precious,
professional
Can't believe I forgot to write a review for this one!
Partly it's probably because I usually have less to say (or more precisely it's harder for me to be properly articulate) about things I like than I do about the ones I don't. And boy did I like Database Internals! I'll try my best to explain why, the book and the author surely deserve it.
Being a back-end engineer, the main reason for picking this one up was to better understand the distributed databases that I may end up in (or have already h ...more
Partly it's probably because I usually have less to say (or more precisely it's harder for me to be properly articulate) about things I like than I do about the ones I don't. And boy did I like Database Internals! I'll try my best to explain why, the book and the author surely deserve it.
Being a back-end engineer, the main reason for picking this one up was to better understand the distributed databases that I may end up in (or have already h ...more

Great overview of modern databases.
Very nice overview of databases' state of the art. A lot of references to literature and source code. Includes multitude of distributed systems' algorithms. ...more
Very nice overview of databases' state of the art. A lot of references to literature and source code. Includes multitude of distributed systems' algorithms. ...more
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“A distributed system is one in which the failure of a computer you didn’t even know existed can render your own computer unusable. Leslie Lamport”
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