Thinking of switching to MongoDB

[zacharynevin]

Hello,

I came across this node module while searching for a way to do joins on a MongoDB database (they don't have an issues page). I am in a position where I could very easily switch to Mongo in about a day. However, before diving into it, I want to evaluate whether this is a good idea. I have written out a basic data model that is based on NoSQL.

Basically, most of my data can be denormalised since I mostly have situations in which data from a table is only ever queried in the context of another table. For example, I have a table of locations, and events and users can each have a location. I never need to query locations on its own, so I can just normalise this.

However, some of my data models can't be denormalised. I have two tables that comprise a messaging system - conversations, and messages. I also have a statuses table, but have denormalised comments into this.

What I am wondering is, how scalable is MongoDB? Given what I have just described, would you advise that I switch from MySQL to MongoDB? My reason for wanting to abandon MySQL is because I had a lot of problems with ORMs since I found them clunky and annoying, but on the flip side I also had a lot of problems with the object-relational impedance mismatch when I removed it.

[khous]

I think your best bet to answer these questions is perf testing. "Can MongoDB scale?" should be answered with a performance test based on expected requests per second. I don't actually have production experience to answer whether or not this will scale and I don't know your precise scenario. Since it is easy for you to switch, I'd advise that you try it out and see what happens. Your questions are welcome keep them coming, though there may be a better forum than the issues board here.

[zacharynevin]

I feel like, just like with a traditional RBDMS, I won't even need to worry about scaling for a while, and if that time comes I would have the means to deal with it (larger dev team etc).