Value-Added Services Layer

[Brian O'Neill <bo...@alumni.brown.edu>]

Sasha,

Thinking a little more about "what problem the REST API solves"...

To be honest, I agree completely.  I don't think a REST layer that provides
the same feature/function as CQL is all that valuable except in cases like I
described (which may not be all that common).  Also, to be honest, I didn't
get all that excited about creating a separate project until I started
thinking about the value-added services that could be delivered with it.
(like the capabilities Riak has, etc.)

If you think about it that way, were there any components of what you
implemented that you believe might be common needs and reusable? (e.g. you
mentioned security and policies)  Did this include analytics/orchestration
at all?

Maybe I should change the spin a bit, and focus on the "services layer" on
top of Cassandra, instead of the REST interface.  That "services layer" will
deliver feature/function commonly required on top of Cassandra. (e.g.
Security)
Maybe also I should change my sign off to... "the REST bigot" ;)

-brian



On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 5:18 AM, Sasha Dolgy <sd...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Brian,
>
> It's an interesting one.  Hope you don't mind some feedback .....I see you
> have been making rounds publicizing the concept and patch (like on my  blog
> ; )  http://blog.sasha.dolgy.com/2011/05/apache-cassandra-restful-api.html)
>
> For me, and the goals I have, I'm not sure this is fit for purpose.  I
> built an API that implements the business processes, business rules,
> security and policies of what I require.  I made it RESTful to allow
> consumers quick and easy access....  The API implements Hector or PHPCassa
> depending on my mood.  Both libraries provide an element of Connection
> Pooling, meaning I don't have to worry about that in my code.  It just
> works....  The cost to me writing code that leverages Hector or PHPCassa
> isn't that high when I compare it to writing code that would leverage a
> RESTful interface.  I'd have to think about Connection Pooling / selecting
> the best available node, etc.  I think the cost would be higher unless it's
> a one or two node infrastructure or there is a load balancer in front of all
> of the Cassandra interfaces so that I don't have to think about it ..
>
> Would I leverage the RESTful interface if it existed with Cassandra?
> Probably not.  I am happy with the libraries as they are today .. and they
> let me bundle in a bunch of fun (batch mutates, connection pooling, etc).
> They aren't overly complicated and make overall development and integration
> quite simple.
>
> I definitely think that people who are looking into Apache Cassanda for the
> first time may look for this feature and/or CQL ... and in that respects,
> it's something good to have.
>
> Probably the best question I read in the JIRA ticket (
> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CASSANDRA-3380 ) is:  "...what
> problem the REST API solves..." , which is still not clear to me...
>
> -sd
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 5:48 AM, Brian ONeill <bo...@alumni.brown.edu>wrote:
>
>> Peter Minearo <Peter.Minearo <at> Reardencommerce.com> writes:
>>
>> > Thrift uses RPC, I was wondering if Cassandra uses Thrift on the server
>> side to
>> > handle the requests from the clients?  I know Thrift is used on the
>> client
>> > side, but what about the server side?   If this is true; is there a
>> reason for
>> > it?  Was a REST API with a JSON payload tried?  Are there any plans to
>> > create a REST API for Cassandra?
>>
>>
>> We started work on an extension to Cassandra that would deliver a
>> REST layer.
>>
>> Check out:
>> http://tinyurl.com/3ktnc9f
>> http://code.google.com/a/apache-extras.org/p/virgil/
>>
>> -brian
>>
>
>


-- 
Brian ONeill
Lead Architect, Health Market Science (http://healthmarketscience.com)
mobile:215.588.6024
blog: http://weblogs.java.net/blog/boneill42/
blog: http://brianoneill.blogspot.com/

Re: Value-Added Services Layer

[Sasha Dolgy <sd...@gmail.com>]

I don't have grand visions of having fat clients connect directly to
Cassandra to read/write data.  Too much risk in my opinion.

On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 4:50 PM, Edward Capriolo <ed...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> If you do not think restful API's are useful, try to make a fat client that
> speaks a non http or https protocol and put if on the desktops of thousands
> of corporate computers. Then wait for months/years for approval and firewall
> changes across said corporate network.

Re: Value-Added Services Layer

[Edward Capriolo <ed...@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 7:44 AM, Brian O'Neill <bo...@alumni.brown.edu>wrote:

> Sasha,
>
> Thinking a little more about "what problem the REST API solves"...
>
> To be honest, I agree completely.  I don't think a REST layer that provides
> the same feature/function as CQL is all that valuable except in cases like I
> described (which may not be all that common).  Also, to be honest, I didn't
> get all that excited about creating a separate project until I started
> thinking about the value-added services that could be delivered with it.
> (like the capabilities Riak has, etc.)
>
> If you think about it that way, were there any components of what you
> implemented that you believe might be common needs and reusable? (e.g. you
> mentioned security and policies)  Did this include analytics/orchestration
> at all?
>
> Maybe I should change the spin a bit, and focus on the "services layer" on
> top of Cassandra, instead of the REST interface.  That "services layer" will
> deliver feature/function commonly required on top of Cassandra. (e.g.
> Security)
> Maybe also I should change my sign off to... "the REST bigot" ;)
>
> -brian
>
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 5:18 AM, Sasha Dolgy <sd...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Brian,
>>
>> It's an interesting one.  Hope you don't mind some feedback .....I see you
>> have been making rounds publicizing the concept and patch (like on my  blog
>> ; )
>> http://blog.sasha.dolgy.com/2011/05/apache-cassandra-restful-api.html )
>>
>> For me, and the goals I have, I'm not sure this is fit for purpose.  I
>> built an API that implements the business processes, business rules,
>> security and policies of what I require.  I made it RESTful to allow
>> consumers quick and easy access....  The API implements Hector or PHPCassa
>> depending on my mood.  Both libraries provide an element of Connection
>> Pooling, meaning I don't have to worry about that in my code.  It just
>> works....  The cost to me writing code that leverages Hector or PHPCassa
>> isn't that high when I compare it to writing code that would leverage a
>> RESTful interface.  I'd have to think about Connection Pooling / selecting
>> the best available node, etc.  I think the cost would be higher unless it's
>> a one or two node infrastructure or there is a load balancer in front of all
>> of the Cassandra interfaces so that I don't have to think about it ..
>>
>> Would I leverage the RESTful interface if it existed with Cassandra?
>> Probably not.  I am happy with the libraries as they are today .. and they
>> let me bundle in a bunch of fun (batch mutates, connection pooling, etc).
>> They aren't overly complicated and make overall development and integration
>> quite simple.
>>
>> I definitely think that people who are looking into Apache Cassanda for
>> the first time may look for this feature and/or CQL ... and in that
>> respects, it's something good to have.
>>
>> Probably the best question I read in the JIRA ticket (
>> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CASSANDRA-3380 ) is:  "...what
>> problem the REST API solves..." , which is still not clear to me...
>>
>> -sd
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 5:48 AM, Brian ONeill <bo...@alumni.brown.edu>wrote:
>>
>>> Peter Minearo <Peter.Minearo <at> Reardencommerce.com> writes:
>>>
>>> > Thrift uses RPC, I was wondering if Cassandra uses Thrift on the server
>>> side to
>>> > handle the requests from the clients?  I know Thrift is used on the
>>> client
>>> > side, but what about the server side?   If this is true; is there a
>>> reason for
>>> > it?  Was a REST API with a JSON payload tried?  Are there any plans to
>>> > create a REST API for Cassandra?
>>>
>>>
>>> We started work on an extension to Cassandra that would deliver a
>>> REST layer.
>>>
>>> Check out:
>>> http://tinyurl.com/3ktnc9f
>>> http://code.google.com/a/apache-extras.org/p/virgil/
>>>
>>> -brian
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Brian ONeill
> Lead Architect, Health Market Science (http://healthmarketscience.com)
> mobile:215.588.6024
> blog: http://weblogs.java.net/blog/boneill42/
> blog: http://brianoneill.blogspot.com/
>
>
If you do not think restful API's are useful, try to make a fat client that
speaks a non http or https protocol and put if on the desktops of thousands
of corporate computers. Then wait for months/years for approval and firewall
changes across said corporate network.