Solution on a Memory Stick?

[Anthony Waddell <an...@syskeys.com>]

Greetings
I was about to start developing an app that is to be used in various
remote rural areas with little/no internet connectivity. The data
generated in these sites needs to be replicated back to a central
database.  I was going to do it in Notes/Domino, running the app on a
memory stick that could then be taken by the remote worker to their
nearest town, zapped into a workstation with internet access, and so
replicated to the central server.  Now I'm wondering if I should do it
in Couchdb instead?

Some questions:
- can it run an instance (programme and data) on a memory stick?
- does this sound feasible in this environment?
- Is Couchdb ready for showtime in an environment like this.  I need
to feel confident that these isolated offices that are a long way from
any help are going to get a robust solution

The app itself is a case management system (which I intend to keep
fairly simple)

Any input or pointers to relevant resources will be appreciated

Thanks, Anthony
(P.S. Newbie....so apologies in advance if this is the wrong forum)

Re: Solution on a Memory Stick?

[Jan Lehnardt <ja...@apache.org>]

On Jul 3, 2008, at 09:25, Anthony Waddell wrote:

> Thanks for the response
>
> I guess I can handle security of the database by putting some kind of
> lock on on the memory stick, or the entire app, but what about
> replication.  I understand it now replicates on port 80:
> - is it robust?

It is robust, but it could be faster than it is now.


> - Any ideas how could I encrypt the transmission over public access  
> networks?

A VPN, an ssh tunnel or, if you can set it up, use https.

Cheers
Jan
--

>
>
> Regards
> Anthony
>
> 2008/7/2 Jan Lehnardt <ja...@apache.org>:
>> Hi Anthony,
>> On Jul 2, 2008, at 10:53, Anthony Waddell wrote:
>>
>>> Greetings
>>> I was about to start developing an app that is to be used in various
>>> remote rural areas with little/no internet connectivity. The data
>>> generated in these sites needs to be replicated back to a central
>>> database.  I was going to do it in Notes/Domino, running the app  
>>> on a
>>> memory stick that could then be taken by the remote worker to their
>>> nearest town, zapped into a workstation with internet access, and so
>>> replicated to the central server.  Now I'm wondering if I should  
>>> do it
>>> in Couchdb instead?
>>
>> The scenario you describe is the exact kind of which CouchDB was
>> designed to handle.
>>
>>
>>> Some questions:
>>> - can it run an instance (programme and data) on a memory stick?
>>
>> Yeah. A simple example is the just-released binary package for
>> MacOS X I threw together:
>> http://jan.prima.de/~jan/plok/archives/142-CouchDBX-Revival.html
>>
>> This is obviously Mac-only, but equally possible to do for other
>> platforms.
>>
>>> - does this sound feasible in this environment?
>>>
>>> - Is Couchdb ready for showtime in an environment like this.  I need
>>> to feel confident that these isolated offices that are a long way  
>>> from
>>> any help are going to get a robust solution
>>
>> Maybe not yet fo your purposes. CouchDB does not have a sense
>> of security (it will, though). So you'd need to write a small
>> proxy application that would do authentication and whatever else
>> you need. I guess you don't want to open each local instance to
>> everybody for replication :)
>>
>> With large views, we are still missing database compaction, but
>> that won't be much of a problem with small data sets or small
>> views.
>>
>>
>>> (P.S. Newbie....so apologies in advance if this is the wrong forum)
>>
>> This is the exact right place to discuss this :) Feel free to send in
>> any follow-up questions you might have. And have a look at
>> our documentation: http://wiki.apache.org/couchdb/
>>
>> Cheers
>> Jan
>> --
>>
>

Re: Solution on a Memory Stick?

[Anthony Waddell <an...@syskeys.com>]

Thanks for the response

I guess I can handle security of the database by putting some kind of
lock on on the memory stick, or the entire app, but what about
replication.  I understand it now replicates on port 80:
- is it robust?
- Any ideas how could I encrypt the transmission over public access networks?

Regards
Anthony

2008/7/2 Jan Lehnardt <ja...@apache.org>:
> Hi Anthony,
> On Jul 2, 2008, at 10:53, Anthony Waddell wrote:
>
>> Greetings
>> I was about to start developing an app that is to be used in various
>> remote rural areas with little/no internet connectivity. The data
>> generated in these sites needs to be replicated back to a central
>> database.  I was going to do it in Notes/Domino, running the app on a
>> memory stick that could then be taken by the remote worker to their
>> nearest town, zapped into a workstation with internet access, and so
>> replicated to the central server.  Now I'm wondering if I should do it
>> in Couchdb instead?
>
> The scenario you describe is the exact kind of which CouchDB was
> designed to handle.
>
>
>> Some questions:
>> - can it run an instance (programme and data) on a memory stick?
>
> Yeah. A simple example is the just-released binary package for
> MacOS X I threw together:
> http://jan.prima.de/~jan/plok/archives/142-CouchDBX-Revival.html
>
> This is obviously Mac-only, but equally possible to do for other
> platforms.
>
>> - does this sound feasible in this environment?
>>
>> - Is Couchdb ready for showtime in an environment like this.  I need
>> to feel confident that these isolated offices that are a long way from
>> any help are going to get a robust solution
>
> Maybe not yet fo your purposes. CouchDB does not have a sense
> of security (it will, though). So you'd need to write a small
> proxy application that would do authentication and whatever else
> you need. I guess you don't want to open each local instance to
> everybody for replication :)
>
> With large views, we are still missing database compaction, but
> that won't be much of a problem with small data sets or small
> views.
>
>
>> (P.S. Newbie....so apologies in advance if this is the wrong forum)
>
> This is the exact right place to discuss this :) Feel free to send in
> any follow-up questions you might have. And have a look at
> our documentation: http://wiki.apache.org/couchdb/
>
> Cheers
> Jan
> --
>

Re: Solution on a Memory Stick?

[Jan Lehnardt <ja...@apache.org>]

Hi Anthony,
On Jul 2, 2008, at 10:53, Anthony Waddell wrote:

> Greetings
> I was about to start developing an app that is to be used in various
> remote rural areas with little/no internet connectivity. The data
> generated in these sites needs to be replicated back to a central
> database.  I was going to do it in Notes/Domino, running the app on a
> memory stick that could then be taken by the remote worker to their
> nearest town, zapped into a workstation with internet access, and so
> replicated to the central server.  Now I'm wondering if I should do it
> in Couchdb instead?

The scenario you describe is the exact kind of which CouchDB was
designed to handle.


> Some questions:
> - can it run an instance (programme and data) on a memory stick?

Yeah. A simple example is the just-released binary package for
MacOS X I threw together:
http://jan.prima.de/~jan/plok/archives/142-CouchDBX-Revival.html

This is obviously Mac-only, but equally possible to do for other
platforms.

> - does this sound feasible in this environment?
>
> - Is Couchdb ready for showtime in an environment like this.  I need
> to feel confident that these isolated offices that are a long way from
> any help are going to get a robust solution

Maybe not yet fo your purposes. CouchDB does not have a sense
of security (it will, though). So you'd need to write a small
proxy application that would do authentication and whatever else
you need. I guess you don't want to open each local instance to
everybody for replication :)

With large views, we are still missing database compaction, but
that won't be much of a problem with small data sets or small
views.


> (P.S. Newbie....so apologies in advance if this is the wrong forum)

This is the exact right place to discuss this :) Feel free to send in
any follow-up questions you might have. And have a look at
our documentation: http://wiki.apache.org/couchdb/

Cheers
Jan
--