Why we decided NoSQL was right for us, How we came to choose MongoDB - Kevin Calcagno, Lulu

MongoRaleigh 2011

About the Speaker: Kevin Calcagno has over 12 years of experience in the software field writing code and leading development teams. Currently he leads the engineering team at Lulu and is responsible for redesigning its core self-publishing platform. Kevin's career has visited industries including air traffic control, instant messaging, resource management, and mobile eCommerce, and companies including DoubleClick and Motricity.

Transcript

1. Mongo Raleigh – Sept. 22, 2011 Kevin Calcagno, Engineering Mgr., Lulu Lulu: Publishing Without a Publisher … Without SQL
2. What is a Lulu? Lulu (n): A remarkable person, object, or idea.
3. What is Lulu? Lulu is a company that makes the remarkable possible. Lulu is creating a new model in publishing — open publishing — that empowers more creators to sell more content to more readers more profitably than ever before.
4. Headquarters: Raleigh, N.C. Founded: 2002 Founder/CEO: Bob Young Operations: We operate Lulu.com and six international versions of the site for U.K., French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch customers. Lulu At-A-Glance: Creators: 1.1 million Products: Hardcover and paperback books, eBooks, mini books, photo books, calendars, cookbooks, travel books Creator revenue: Creators keep 80% of the profit they set on their products. Growth: Approximately 20,000 titles published per month.
5. What are we up to? Mongo Raleigh
6. The Problem •  4.8 million projects •  1.8 million active products •  Lots of variety in product types •  Data heavily normalized •  Evolving industry and data Mongo Raleigh
7. An Opportunity – Lulu’s APIs •  We are releasing all of the great features found on Lulu.com through a series of APIs, allowing publishers to define their own applications and give our creators even more freedom. •  REST-based, JSON and XML •  150 registered developers, 45 apps, 10 sites Mongo Raleigh
8. So Why NoSQL? •  Fit for our data •  Flexible schema •  Performance •  Scalability –  Easy replication –  Sharding Mongo Raleigh
9. So Why NoSQL? •  Fit for our API model –  JSON  Objects  SQL  Objects  JSON –  JSON  Objects  JSON •  It’s cool. Mongo Raleigh
10. Why MongoDB? •  Adoption •  Frameworks –  Morphia –  Spring Data •  Commercial Support Mongo Raleigh
11. Challenges •  Transactions •  Consistency •  Maturity •  Expertise Mongo Raleigh
12. Questions? Kevin Calcagno kcalcagno@lulu.com