search

openlab / OGDI-DataLab

Open Government Data Initiative
http://ogdi.codeplex.com
Microsoft Public License
57 stars 17 forks source link

Path from local SQL Server to Azure? #19

Closed abelsan closed 12 years ago

abelsan commented 12 years ago

I am pretty excited about OGDI. Would it be possible to do a local installation and later deploy to Azure?

If I can do a proof-of-concept, I could use the prototype to gather internal support.

SyntaxC4 commented 12 years ago

The services are able to be run locally on the Windows Azure Compute Emulator.

However, due to how we are leveraging Windows Azure Storage Accounts as Data Containers the current code base requires the use of live Windows Azure Storage Accounts. We are looking to address this in a future release.

You can see the pricing model for storage on the Windows Azure product site.

abelsan commented 12 years ago

As I mentioned before, I am very excited about OGDI. However, I think the project would get more traction if there was a way for people to run a demo without connecting to Azure. Without a doubt for serious scale you need Azure but there are many small municipalities that could make do with SQL Server. The Open Data Publisher (http://opendatapublisher.codeplex.com), a fork of OGDI, can use SQL Server. Any chance OGDI could provide something similar? I think you are ahead of the game when compared to the Open Government Platform (http://www.opengovplatform.org). I just wish OGDI could be used with SQL Server.

nikg commented 12 years ago

@abelsan do you mean to have SQL capability in the demo only, or complete SQL support instead of Azure (or perhaps with Azure / SQL Azure)?

abelsan commented 12 years ago

How about a provider model for data access, enabling clean retargeting to alternative data storage systems like SQL Server? In other words, allowing users evaluating the platform to get up and running without Azure. The barrier to running with SQL Server is very low. For demo purposes, SQL Server Express does not even require a purchase decision.

nikg commented 12 years ago

That would require a significant effort. Currently the trend is to move open data workloads to cloud, hence we've built DataLab to address cloud storage scenarios first. Nanaimo's Open Data Publisher is a great alternative for those looking to get going with SQL only.

abelsan commented 12 years ago

How about just the provider model abstraction? A good clean, well documented, data layer abstraction to encapsulate all data interactions. This way, the community could write the mappings to their data stores of choice, be it SQL Server, Mongo DB, Azure, or any other cloud storage.

nikg commented 12 years ago

@abelsan Do you have any good examples to point to of which projects do this well?

abelsan commented 12 years ago

Off the top of my head, the blog engine dot net (http://www.dotnetblogengine.net/) project comes to mind. The project does not even require a database. You can store your data in flat files as xml. The project has also constructed a generic Database Blog Provider that will allow you to store data in most standard databases -- SQL Server, MySql, SQLite, VistaDB.

nikg commented 12 years ago

Good feedback. The challenge is focusing limited developer resources - either to fix issues, deliver immediate enhancements, or address big scenarios like the data layer abstraction. We would need a break-out team, including any volunteers to even start scoping out what's possible.

@abelsan are you a developer, interested in contributing?

abelsan commented 12 years ago

Potentially yes, it would depend on the volume of work and license of the resulting work. I am an academic and I am interested open solutions we could continue to evolve and distribute. There is also the possibility that I could bring other team members to help in the effort. Is this project still sponsored by MS?

nikg commented 12 years ago

License will remain OSS

MS is still involved but less directly.

From: abelsan Sent: 05/06/2012 7:38 PM To: Nik Garkusha Subject: Re: [DataLab] Path from local SQL Server to Azure? (#19)

Potentially yes, it would depend on the volume of work and license of the resulting work. I am an academic and I am interested open solutions we could continue to evolve and distribute. There is also the possibility that I could bring other team members to help in the effort. Is this project still sponsored by MS?

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/openlab/DataLab/issues/19#issuecomment-6139712

abelsan commented 12 years ago

@nikg why don't we have an offline conversation, ping me at "abel@mit.edu" and I can setup a WebEx

nikg commented 12 years ago

done.