RMDatabase Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Do I need to be concerned about my database getting too big? Q: I have about 1400 users now, do you see a problem if my data grows another thousand or so? A: As far as the size goes, I'm about the same size as you and only time and volume will tell. Honestly, most of the lag time comes from displaying huge lists at once (one of the reasons I added the ability to narrow the search). Most people don't want to wade through a screen of 100-200 names anyway to find a person. However, if they want to browse through a list of people for a specific time period or president, that capability is still there (they will just have to wait for it - but they would have to anyway regardless of whether there was a SQL-based database behind it - at this point the bottleneck is the internet connection, not how fast the server can spit out the names). One of the things that I mentioned on the RMdB 4 information page is my opinion regarding use of SQL-based backend databases for smaller record volumes. There is inherently overhead associated with a SQL database (you need to connect and login to the database with each request made). This is not the case with reading a file from the file system. And PERL's ability to interact with the file system still amazes me - one of its strongest features is its ability to read text and do it with lightning speed. There is a point when SQL is better, but I have not seen it yet with volumes that we typically have in missionary alumni databases.