Drupal, the world’s most populous content management system, is a classic example of this use case. Web property owners want to leverage Drupal’s customization through its Views and CCK modules, but performance quickly drops off as users add fields and then try to select, order and sort on them. What’s going on here? Why is a seemingly straightforward query creating such performance and scalability challenges? Let’s take a closer look at what this query pattern does in MySQL:
| SELECT nde.nid ,nde.title ,dfd.field_document_data ,dfp.field_podcast_data ,dfs.field_slideshow_data ,dfv.field_video_data |
Individual columns define the data elements required by the application |
| FROM dru_node nde LEFT JOIN dru_content_field_document dfd ON nde.nid = dfd.nid AND nde.vid = dfd.vid LEFT JOIN dru_content_type_podcast dfp ON nde.nid = dfp.nid AND nde.vid = dfp.vid LEFT JOIN dru_content_field_slideshare dfs ON nde.nid = dfs.nid AND nde.vid = dfs.vid LEFT JOIN dru_content_field_video dfv ON nde.nid = dfv.nid AND nde.vid = dfv.vid |
Tables are joined to assemble the object |
| WHERE nde.status <> 0 | Predicate (filter) applied |
| ORDER BY node_created DESC LIMIT 500 |
Once the entire set is sorted, return 500 records |
Akiban versus Traditional Relational Systems
Drupal’s CCK/Views modules and the Field API create new tables whenever users add custom fields. Traditional relational systems have to make increasing amounts of inefficient joins to assemble requested information about these new fields:
Akiban table-grouping interleaves new table data within existing groups, eliminating costly joins as schemas evolve. In this example, four random access IOs and their corresponding sort/join executions are eliminated.
Business Value In Context
Better end-user value and engagement through customization
Competitive differentiation
Higher customer satisfaction
Higher page views, conversions and retention
Lower cost of infrastructure and support
Akiban table grouping means linear scalability of SQL queries. The graph reflects it. With Akiban, users can customize Drupal applications without concern, increasing relevance and value to end users, driving engagement, conversions and retention.