Native Distributed Databases: Problems, Challenges and Opportunities

Native distributed databases, crucial for scalable applications, offer transactional and analytical prowess but face data intricacies and network challenges. Under the CAP theorem's constraints, latency and replication issues necessitate creative approaches to maintenance, security, and upgrades. Progress in consistency algorithms, network technology, automation, and machine learning for optimization presents significant potential. Embracing hybrid transactional/analytical processing (HTAP), these databases represent an evolutionary leap in data management, aiming to reconcile performance with the complexities inherent in distributed environments. OceanBase is introduced as a case study, and its strong TPC-C and TPC-H benchmark performances underscore Ocean-Base as a top-tier distributed database. We also discuss possible opportunities for native distributed databases.