People generally do not think of cockroaches positively, but I have nothing but good feelings about CockroachDB. At its core, CockroachDB is resilient and reliable.
Cockroach Labs, a software company known for its cloud-native SQL databases, has found a home in Bengaluru, India. With a rapidly growing team of over 55 engineers specializing in database and cloud engineering, the company’s journey in India is as much about emotional ties as it is about strategic growth.
Bengaluru’s choice is strategic. It offers unparalleled time zone advantages and access to a rich talent pool. With a population of 1.4 billion and a digitizing economy, India is ideal for testing CockroachDB’s resilience and scalability.
The company plans to expand its Bengaluru office into a first-class R&D hub. Teams are working on innovations like vector data integration for AI, enabling operational databases to evolve into systems capable of real-time intelligence.
Building Blocks of CockroachDB
The founders’ lack of a transactional distributed database forced them to use DynamoDB, leading to inefficiencies in their early startup years. This frustration led to the birth of Cockroach Labs in 2014, with a vision to create an open-source, cloud-native distributed database.
I am a HUGE advocate of open-source databases, so this journey is intriguing. Not sitting with inefficiencies but finding a way to grow beyond them is a significant step for any startup.
True to its name, CockroachDB has built a reputation for resilience. It can run seamlessly across cloud providers, private data centers, and hybrid setups, making it a standout choice. Cockroach Labs focuses on eliminating vendor lock-in and ensuring businesses can operate uninterrupted, even during cloud or data center outages. I can’t say enough how important it is not to be locked into one cloud provider. This is a serious flex for an open-source database NOT to be “vendor dependent.” Staying in the driver’s seat and not becoming a passenger or going along for a ride with a service provider is ideal. Retaining the power of “choice” as a customer is priceless. This adaptability has made Cockroach Labs the operational backbone for global giants like Netflix and ambitious startups like Fi.
Sharing some notes on my explorer experience:
Getting Started
Install CockroachDB on Ubuntu (using Bash Shell):
1. Update Your System: First, update your system packages to the latest version:
sudo apt update -y
sudo apt upgrade -y
2. Install the required dependencies:
sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common
3. Download the latest version of CockroachDB:
$ curl https://binaries.cockroachdb.com/cockroach-v24.3.1.linux-amd64.tgz | tar -xvz
or
https://binaries.cockroachdb.com/cockroach-latest.linux-amd64.tgz | tar xvz
4. Move the binary to a directory in your PATH:
sudo cp -i cockroach-latest.linux-amd64/cockroach /usr/local/bin/
5. Verify the installation by checking the CockroachDB version:
cockroach version
6. Initialize CockroachDB Cluster: Create a directory for CockroachDB data and initialize the cluster:
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/cockroach
sudo chown $(whoami) /var/lib/cockroach
cockroach start-single-node --insecure --store=/var/lib/cockroach --listen-addr=localhost:26257 --http-addr=localhost:8080
7. Connect to CockroachDB SQL Shell: Connect to the CockroachDB SQL shell:
cockroach sql --insecure --host=localhost:26257
8. Run CockroachDB as a Background Service: Create a systemd service file to run CockroachDB as a background service:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/cockroach.service
Add the following configuration:
ini
[Unit]
Description=CockroachDB
Documentation=https://www.cockroachlabs.com/docs/
[Service]
Type=notify
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/cockroach start-single-node --insecure --store=/var/lib/cockroach --listen-addr=localhost:26257 --http-addr=localhost:8080
TimeoutStartSec=0
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
9. Enable and Start the Service: Reload the systemd manager configuration, start the CockroachDB service, and enable it to run on system startup:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start cockroach
sudo systemctl enable cockroach
sudo systemctl status cockroach
CockroachDB is now installed and running on your Ubuntu system. Cockroach Labs is continuing to invests heavily in AI-specific features, including support for vector similarity searches and operationalizing AI workflows.
Here's an example of how you can use CockroachDB with AI, specifically leveraging vector search for similarity searches:
1. Install CockroachDB: Follow the steps I provided earlier to install CockroachDB on your system.
2. Connect to CockroachDB and create a database and table to store your data:
cockroach sql --insecure --host=localhost:26257
CREATE DATABASE ai_example;
USE ai_example;
CREATE TABLE vectors (id INT PRIMARY KEY, vector FLOAT[] NOT NULL);
3. Insert some sample data into the table:(at sql prompt) Steps 3 -5
INSERT INTO vectors (id, vector) VALUES (1, ARRAY[1.0, 2.0, 3.0]), (2, ARRAY[4.0, 5.0, 6.0]);
4. Enable the `pgvector` extension for vector similarity searches:
sql>
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS pgvector;
5. Use the `pgvector` extension to perform a similarity search:
sql>
SELECT id, vector, similarity(vector, ARRAY[2.0, 3.0, 4.0]) AS similarity_score
FROM vectors
ORDER BY similarity_score DESC;
Create a table to store vectors, and perform similarity searches using the `pgvector` extension.
"pgvector" enables similarity searches by comparing high-dimensional vectors, making it useful for tasks like finding similar items in recommendation systems, which is an AI tool.
Yes. CockroachDB is compatible with PostgreSQL, which means you can use many PostgreSQL tools, libraries, and client applications. This can be a bridge in learning about this database, which is also a plus.
“pgvector" enables similarity searches by comparing high-dimensional vectors, making it useful for tasks like finding similar items in recommendation systems, which is an AI tool.
Yes. CockroachDB is compatible with PostgreSQL, which means you can use many PostgreSQL tools, libraries, and client applications. This can be a bridge in learning about this database, which is also a plus.
I am looking forward to testing these new developments from Cockroach Labs. There is a wealth information contained in their repository (linked-below) as well as number of repos from the open-source database community. Their investment in AI is key to the company’ sustainable growth.
