Written by Cyril

After MongoDB last month, it’s CouchDB’s turn to now be officially offered from alwaysdata. A big thanks to beta-testers who have allowed us to refine this service before its public introduction.

What is CouchDB?

CouchDB is a part of the “new” database systems coming out these past years, generally regrouped under the name NoSQL. Even though they share the same characteristics and common principles, each system — MongoDB, CouchDB, Cassandra, Voldemort, etc. — has its advantages and disadvantages. A unique feature of the CouchDB is that it relies on HTTP protocol.

How does it work on alwaysdata?

How it works is the same as for MySQL, PostgreSQL and MongoDB: you manage your users, your databases and permissions between the two. Some details:

• users with read-only permission are readers, while those with all permissions are admins (CouchDB terminology)
• you can define public databases: anyone can access it, even without authentication
• the CouchDB server is accessible at : http://couchdb.alwaysdata.com:5984/. It is deliberately not accessible on port 80, but you can configure your Apache to act as reverse-proxy
• the server is shared, certain features are not accessible, notably Futon (due to security limitations) or access to the _users database

Attention: each alwaysdata account provides a CouchDB user created by default, but you must reset your password before it is operational.

More information is arranged in this page of our wiki, generously written by one of our beta-testers — a big thanks to him :)

As always, don’t hesitate to send us your feed back, and soon for new features!