Alibaba Cloud open sources self-developed PolarDB for PostgreSQL

Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, has announced that it will publish its self-developed database PolarDB for PostgreSQL’s source code on GitHub following the Apache Version 2.0 protocol. With the move, the company hopes to create an inclusive open source ecosystem for developers around the world, including in the Philippines, to build better cloud-native databases.

PolarDB for PostgreSQL utilized X-Paxos to ensure its high availability. Developers and data analysts can tap on the cluster version of X-Paxos, including database kernels, related plug-ins, tool scripts, test cases, and design documents, to create systems suitable for core business scenarios for medium and large enterprises.

“We hope to work closely with the open source community and our partners to innovate cloud-native databases, in order to support the various vertical needs of global businesses,” said Dr. Li Feifei, President of Database Business, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. “Besides PolarDB for PostgreSQL, Alibaba Cloud is also planning to open source more database products in the near future, and through these initiatives, we hope to build up our own open source community in order to facilitate knowledge-sharing of the like-minded database developers.” 

Besides the open sourced PolarDB for PostgreSQL, an enterprise version that is compatible with Oracle is also available on Alibaba Cloud.

The PolarDB product series have been pivotal in supporting Alibaba Group’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival. In 2020, PolarDB set a new record by handling 140 million queries per second during peak time at 11.11.

Alibaba is one of the top contributors on GitHub. Its open source initiatives include MySQL-based AliSQL, container tool Pouch, and JStorm, a Java-based version of Apache Storm.