This content originally appeared on Go Make Things and was authored by Go Make Things
The more I work with flat files, the more I love them over a traditional database setup. Let’s dig in!
What is flat file storage?
A flat is just a file you can read and write with a text editor program. It could be .txt or markdown, but it might also be .json or YAML or something else.
A year or so ago, I migrated all of my membership sites over to flat files.
Every user has a JSON file with their password (hashed, of course!) and an array of their purchases. Every session token is a JSON file with the associated username stored in it. All of the files are stored in a nonpublic part of the server that cannot be accessed with HTTP.
On the backend, I can use PHP to read the file contents, parse it JSON, and extract values. It works more-or-less like how a SQL database would, but less complicated.
Why flat file storage rocks
It makes local development, debugging, and fixing things really easy.
I can download files and open them in Sublime text to figure out what’s wrong. I can move files from my computer to the server and back. I never have to write a SQL query. Hell, I can just browse with FTP if I want!
(Just to reiterate, I cannot read or view user passwords. They’re hashed using PHP’s built-in password hash and validation algorithm, which is currently BCrypt.)
Data portability
All of this is about to payoff big for me, because I need to migrate servers.
For nearly a decade, I’ve used ServerPilot to manage a dozen or so websites on a single DigitalOcean droplet.
That used to be hard to do, and ServerPilot made it easy. Now, DigitalOcean has tons of tutorials on how to do the same thing yourself.
A year ago, ServerPilot informed me they wouldn’t be updating my server anymore, because the Linux version is too old. They recommend migrating to a new droplet rather than updating (I tried and stuff kept breaking).
But migrating would mean I’d lose the grandfathered free plan I was on.
Then, a few months ago, they mentioned the “free forever” plan I was on (that is no longer available), is not actually free forever. They’re getting rid of it, and I won’t be able to manage my sites through ServerPilot anymore until I switch to a paid plan.
I’m not mad. I’ve gotten a very valuable service for free for years, and this stuff costs money to run. But the price jump is not insignificant.
If I still had databases to migrate, I’d be freaking out. But I don’t!
Now, migrating is as simple as downloading some files with an SFTP client, then uploading them to a new server.
What about performance?
One of the criticisms of flat file storage is performance.
I imagine if I had a single JSON file with all of my customers, and lots of looking up to do, a SQL server probably would be more performant.
But I don’t have that.
I have lots of small files, one for each customer. I get the file, read a value from it or write a new value into it, and then I’m done. It’s all very fast.
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This content originally appeared on Go Make Things and was authored by Go Make Things
Go Make Things | Sciencx (2024-08-09T14:30:00+00:00) Flat files and data portability. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2024/08/09/flat-files-and-data-portability/
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