Chapter 12. Relational Databases
Until now, all our content and persistent configuration have been managed in the ZODB. The ZODB is an efficient and convenient data store for Plone content, but many organizations have existing relational databases that they want to integrate into a Plone website. Furthermore, certain kinds of data may be more appropriately managed using an RDBMS.
In this chapter, we will cover:
- The role of relational databases in Zope and Plone
- Modeling solutions that rely on data in a relational database
- Using the SQLAlchemy library to interact with relational databases
Relational databases versus the ZODB
Some customers are uncomfortable with the ZODB. It feels opaque and unfamiliar. They worry about performance and resilience. And surely, it cannot integrate into their existing IT environment.
In fact, the ZODB is a proven data store that scales well and is easily backed up. It is well-documented, and provides low-level tools to extract data if necessary. As we learned...
