The Cockroach Labs Blog

Here are 7 expert-backed tips from the 2nd edition of CockroachDB: The Definitive Guide (O’Reilly Media, 2025) to help you get the most out of your distributed SQL database. To get the full details, download your free copy of O’Reilly’s CockroachDB: The Definitive Guide, 2nd edition, today.

Becca Weng

April 23, 2025

Clock synchronization is a critical challenge in distributed systems like CockroachDB. While atomic clocks and GPS-based hardware provide nanosecond-level precision, they introduce unnecessary complexity and cost barriers for typical deployments. CockroachDB takes a pragmatic approach, leveraging the Network Time Protocol (NTP) along with software-based compensation techniques to achieve reliable time coordination across database nodes.

Alex Entin

April 22, 2025

There’s a certain kind of engineering story that only comes out under pressure — the real stories that reveal themselves when systems are stressed, customers are demanding, and the infrastructure either bends or breaks. RoachFest 2025 is about honoring these stories, and providing space for enthusiasts and experts to gather and share what they’re building, challenges they encountered, and how they fixed it.

Rob Reid

April 21, 2025

As volatile as capital markets feel today, one thing remains certain: CockroachDB keeps critical systems running — no matter what.

David Weiss

April 18, 2025

Imagine this: A TikTok video of your product goes viral overnight, and suddenly thousands of eager shoppers flood your online store. Or it's Cyber Monday and your flash sale traffic skyrockets. These kinds of spiky workloads – sudden surges in user activity – are the new normal in retail.

David Weiss

April 17, 2025

Ten years ago, we set out to build a database that could survive anything — and thrive anywhere. That idea grew into CockroachDB: a database born in the cloud, built to scale globally, and engineered for resilience. Today, we’re marking a new chapter in our journey with the appointment of Sailesh Munagala as Chief Financial Officer.

Spencer Kimball

April 15, 2025

On March 25, 2025, Cockroach Labs hosted one of our Use Case Cafés, a lunch and learn that focuses on a key use case. This particular event highlighted the intersection of FinTech and modern payment systems. The event provided valuable insights into the role of CockroachDB in transforming payment systems to meet the needs of today’s fast-paced financial environment. Shannon Dew, Principal Sales Engineer at Cockroach Labs, and Scott Traver, Senior Software Architect at Spreedly, offered their expertise on why modernizing data infrastructure is critical to those handling payments, and how CockroachDB helped Spreedly tackle their journey to the cloud.

Becca Weng

April 14, 2025

For global edtech leader Qoria, data isn't just part of the IT infrastructure — it’s the heart of its mission to protect children online, everywhere they connect.

David Weiss

April 11, 2025

So you were worried about a failure, and it happened. Despite all of the planning, something went wrong, and now the goal is to minimize the impact of that failure. As part of our blog series, “Surviving Failures with CockroachDB,” this blog will cover what your options are when things inevitably fail.

Alicia Lu

April 9, 2025