3 posts tagged with "python"

Babelfish speaks TDS, the SQL Server wire protocol. Any SQL Server driver connects to it on port 1433 without modification to the driver itself. The only required change from a typical SQL Server connection is disabling TLS on the TDS port: Babelfish 4.8.0 does not support TLS on TDS.

This post shows working connection code and confirms which features work, based on live tests against Babelfish 4.8.0 on PostgreSQL 16.11, running on FoundryDB staging.

Python developers working with SQL Server typically reach for one of two libraries: pymssql for direct TDS access, or SQLAlchemy for ORM-based workflows. Both work with Babelfish, but SQLAlchemy requires three specific workarounds due to differences in how Babelfish implements the TDS protocol.

This post covers both approaches with complete, working code tested against Babelfish 4.8.0 on PostgreSQL 16.11 running on FoundryDB staging. The pymssql section expands on driver-level coverage with additional tests for stored procedures and batch insert performance.

Most applications hit a performance wall that has nothing to do with their code. The database query that takes 50ms works fine until you are serving 10,000 requests per minute and your connection pool is saturated. Adding an in-memory caching layer drops that response time to under a millisecond and takes the read load off your primary database.

Valkey is the open-source, Redis-compatible in-memory data store that the community rallied behind after Redis changed its license in 2024. It is wire-compatible with Redis, which means your existing Redis clients, libraries, and tooling work without modification. No license concerns, no vendor lock-in, and active development under the Linux Foundation.

This guide walks through provisioning a managed Valkey instance on FoundryDB and implementing common caching patterns in Python, Node.js, and Go.