Migrating relational data to an OODB: strategies and lessions from a molecular biology experience

The growing maturity of OODB technology is causing many enterprises to consider migrating relational databases to OODBs. While data remapping is relatively straightforward, greater challenges lie in economically and non-invasively adapting legacy application software. We report on a genetics laboratory database migration experiment, which was facilitated by both organization of the relational data in object-like form and a C++ framework designed to insulate application code from relational artifacts. To our surprise, the framework failed to encapsulate three subtle aspects of the relational implementation, thereby "contaminating" application code. We describe the underlying issues, and offer cautionary guidance to future migrators.