We'd reached July in the previous part of our look back at the year. As the summer moved on, so did we. Our year resumes in August with a big announcement...

August - Hello Compose! Hello Elasticsearch!

At the start of August, we announced that we were now Compose after a project to find a new identity. The reason for name change is explained by our other announcement, that we now support Elasticsearch as our second database technology. Compose is a multiple database technology company. We also explain why Elasticsearch takes the coveted position and over the month expand out coverage of the full text searching database...

• Show how to port a full text search app to Elasticsearch.
• Launch Elasticsearch plugin support.
• Detail how we secure Elasticsearch databases.

But changing name and launching new databases wasn't all we did in the summer...

• We asked you to help choose our next DigitalOcean location - thanks to DigitalOcean, we ended up being able to locate in London and San Francisco.
• We showed you how to make and use backups both manually.
  • and how to make and download them automatically using Node.js.
  • and explained how our backup system makes backups without stopping your MongoDB.

September - Transporter to Elasticsearch

Supporting multiple database technologies for Compose also means connecting multiple database technologies and in September we announced the Transporter which could move data from MongoDB to Elasticsearch. Built into the Transporter was a powerful data manipulation engine, the Transformer and we showed how to harness its potential and how to avoid tricky mapping issues. Later in the month, we added continuous synchronization to Transporter so you could keep an Elasticsearch database mirroring your MongoDB database. We were also busy with the entire Compose experience...

• Adding metrics for Elasticsearch to the dashboard.
• Bringing support ticket handling into the heart of the Compose dashboard so customers have more control.
• Adding Secondary resyncing for MongoDB users allowing them to compact their databases without significant periods of downtime.
• Wrote about the expected MongoDB 2.8 features of pluggable storage engines and document-level locking.
• Gave a glimpse inside Compose's process and how we recognized good deeds inside the company.
• And in the midst of all that, we didn't work in any of the company offices for a week... as part of our Great Remote Work Week.

October - Time for a RethinkDB

In October, RethinkDB arrived on Compose joining the MongoDB and Elasticsearch lineup. RethinkDB is an exciting new entrant into the database business and we were eager to work with the folks at RethinkDB. We added SSH access for RethinkDB and showed how you could use Rethink tutorials on Compose as you acclimatised to its powerful ReQL query language. And we listened and rescaled RethinkDB to make it more inexpensive. Our founders also found time to sit down and talk in detail about databases, hosting, networks, Transporter and more. Beyond RethinkDB, we also...

• Updated the Compose dashboard to make it easier to work with multiple database technologies.
• Briefed users on best practices with MongoDB sandboxes.
• Showed how to use MongoDB and Elasticsearch together with Mongoostastic
• Demonstrated the technique of slow shell code for MongoDB to do massive changes without blocking the database.

November - Ready to Redis

We still had another database to launch in 2014 and that database was Redis. Redis brings a high-performance in-memory database to the Compose line-up of MongoDB, Elasticsearch and RethinkDB. It was a busy month, not just for features...

• With HTTP and SSH access portals available for most Compose databases, we looked at how to choose which one to use.
• Elasticsearch
  • was moved out of beta.
  • got IP whitelisting and phonetic plugin support.
  • saw the Software Defined Networking that powers Elasticsearch deployments detailed.
  • and we published an article on a number of Elasticsearch tools and how to use them effectively with Compose.
• MongoDB released a release candidate for version 2.8 and we examined what was being delivered, what wasn't being delivered and how it would affect MongoDB users
• We congratulated the Meteor framework developers for reaching version 1.0 and offered a guide for using Meteor and Compose MongoDB.

We also got social and held a meetup at our HQ with RethinkDB and Meteor and we released our first ComposeCast podcast. And at the end of the month, we asked everyone at Compose what they were thankful for and rather than trimming a turkey, we trimmed our prices.

December - Onwards into the new year!

We didn't slow down in December either. So far this month, we've...

• announced Redis, RethinkDB and Elasticsearch availability in Europe.
• announced the open sourcing of the next generation of our Transporter technology.
• published a guide for Redis on Compose to get people up and running quickly.
• looked at the differences between RethinkDB and MongoDB

And there's more to come, but that'll have to go in a postscript to this round-up. It's been an exciting year at Compose and this is only the beginning for Compose, figuratively as well as literally.