Can/should I run my web site against a SQLite database?

Question

I'm about to build a new personal blog/portfolio site (which will be written in ASP.NET), and I'm going to run it against a SQLite database. There are a few reasons for this:

1. The site will not be getting a lot of traffic, and from what I've read, SQLite is able to support quite a lot of concurrent users for reading anyway
2. I can back up all the content easily, just by downloading the db over FTP
3. I don't have to pay my hosting company every month for a huge SQL2008 database that I'm hardly using

So, should I go for it, or is this a crazy idea?

Answer 1

I'm not so sure about #2 (what happens if SQLite makes changes to the file while the FTP program is reading it?) but other than that, there is no reason to prefer one DB over the other (unless one of those DBs just can't do what you need).

[EDIT] Use an online backup to create the file for FTP download. That will make sure the file content is intact.

Even better, add a page (with password) to your site which creates the file at the press of a button, so your browser can download it.

Answer 2

It's just fine for a low traffic site as long as it's mostly read traffic. If it were me, I'd use SQL Compact Edition instead (same benefits as Sqlite- single file, no server), just because I'm a LINQ-head and the LINQ providers are "in the box" for it, but Sqlite has a decent LINQ library and managed support as well. Make sure your hosting company allows unmanaged code, or that you use the managed port of Sqlite (don't know its current stability though).