INTRODUCTION TO NOSQL
What is NoSQL?
NoSQL (commonly known as "Not Just SQL") represents a completely different
database framework that can achieve high-performance and agile processing of
large-scale information.
In other words, it is a database infrastructure, very suitable for the huge needs of big
data.
The efficiency of NoSQL can be achieved because, unlike highly structured relational
databases, NoSQL databases are inherently unstructured, which makes up for the
strict consistency requirements for speed and agility.
NoSQL focuses on the concept of distributed databases, where unstructured data
can be stored on multiple processing nodes, and usually on multiple servers.
This distributed architecture allows NoSQL databases to scale horizontally; as the
data continues to grow, just add more hardware to keep up without reducing
performance.
NoSQL Distributed Database Infrastructure has always been a solution for handling
some of the largest data warehouses on the planet, such as Google, Amazon, and the
Central Intelligence Agency.
Where is NoSQL used?
NoSQL databases are widely used in big data and other real-time web applications.
NoSQL databases is used to stock log data which can then be pulled for analysis.
Likewise, it is used to store social media data and all such data which cannot be
stored and analyzed comfortably in RDBMS.
Features and advantages of NoSQL
Few features of NoSQL databases are as follows:
1. They are open source.
2. They are non-relational.
3. They are distributed.
4. They are schema-less.
5. They are cluster friendly.
6. They are born out of 21st century web applications.
NoSQL databases provide various important advantages over traditional relational
databases.
A few core features of NoSQL are listed here, which apply to most NoSQL databases.
Log Analysis
Where to used NoSQL? Social Networking Feeds
Time based data
Non-relational data storage
systems
No fixed table schema
NoSQL No joins
No multi-document transactions
Relaxes one or more ACID properties
Advantages of NoSQL Database
Schema Agnostic
NoSQL databases are schema agnostic.
Easy to designing your schema before you can store data in NoSQL databases.
You can start coding, and store and retrieve data without knowing how the
database stores and works internally.
Schema agnosticism may be the most significant difference between NoSQL
and relational databases.
Scalability
NoSQL databases support horizontal scaling methodology that makes it easy
to add or reduce capacity quickly without tinkering with commodity
hardware.
This eliminates the tremendous cost and complexity of manual sharing that is
necessary when attempting to scale RDBMS.
Performance
Some databases are designed to operate best (or only) with specialized
storage and processing hardware.
With a NoSQL database, you can increase performance by simply adding
cheaper servers, called commodity servers.
This helps organizations to continue to deliver reliably fast user experiences
with a predictable return on investment for adding resources again, without
the overhead associated with manual sharing.
High Availability
NoSQL databases are generally designed to ensure high availability and avoid
the complexity that comes with a typical RDBMS architecture, which relies on
primary and secondary nodes.
Some ‘distributed’ NoSQL databases use a masterless architecture that
automatically distributes data equally among multiple resources so that the
application remains available for both read and write operations, even when
one node fails.
Using NoSQL to Manage Big Data
The main reason behind organization moving towards a NoSQL solution and leaving
the RDBMS system behind is the requirement to analyze a large volume of data.
It is any business problem which could be so large and single processor cannot
manage it.
We need to move single processor environment to distributed computing
environment due to big data problem.
It has own problems and challenges while solving big data problems.
Big Data Use-case
Typical big data use-cases:
1. Bulk Image Processing
2. Public Web Page Data
3. Remote Sensor Data
4. Event Log Data
5. Mobile Phone Data
6. Social Media Data
7. Game Data
Bigdata Use-case Solutions
Scaling linearly with growing data size by becoming an efficient with input and
output.
Organizations not able to afford to hire many people to run the server, so becoming
operationally efficient.
Not every business can afford a full time java developer to write on demand queries,
so its require that reports and analysis be performed by nonprogrammers using
simple tools.
Meeting the challenges of distributed computing, with consideration of latency
between systems and eventual node failures.
Meeting both the need of overnight batch processing economy of scale and time
critical event processing.
SQL Vs. NoSQL
SQL NoSQL
Relational database Non-relational, distributed database
Relational model Model-less approach
Pre-defned schema Dynamic schema for unstructured data
Table based databases Document-based or graph-based or wide column
store or key–value pairs databases
Vertically scalable (by increasing Horizontally scalable (by creating a cluster of
system resources) commodity machines)
Uses SQL Uses UnQL (Unstructured Query Language)
Not preferred for large datasets Largely preferred for large datasets
Not a best ft for hierarchical data Best ft for hierarchical storage as it follows the key–
value pair of storing data similar to JSON (Java Script
Object Notation)
Excellent support from vendors Relies heavily on community support
Supports complex querying and Does not have good support for complex querying
data keeping needs
Can be confgured for strong Few support strong consistency (e.g., MongoDB),
consistency some others can be confgured for eventual
consistency (e.g., Cassandra)
Examples: Oracle, DB2, MySQL, MS Examples: MongoDB, HBase, Cassandra, Redis,
SQL, PostgreSQL, etc. Neo4j, CouchDB, Couchbase, Riak, etc.
