The Trouble with NoSQL Databases

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The Trouble with NoSQL Databases
Iran Hutchinson
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Coordinates

• I work for InterSystems who drives the new
  http//globalsdb.org NoSQL project.
• Email iran.hutchinson_at_intersystems.com
• Twitter iranic
• Skype chatwithiran

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The Trouble

• NoSQL Databases
• Understanding what they are
• Understanding how to leverage their strengths
• Understanding their weaknesses
• Staying away from hype and religious wars
• Fighting your developer demon

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Who is this Guy?

• Edgar Frank Ted Codd
• Known for 12 Rules (0 12) for Relational Data
  Systems

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NoSQL Breaking the Rules

• Rule 1 The information Rule
• All information is represented in 1 and only 1
  way, namely by values in column positions within
  rows of tables
• Rule 12 The no subversion Rule
• If the system provides a low-level
  (record-at-a-time) interface, then that interface
  cannot be used to subvert the system i.e.
  relational security or integrity constraints.

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NoSQL Advantages

• Simple APIs
• Java Example Document.save(myObject)
• Seamless language integration
• No impedance mismatch
• Designed to be horizontally scalable (elastic)
• Flexible data model
• Majority free and/or Open Source
• Free and Commercial production support

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RDBMS Advantages

• Proven
• Available talent / Well-known
• AD-Hoc querying
• Scalable (limits?)
• Free and Commercial production support

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Troubles with RDBMS

• Interface for data access
• Limited horizontal scalability?
• Impedance mismatches
• Programming model
• In-flexible data model

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Troubles with RDBMS

• Does not include the underlying data structure.
• B-tree and B-trees can be fast and efficient
• The relational model SQL can limit B-trees

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What is NoSQL?

• Class of data management systems inherently
• Non-relational
• Distributed
• Horizontally scalable
• With optional schemas
• Providing simple APIs
• Term Not-Only-SQL recently embraced
• Dave Kellogs Blog Post

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Why NoSQL?

• No to ACID
• No to the impedance mismatch with SQL
• Dealing with Big Data and Web Scale
• High prices from RDBMS vendors
• Use commodity hardware
• Flexible data models
• Its a cool movement .

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Is NoSQL a new Concept?

• No
• Remember MUMPS?
• SET Car("Door","Color")"BLUE
• Remember Multi-value/PICK
• MATWRITE array.variable ON file.variable,id. .
• Ever heard of the NoSQL RDB?

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NoSQL Trouble Which Model to Use?
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NoSQL Trouble Which Model to Use

• This depends on your use case.
• Example
• http//www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/UseCases
• Compare your problems to others.
• Example
• http//wiki.apache.org/hadoop/PoweredBy

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NoSQL Trouble Which project?

• http//nosql-database.org/ lists 122 today.
• Depends on your model selection.
• Most likely choose well-known project.
• Dont forget about shared risk!

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NoSQL Trouble Querying

• Some solutions have no querying
• When available query languages differ
• Lack of general AD-Hoc querying no SQL
• NOTE Toad for Cloud

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NoSQL Trouble Portability

• Skills
• Data Model
• Data format
• Tools
• Standards?

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NoSQL Trouble Maturity

• Some databases are not as proven
• Incomplete NoSQL solutions
• You write a larger data management tier
• You maintain your business code and
  infrastructure code
• You have to customize management and deployment
  technology and procedures

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NoSQL How to Succeed?

• Know your application
• Dont forget the past lessons
• Consider a hybrid approach
• Fight the desire to Roll-Your-Own-DB
• Start small but significant

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NoSQL Hybrid Approach 1

• Two Systems
• NoSQL SQL/RDBMS
• Updates
• Real-time
• Asynchronous or Batch

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NoSQL Hybrid Approach 2

• One system does both NoSQL and SQL

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Caché Hybrid Approach 2

• InterSystems Caché supports SQL and NoSQL
• Production NoSQL for 20 years
• APIs for .NET, Java, Perl, Python, etc.
• Expanding paradigms for more use cases.
• Comes the closest to approach 2

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GlobalsDB NoSQL Building Block

• Core of InterSystems Caché
• Free for development and production
• Simple APIs Java and JavaScript
• http//globalsdb.org
• Sponsored by InterSystems

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A look to the future

• Over time I think we will see
• NoSQL features in mainstream databases
• NoSQL offerings by more commercial companies
• Dominant open source / free NoSQL projects
• New definitions of enterprise databases

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NoSQL Contenders Open Source

• Hadoop/Hbase
• Cassandra
• MongoDB
• CouchDB
• Riak
• Couchbase
• Neo4J

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NoSQL Contenders Commerical

• InterSystems Caché
• SimpleDB
• Azure Table Storage
• Google App Engine Data Storage
• Mark Logic Server
• Infinite Graph
• Riak (has open source version)
• Berkely DB