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NoSQL Database

NoSQL is a type of database management system (DBMS) that is designed to

handle and store large volumes of unstructured and semi-structured data. Unlike
traditional relational databases that use tables with pre-defined schemas to store data,
NoSQL databases use flexible data models that can adapt to changes in data structures
and are capable of scaling horizontally to handle growing amounts of data.

The term NoSQL originally referred to “non-SQL” or “non-relational”

databases, but the term has since evolved to mean “not only SQL,” as NoSQL
databases have expanded to include a wide range of different database architectures
and data models.

NoSQL databases are generally classified into four main categories:

1. Document databases: These databases store data as semi-structured documents,

such as JSON or XML, and can be queried using document-oriented query
languages.
2. Key-value stores: These databases store data as key-value pairs, and are
optimized for simple and fast read/write operations.
3. Column-family stores: These databases store data as column families, which are
sets of columns that are treated as a single entity. They are optimized for fast and
efficient querying of large amounts of data.
4. Graph databases: These databases store data as nodes and edges, and are
designed to handle complex relationships between data.
NoSQL databases are often used in applications where there is a high volume of
data that needs to be processed and analyzed in real-time, such as social media
analytics, e-commerce, and gaming. They can also be used for other applications, such
as content management systems, document management, and customer relationship
management.

However, NoSQL databases may not be suitable for all applications, as they may
not provide the same level of data consistency and transactional guarantees as

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traditional relational databases. It is important to carefully evaluate the specific needs

of an application when choosing a database management system.

Key Features of NoSQL :

1. Dynamic schema: NoSQL databases do not have a fixed schema and can
accommodate changing data structures without the need for migrations or schema
alterations.
2. Horizontal scalability: NoSQL databases are designed to scale out by adding
more nodes to a database cluster, making them well-suited for handling large
amounts of data and high levels of traffic.
3. Document-based: Some NoSQL databases, such as MongoDB, use a document-
based data model, where data is stored in semi-structured format, such as JSON or
BSON.
4. Key-value-based: Other NoSQL databases, such as Redis, use a key-value data
model, where data is stored as a collection of key-value pairs.
5. Column-based: Some NoSQL databases, such as Cassandra, use a column-based
data model, where data is organized into columns instead of rows.
6. Distributed and high availability: NoSQL databases are often designed to be
highly available and to automatically handle node failures and data replication
across multiple nodes in a database cluster.
7. Flexibility: NoSQL databases allow developers to store and retrieve data in a
flexible and dynamic manner, with support for multiple data types and changing
data structures.
8. Performance: NoSQL databases are optimized for high performance and can
handle a high volume of reads and writes, making them suitable for big data and
real-time applications.
Advantages of NoSQL: There are many advantages of working with NoSQL
databases such as MongoDB and Cassandra. The main advantages are high scalability
and high availability.
1. High scalability : NoSQL databases use sharding for horizontal scaling.
Partitioning of data and placing it on multiple machines in such a way that the
order of the data is preserved is sharding. Vertical scaling means adding more
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resources to the existing machine whereas horizontal scaling means adding more
machines to handle the data. Vertical scaling is not that easy to implement but
horizontal scaling is easy to implement. Examples of horizontal scaling databases
are MongoDB, Cassandra, etc. NoSQL can handle a huge amount of data because
of scalability, as the data grows NoSQL scale itself to handle that data in an
efficient manner.
2. Flexibility: NoSQL databases are designed to handle unstructured or semi-
structured data, which means that they can accommodate dynamic changes to the
data model. This makes NoSQL databases a good fit for applications that need to
handle changing data requirements.
3. High availability : Auto replication feature in NoSQL databases makes it highly
available because in case of any failure data replicates itself to the previous
consistent state.
4. Scalability: NoSQL databases are highly scalable, which means that they can
handle large amounts of data and traffic with ease. This makes them a good fit for
applications that need to handle large amounts of data or traffic
5. Performance: NoSQL databases are designed to handle large amounts of data and
traffic, which means that they can offer improved performance compared to
traditional relational databases.
6. Cost-effectiveness: NoSQL databases are often more cost-effective than
traditional relational databases, as they are typically less complex and do not
require expensive hardware or software.
7. Agility: Ideal for agile development.

Disadvantages of NoSQL:
NoSQL has the following disadvantages.
1. Lack of standardization : There are many different types of NoSQL databases,
each with its own unique strengths and weaknesses. This lack of standardization
can make it difficult to choose the right database for a specific application
2. Lack of ACID compliance : NoSQL databases are not fully ACID-compliant,
which means that they do not guarantee the consistency, integrity, and durability

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of data. This can be a drawback for applications that require strong data
consistency guarantees.
3. Narrow focus : NoSQL databases have a very narrow focus as it is mainly
designed for storage but it provides very little functionality. Relational databases
are a better choice in the field of Transaction Management than NoSQL.
4. Open-source : NoSQL is open-source database. There is no reliable standard for
NoSQL yet. In other words, two database systems are likely to be unequal.
5. Lack of support for complex queries : NoSQL databases are not designed to
handle complex queries, which means that they are not a good fit for applications
that require complex data analysis or reporting.
6. Lack of maturity : NoSQL databases are relatively new and lack the maturity of
traditional relational databases. This can make them less reliable and less secure
than traditional databases.
7. Management challenge : The purpose of big data tools is to make the
management of a large amount of data as simple as possible. But it is not so easy.
Data management in NoSQL is much more complex than in a relational database.
NoSQL, in particular, has a reputation for being challenging to install and even
more hectic to manage on a daily basis.
8. GUI is not available : GUI mode tools to access the database are not flexibly
available in the market.
9. Backup : Backup is a great weak point for some NoSQL databases like MongoDB.
MongoDB has no approach for the backup of data in a consistent manner.
10. Large document size : Some database systems like MongoDB and CouchDB
store data in JSON format. This means that documents are quite large (BigData,
network bandwidth, speed), and having descriptive key names actually hurts since
they increase the document size.

Types of NoSQL database: Types of NoSQL databases and the name of the
databases system that falls in that category are:
1. Graph Databases: Examples – Amazon Neptune, Neo4j
2. Key value store: Examples – Memcached, Redis, Coherence
3. Tabular: Examples – Hbase, Big Table, Accumulo
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4. Document-based: Examples – MongoDB, CouchDB, Cloudant

When should NoSQL be used:

1. When a huge amount of data needs to be stored and retrieved.
2. The relationship between the data you store is not that important
3. The data changes over time and is not structured.
4. Support of Constraints and Joins is not required at the database level
5. The data is growing continuously and you need to scale the database regularly to
handle the data.

Key-Value (KV) Stores

This is the simplest type of NoSQL database. Under this type, the data is stored
in the form of key/value pairs. For each Key, there is a value assigned to it. Each Key
is unique and accepts only strings, whereas the value corresponding to the particular
Key can accept String, JSON, XML, etc. Owing to this behavior, it is capable of dealing
with massive loads of data.

Key Value Stores maintain data as pair consisting of an index key and a value.
KV stores query Values using the index Key. Every item in the database is stored in the
pairs of Keys (Indexes) and Values. KV stores resemble a relational database but with
each table having only two columns.Some KV stores may even allow basic joins to help
you scan through if there are composite joins, they may not be a suitable options.

There are multiple KV Stores available, each differing mainly in their adaption
of the CAP theorem and their configurations of memory v/s storage usage. KV stores
have fast query performance and are best suited for applications that require content
caching, e.g. a gaming website that constantly updates the top 10 scores & players.
NoSQL key value stores example

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Key-Value Pairs Database:

Features:

 Consistency
 Transactions
 Query Features
 Data Structure
 Scaling

Advantages:

 Simple Data model

 Scalable
 Value can include JSON, XML, flexible schemas
 Extremely Fast Owing to it’s simplicity
 Best fit for cases where data is not highly related

Disadvantages:

 No relationships, create your own foreign keys

 Not suitable for complex data
 Lacks Scanning Capabilities
 Not ideal for operations rather than CRUD (create, read, update Delete )

Key-Value Pairs Database: Use Case:

These kinds of databases are best suited for the following cases:

Storing session information: offers to save and restore sessions.

User preferences: Specific Data for a particular user

Shopping carts: easily handle the loss of storage nodes and quickly scale Big
data during a holiday/sale on an e-commerce application.

Product recommendations: offering recommendations based on the person’s

data. Popular KV Stores would include Dynamo DB, Redis, BerkleyDB.

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Document Stores

Document Stores are an extension of the simplicity of Key Value stores, where
the values are stored in structured documents like XML or JSON. Document stores
make it easy to map Objects in the object- oriented software.

A document database is schema free, you don’t have to define a schema

beforehand and adhere to it. It allows us to store complex data in document formats
(JSON, XML etc.). Document databases do not support relations. Each document in the
document store is independent and there is no relational integrity.

Document stores can be used for all use cases of a KV store database, but it also
has additional advantages like there is no limitation of querying just by the key but even
querying attributes within a document, also data in each document can be in a different
format. E.g. A product review website where zero or many users can review each
product and each review can be commented on by other users and can be liked or
disliked by zero to many users.

E.g, A product review website where zero or many users can review each
product, and each review can be commented on by other users and can be liked or
disliked by zero to many users.

Document Stores:
Features:

 Features of document databases

 Faster Querying
 A large amount of data can be easily handled owing to its structure
 Flexible Indexing

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Advantages:

– Simple & Powerful Data model

– Scalable

– Open Formats

– No foreign Keys

Disadvantages:

– Not suitable for relational data

– Querying limited to keys & indexes

– Map Reduce for more significant queries

Document Stores: Use Case:

User Profiles: Since they have a flexible Schema, the document can store
different attributes and values. This enables the users to store different types of
information.

Management of Content: Since it has a flexible schema, collection and storing

any data has been made possible. This allows the creation of new types of content,
including images, videos, comments, etc. Everyday use is seen in blogging platforms.

Some popular Document stores are MongoDB, CouchDB, Lotus Notes.

Column Family Data stores or Wide column data stores

Wide column data stores take a hybrid approach mixing the declarative
characteristics game of relational databases with the key-value pair based and totally
variables schema of key-value stores. Wide Column databases stores data tables as
sections of columns of data rather than as rows of data.

Columnar Family databases have their origins in Google’s Bigtable. According

to Google’s paper on Bigtable, “A Bigtable is a sparse, distributed, persistent
multidimensional sorted map.” This definition might leave you confused, just as I was,
it was all greek to my RDBMS oriented mind.
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Here is a more simplified explanation, a column family data store is a multi-

dimensional key value store (map or associative array) which is persistent (values
persist after creation or access), distributed (data is distributed across multiple
computing & storage nodes), sorted (sorted keys) and sparse (values for certain
dimensions may not be populated, similar to sparsely populated rows in RDBMS).

The multi-dimensional aspect of column stores brings in another concept of

column families.

Column-family databases store data in column families as rows that have many
columns associated with a row key. Column families are groups of related data that is
often accessed together.

There are two types of column families:

Standard Column family: Standard Column family consists of a key-value pair,

where the key is mapped to a value that is a set of columns. In analogy with relational
databases, a standard column family is as a “table”, each key-value pair being a “row”.

Super Column family: Super Column family consists of a key-value pair, where
the key is mapped to a value that are column families. In analogy with relational
databases, a super column family is something like a “view” on a number of tables. It
can also be seen as a map of tables.

Column Oriented Database:

Features:

 Features of Wide column stores:

 Multidimensional key store
 Persistent in nature
 Distributed
 High flexibility
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Advantages:

 Supports semi-structured data

 Naturally indexed
 Scalable

Disadvnatges:

 Not suitable for relational data

Column Based Databases: Use Case:

User Preferences

Business Intelligence

Managing data warehouses

Reporting Systems

Some of the popular Wide column data stores include Google’s Bigtable,
Cassandra, HBase.

Note, wide column data stores are not to be confused with column-oriented
databases, I’ll may be cover this in a separate post.

Graph Databases

Graph Databases specific purpose is the storage of graph-oriented data

structures. A graph database is any storage system that provides index-free adjacency.
This means that every node contains a direct pointer to its adjacent element and no index
lookups are necessary. As the number of nodes increases, the cost of a hop remains the
same.

Graph databases are optimized for traversing through connected data, e.g.
traversing through a list of contacts on your social network to find out the degree of
connections.

Graph databases usually come with a flexible data model, which means there is
no need to define the types of edges and vertices.

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Graph Databases:

Features:

 Features of graph databases

 Flexibility
 Agility
 Improved performance, even with huge volumes of data.
Advantages:

 Extremely powerful
 Connected data is locally indexed
 Can provide ACID
 Results in real-time
 Agile Structure
Disadvantages:

 Difficult to scale out, though can scale up

Graph Databases: Use Case:

Typical use cases for graph databases would include

Social networking site

Recommendation engine

Logistics

Risk assessment

Fraud detection

Some of the popular graph databases are Neo4j, OrientDB, Allegrograph.

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