algorithms

Article
An Introduction of NoSQL Databases Based on Their
Categories and Application Industries †
Jeang-Kuo Chen * and Wei-Zhe Lee
Department of Information Management, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung 41349, Taiwan;
[email protected]
* Correspondence: [email protected]
† This Paper is an Extended Version of the Conference Paper (ID: 1070) in Taichung, Taiwan,
6–8 December 2018, IS3C2018.




Received: 31 January 2019; Accepted: 9 May 2019; Published: 16 May 2019


Abstract: The popularization of big data makes the enterprise need to store more and more data.
The data in the enterprise’s database must be accessed as fast as possible, but the Relational Database
(RDB) has the speed limitation due to the join operation. Many enterprises have changed to use
a NoSQL database, which can meet the requirement of fast data access. However, there are more
than hundreds of NoSQL databases. It is important to select a suitable NoSQL database for a certain
enterprise because this decision will affect the performance of the enterprise operations. In this paper,
fifteen categories of NoSQL databases will be introduced to find out the characteristics of every
category. Some principles and examples are proposed to choose an appropriate NoSQL database for
different industries.

Keywords: big data; NoSQL database; RDB; HBase; MongoDB; Neo4j

1. Introduction
The Relational Database (RDB) was developed from the 1970s to present. Through a powerful
Relational Database Management System (RDBMS), RDB is easy to use and maintain, and becomes
a widely used kind of database [1]. Due to the popularization of big data acquisition technologies
and applications, enterprises need to store more data than ever before. The enterprise’s database is
desired to be accessed as fast as possible. To obtain complex information from multiple relations, RDB
sometimes needs to perform SQL join operations to merge two or more relations at the same time, which
can lead to performance bottlenecks. Besides, except the relational data storage format, other data
storage formats have been proposed in many applications, such as key-value pairs, document-oriented,
time series, etc. As a result, more and more enterprises have decided to use NoSQL databases to store
big data [2–4].
However, there are more than 225 NoSQL databases [2]. How to choose an appropriate NoSQL
database for a specific enterprise is very important because the change of database may affect the
enterprise performance of the business operations. This paper introduces basic concepts, compares
the data formats and features, and lists some actual products for every category of NoSQL databases.
In addition, this paper also proposes principles and key points for different types of enterprises to
choose an appropriate NoSQL database to solve the business problems and challenges.

2. Related Work

2.1. Relational Database Model (RDM)

Developed by E.F. Codd in the 1970s, the elements of RDM [1] contain data structure, integrity
constraints, and so on. The details are described as follows. An RDB is a collection of relations, which

Algorithms 2019, 12, 106; doi:10.3390/a12050106 www.mdpi.com/journal/algorithms

Algorithms 2019, 12, 106 2 of 17

are the data structures of RDM. A relation is a two-dimensional, normalized table to organize data.
Each relation consists of two parts, relation schema and relation instances, where relation schema
includes the name of the relation, the names of the attributes in the relation and their domains; relation
instances refer to the data records stored in the relation at a specific time. Table 1 shows an example of
a relation as follows:

1. The name of this relation is Students;

2. The names of the attributes in this relation are SID, name, telephone, and birthday, respectively;
3. The domain of each attribute is a collection of acceptable data values for the attribute, for example,
the acceptable data value of attribute birthday is date;
4. There are five data records in this relation.

Table 1. An example of a relation.

Table Name: Students

Birthday: Date
SID: Char(5) Name: Char(10) Telephone: Char(11)
(dd/mm/yy)
S0001 Alice 05-65976597 10/4/1994
S0002 Dora 06-45714571 15/5/1995
S0003 Ella 07-57865869 20/6/1996
S0004 Kevin 06-57995611 22/7/1997
S0005 Leo 05-12899821 26/8/1998

As part of an RDB design, integrity constraints are used to check the correctness of the data input
into the database. Integrity constraints not only prevent authorized users from storing illegal data into
the database but also avoid data inconsistency between relations. There are four common kinds of
integrity constraints described as follows:

1. Key constraint: A relation must have a unique and minimal primary key;
2. Domain constraint: An attribute value of a relation must be an atomic one belonging to the
corresponding domain of the attribute;
3. Entity integrity constraint: Some principles for a primary key;
4. Referential integrity constraint: Some principles for a foreign key.

2.2. Entity-Relationship Model (ER-Model)

As a tool for database analysis and design, the entity-relationship model (ER-model) [1] uses the
geometries of entities, relationships, and attributes to show the blueprint of a conceptual database.
An entity is an object recognized from the real world such as people, event, product, supplier, and so
on, while a relationship refers to the relationship between two or more entities. An attribute is used to
represent a feature of an entity or a relationship. A database design diagram drawn with the ER-Model
is called the entity-relationship diagram (ERD). The common geometries of the ER-Model elements are
shown in Table 2.
 the geometries
the geometries of of entities,
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relationships, and
and attributes
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show the
the blueprint
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database. An entity is an object recognized from the real world such as people, event, product, event, product,
supplier, and
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attribute is used to represent a feature of an entity or a relationship. A database design diagramdesign diagram
drawn 2019,
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entity-relationship diagram
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The common
common geometries
geometries
3 of 17
of the ER-Model elements are shown
of the ER-Model elements are shown in Table 2.in Table 2.

Table 2.
Table The
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Table 2. common geometries of ER-model.
ER-Model Elements
ER-Model Elements Symbols
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Entity
EntityEntity

Weak
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Entity Entity

Relationship-Entity
Relationship-Entity
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REVIEW(Bridge
Algorithms 2019, 12, x FOR PEER (Bridge
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Multivalued Attribute
Multivalued Attribute
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Multivalued Attribute
An ERD example is shown Multivaluedin Figure 1. This is an ERD of a simple school database with four
Attribute
An ERD example is shown in Figure 1. This is an ERD of a simple school database with four
An ERD
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Figure 1. An entity-relationship diagram (ERD) example.
Figure 1. An entity-relationship diagram (ERD) example.
Figure 1. An entity-relationship diagram (ERD) example.
Figure 1.1. An entity-relationship
entity-relationship diagram (ERD)
diagram example.
2.3. Big Data
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2.3. Data Figure 1. An entity-relationship diagram (ERD) example.
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Algorithms 2019, 12, 106 4 of 17

This data needs to be stored in a large parallel system with tens or hundreds of machines, while the
NoSQL database system just has these features, suitable for storing big data and can quickly access
data for various application processing. Big data can apply to all areas of daily life (such as social
networking, e-commerce, etc.) and scientific research (such as astronomical meteorology, clinical
medicine, etc.), and the continued growth of data has forced people to reconsider the storage and
management of data [3,4].
The features of big data (i.e., 4V) are described as follows [3].

1. Volume: It refers to the large-scale growth of data volume faced by enterprises.

2. Variety: It refers to the type of data including a variety of texts, videos, pictures, geographic
locations, and information generated by sensors.
3. Value: It refers to the commercial value of the data after analysis. In the case of video, for example,
one-hour of video, in continuous monitoring, the information that may be useful is only one or
two seconds. Therefore, how to refine the value of data more quickly through powerful machine
learning algorithms is an important issue of big data.
4. Velocity: It refers to that enterprises not only need to know how to quickly collect data, but
also must know how to process, analyze, and pass back the results to users to meet their
immediate needs.

2.4. NoSQL Databases

The definition of NoSQL can be found on the official website [2] as follows. NoSQL databases are
next generation databases mostly addressing some of the points: Being non-relational, distributed,
open-source, and horizontally scalable [2]. The original intention of NoSQL development is to become
modern web-scale databases. The development began early 2009 and is growing rapidly. Often more
characteristics apply to NoSQL databases such as: Schema-free, easy replication support, simple API,
eventually consistent/BASE (basically available, soft-state, eventual consistency [3]), a huge amount of
data and more. In addition, the misleading term “NoSQL” can also be explained as “Not Only SQL”
that means if RDB is suitable to use then use it while if RDB is unsuitable to use then use alternatives [3].
The features of NoSQL databases are described as follows [1–5].

1. Non-relational: NoSQL databases do not use relational database model, neither does support
SQL join operations. In addition, unlike RDBs to obtain advanced data through join operations,
NoSQL databases do not support join operations, the related data needs to be stored together to
improve the speed of data access.
2. Distributed: Data in NoSQL databases is usually stored in different servers and the locations of
the stored data are managed by metadata.
3. Open-source: Unlike most RDBs that require a fee to purchase, most NoSQL databases are open
source and free to download.
4. Horizontally scalable: Increase or decrease multiple normal servers to meet the data processing
capacity of NoSQL database.
5. Schema-free: Unlike RDBs need to define database schema before inserting data, NoSQL databases
do not need to do this. Therefore, NoSQL databases can flexibly add data.
6. Easy replication support: NoSQL databases mostly support master-slave replication or
peer-to-peer replication, making it easier for NoSQL databases to ensure high availability.
7. Simple API: The NoSQL database provides APIs for network delivery, data collection, etc. for
programmers to use, so that programmers do not need to design additional programs to make
writing programs easier.
8. BASE is an abbreviation for “basically available, soft-state, and eventual consistency,” and the
meanings are described as follows.
Algorithms 2019, 12, 106 5 of 17

(1) Basically available: The DB system can execute and always provide services. Some parts
of the DB system may have partial failures and the rest of the DB system can continue
to operate. Some NoSQL DBs typically keep several copies of specific data on different
servers, which allows the DB system to respond to all queries even if few of the servers fail.
(2) Soft-state: The DB system does not require a state of strong consistency. Strong consistency
means that no matter which replication of a certain data is updated, all later reading
operations of the data must be able to obtain the latest information.
(3) Eventual consistency: The DB system needs to meet the consistency requirement after
a certain time. Sometimes the DB may be in an inconsistent state. For example, some
NoSQL DBs keep multiple copies of certain data on multiple servers. However, these
copies may be inconsistent in a short time, which may happen when a copy of the data is
updated while the other copies continue to have data from the old version. Eventually, the
replication mechanism in the NoSQL DB system will update all replicas to be consistent.

According to the statistics of the NoSQL database official website [2], the current number of
NoSQL databases has more than 225. Moreover, some NoSQL databases are widely used in many
famous enterprises such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, Taobao, Amazon, and so on [3].

2.5. The Survey Papers of NoSQL Databases

There are several survey papers discussing NoSQL databases related technologies, features and
examples, as well as several factors that affect the applicability of NoSQL databases. The focuses of
these papers are described as follows.

(1) Hecht and Jablonski [6] evaluated the relevant technologies of some of the four common NoSQL
database categories (i.e., key value store, document Store, wide column store, and graph databases)
to assist users in selecting an appropriate NoSQL database. Related technologies include data
models, queries, concurrency controls, partitions, and replication.
(2) Lourenço et al. [7] compared several quality attributes for several NoSQL databases. The evaluated
NoSQL databases contain Aerospike, Cassandra, Couchbase, CouchDB, HBase, MongoDB,
and Voldemort, while the quality attributes include availability, consistency, durability,
maintainability, read and write performance, recovery time, reliability, robustness, scalability, and
stabilization time.
(3) Corbellini et al. [8] reviewed the basic concepts of four common categories of NoSQL databases and
compared some databases for each category. In addition, this paper also discussed how to select
an appropriate NoSQL database from existing databases. The decision-making factors include
data analysis, hardware scalability (horizontally scalable and BASE [3,4]), flexibility schema, fast
deployment of servers (replication and sharding configuration), distributed technology, etc.
(4) Khazaei et al. [9] illustrated the basic concepts of four popular NoSQL database models and
evaluated some databases for each model. In this paper, the authors discussed several factors
to be considered in order to select an appropriate NoSQL database, such as data model, access
patterns, queries, non-functional requirements (including data access performance, replication,
partition, horizontally scalable, BASE [3,4], software development and maintenance, etc.).
(5) Gessert et al. [10] linked functional requirements, non-functional requirements in the NoSQL
database to the used technologies, and provided decision trees to assist users in selecting the
appropriate NoSQL database, where:

(a) Functional requirements include sorting, full-text search, and so on;

(b) Non-functional requirements include data scalability, elasticity, and so on;
(c) Used technologies include sharding, replication, storage management, and
query processing;
Algorithms 2019, 12, 106 6 of 17

(d) Evaluated NoSQL databases contain MongoDB, Redis, HBase, Riak, and Cassandra.
(6) Davoudian et al. [11] clarified four factors for deciding a suitable NoSQL database, such as
data model, consistency model, data partitioning, and CAP theorem, and further explained
the available strategies, features, advantages, and disadvantages for them. This is helpful for
selecting an appropriate NoSQL database.

3. The Categories of NoSQL Databases

According to the classification of the NoSQL database official website [2], there are 15 categories
of NoSQL databases such as wide column store, document store, key value store, graph databases, and
so on, which are based on different data models. This section will explain the basic concepts of each
category of the NoSQL database and analyze the characteristics of the data that each category of the
NoSQL database is suitable for processing.

3.1. Wide Column Store

This category of NoSQL databases has a complex table schema described as follows [5,12–14].

1. A row key is an identification that has a unique value used to identify a specific record, similar to
the primary key of a relation in RDB.
2. A timestamp (abbreviated as ts) is an integer used to identify a specific version of a data value.
3. At least one column family that has the format of “Family: Qualifier = Value,” where “Family” is
the name of a column family, “Qualifier” is the name of a column qualifier, and “Value” is a real
value of a column qualifier stored in text.
4. The name of a column family need to be defined when the table is created, but the name of a
column qualifier does not.
5. Users can find the actual data value through the value of a specific row key, the name of a specific
column family, the name of a specific column qualifier, and the value of a specific timestamp.

An example is illustrated as follows. An inventory table of 3C products in a wide column store

database is shown in Table 3, where:

1. Products_Inventory is the name of the inventory table, which contains two column families,
products, and inventory, and has three records with the product codes P001, P002, and P003 as
the values of three row keys, respectively;
2. An increasing integer ti (i = 1, 2, . . . , 18) is the value of timestamp for each column qualifier when
a data value of a column qualifier is inserted into the table;
3. Column family products includes four column qualifiers: Classes, title, descriptions, price, and
their data values, for example, are “TV”, “SONY 55 inch 4K OLED Smart Networked TV”, “TBD”,
and “24999”, respectively;
4. Column family inventory includes two column qualifiers: Quantity, place, and their data values,
for example, are “10” and “1A”, respectively.
Algorithms 2019, 12, 106 7 of 17

Table 3. An example of a data table in wide column store.

Table Name: Products_Inventory

Row Key ts Column Family Products Column Family Inventory
t1 Products: Classes = “TV”
Products: Title = “SONY 55 inch 4K OLED Smart
t2
Networked TV”
P001 t3 Products: Descriptions = “TBD”
t4 Products: Price = “24999”
t5 Inventory: Quantity = “10”
t6 Inventory: Place = “1A”
t7 Products: Classes = “Laptop”
t8 Products: Title = “ACER SF514 14-inch laptop”
t9 Products: Descriptions = “TBD”
P002
t10 Products: Price = “31000”
t11 Inventory: Quantity = “20”
t12 Inventory: Place = “2A”
t13 Products: Classes = “Mobile phone”
t14 Products: Title = “ZenFone 5Z”
t15 Products: Descriptions = “TBD”
P003
t16 Products: Price = “5000”
t17 Inventory: Quantity = “8”
t18 Inventory: Place = “2B”

According to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking website [15], Apache Cassandra and Apache
HBase are the more widely discussed ones of the wide column store databases.

3.2. Document Store

The terms related to the database model of the document store are described below [5].

• A collection is a group of documents. The documents within a collection are usually related to the
same subject, such as employees, products, and so on.
• A document is a set of ordered key-value pairs, where key is a string used to reference a particular
value, and value can be either a string or a document.
• JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), BSON (Binary JSON), and XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
are formats commonly used to define documents.
• Embedded documents are documents within documents. An embedded document enables users
to store related data in a single document to improve database performance.
• Document store databases do not require users to formally specify the structure of documents
prior to adding documents to a collection. Therefore, document databases are called schemaless
ones. Application programs should verify rules about the structure of a document.

An example of a collection in a document store database is shown in Figure 2. As a JSON

file format, this document stores school curriculum data. There are three courses, “Accounting”,
“Economics”, and “Computer Science”, in this file. Each course contains four fields, c_no, title, credits,
and instructor.
 prior to adding documents to a collection. Therefore, document databases are called schemaless
ones. Application programs should verify rules about the structure of a document.
An example of a collection in a document store database is shown in Figure 2. As a JSON file
format, this document stores school curriculum data. There are three courses, “Accounting”,
“Economics”,
Algorithms 2019, 12,and
106 “Computer Science”, in this file. Each course contains four fields, c_no, 8title,
of 17
credits, and instructor.

{
{
"c_no": "C001",
"title": "Accounting",
"credits": 3,
"instructor": "Zoe"
},
{
"c_no": "C002",
"title": "Economics",
"credits": 3,
"instructor": "Wendy"
},
{
"c_no": "C003",
"title": "Computer Science",
"credits": 3,
"instructor": "Cathy"
}
}

Figure 2. An example of a collection in a document store database.

According
According totothe
thestatistics of the
statistics of DB-Engines Ranking
the DB-Engines WebsiteWebsite
Ranking [15], the MongoDB and Couchbase
[15], the MongoDB and
Server are the
Couchbase moreare
Server widely discussed
the more widelyones of the document
discussed ones of thestore databases.
document store databases.

3.3. Key Value

3.3. Key Value Store
Store
The
The data
datain inthis
thiscategory
categoryofof
NoSQL
NoSQL databases is stored
databases withwith
is stored the format of “Key
the format → Value”
of “Key [5], where
→ Value” [5],
where
1. Key is a string used to identify a unique value;
1. Key
2. is is
Value a string used
an object to identify
whose a unique
value can value;string, numeric value, or a complex BLOB (binary
be a simple
2. Value is an object whose value can be
large object), JSON object, image, audio, and a simple
so on;string, numeric value, or a complex BLOB
3. (binary large store
In key value object), JSON object,
databases, image,on
operations audio,
values and
aresoderived
on; from keys. Users can retrieve, set,
and delete a value by a key;
4. A namespace is a logical data structure that can contain any number of key-value pairs.

Suppose that an online shopping website uses a key value store database to store data as shown in
Figure 3. This database includes several namespaces, such as “products” and “customers” [5], where

1. The key in the namespace “Products” is the ID of products, and the value is the details
about products;
2. The key in the namespace “Customers” is the ID of customers, and the value is the details
about customers.
 shown in Figure 3. This database includes several namespaces, such as “products” and “customers”
[5], where
1. The key in the namespace “Products” is the ID of products, and the value is the details about
products;
2. The
Algorithms key
2019, 12, in
106the namespace “Customers” is the ID of customers, and the value is the details about
9 of 17
customers.

Products Customers
Key Value Key Value
{ {
"classes": "TV", "username": "Jack",
"title": "LG 55 inch 4K LED TV", "telephone": "0939-619997",
P001 C001
"price": 32000 "rank": "Normal"
} }

{ {
"classes": "Laptop", "username": "Cindy",
"title": "ASUS FX503VD i7 gaming laptop", "telephone": "0939-519973",
P002 C002
"price": 36000 "rank": "Platinum"
} }

Figure
Figure 3. An
3. An example
example of of
twotwo namespaces
namespaces in ainkey
a key value
value store
store database.
database.

According to to
According thethe
statistics of of
statistics thethe
DB-Engines
DB-EnginesRanking
RankingWebsite [15],
Website both
[15], Redis
both and
Redis DynamoDB
and DynamoDB
areare
thethe
more widely
more widelydiscussed
discussedones of the
ones keykey
of the value store
value databases.
store databases.

3.4.3.4.
Graph Databases
Graph Databases
The graph
The database
graph model
database (GDM)
model is composed
(GDM) of vertices
is composed and
of vertices edges
and [5],[5],
edges where
where

1. 1. A A vertex
vertex is is
anan entity
entity instance,
instance, which
which is is equivalent
equivalent to to a tuple
a tuple in in RDM;
RDM;
2. 2. AnAn edge
edge is is used
used toto define
define thethe relationship
relationship between
between vertices;
vertices;
3. 3. Each vertex and edge contains any number of attributes
Each vertex and edge contains any number of attributes that that store
store thethe actual
actual data
data value.
value.
An Oceania airline is illustrated as an example. The airline needs to store flight hours among
An Oceania airline is illustrated as an example. The airline needs to store flight hours among some
some cities. The data can be stored in a graph database as shown in Figure 4. In this graph database,
cities. The data can be stored in a graph database as shown in Figure 4. In this graph database, each
each vertex contains some data such as nation, city, and A2C_time (time from an airport to a city
vertex contains12,some
Algorithms
data such as nation, city, and A2C_time (time from an airport to a city center),
center),2019,
and each x FOR PEER
edge REVIEW the flight duration between two cities [5].
represents 9 of 16
and each edge represents the flight duration between two cities [5].

Nation: United States

City: Hawaii
A2C_time: 25 min.

Duration: 13 hr. Duration: 12 hr.

Nation: Australia Nation: New Zealand

Duration: 3 hr.
City: Sydney City: Auckland
A2C_time: 30 min. P A2C_time: 45 min.

Figure 4. An example of data stored in a graph database.

Figure 4.of
According to the statistics Anthe
example of data
DB-Engines stored in
Ranking a graph
website database.
[15], Neo4J and FlockDB are the
more widely discussed ones of the graph databases.
According to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking website [15], Neo4J and FlockDB are the
more
3.5. widely discussed
Multimodel Databasesones of the graph databases.
The data format of this category of NoSQL databases contains more than two data formats of
3.5. Multimodel Databases
the other categories of NoSQL databases [16]. According to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking
The data format of this category of NoSQL databases contains more than two data formats of
the other categories of NoSQL databases [16]. According to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking
website [15], OrientDB and ArangoDB are more widely discussed ones of multimodel databases.
OrientDB contains the data formats of object database, document store, graph database, and key
value store; while ArangoDB contains the data formats of document store, graph database, and key
value store [2].
 According to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking website [15], Neo4J and FlockDB are the
more widely discussed ones of the graph databases.

3.5. Multimodel Databases

Algorithms 2019, 12, 106 10 of 17
The data format of this category of NoSQL databases contains more than two data formats of
the other categories of NoSQL databases [16]. According to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking
website [15], OrientDB and ArangoDB are more widely discussed ones of multimodel multimodel databases.
databases.
OrientDB contains
contains the data formats of object database, document store, graph database,key
the data formats of object database, document store, graph database, and andvalue
key
store;
value while ArangoDB
store; while contains
ArangoDB the data
contains theformats of document
data formats store, store,
of document graphgraph
database, and key
database, andvalue
key
store
value[2].
store [2].

3.6. Object Databases

3.6. Object Databases
This
This category
category ofof NoSQL
NoSQL databases
databases combines
combines the the functions
functions ofof object-oriented
object-oriented programming
programming
languages and traditional databases [1]. A web-based application
languages and traditional databases [1]. A web-based application system, which system, which provides
provides users
users toto
order lunch boxes,
order lunch boxes, isisillustrated
illustratedasasananexample.
example.The The data
data in in
thethe object
object databases
databases are are described
described in
in the
the
formform
of aofclass
a class diagram
diagram as as shown
shown in in Figure5 5[17].
Figure [17].InInFigure
Figure5,5,each
eachrectangle
rectangle isis an
an object
object that
that
includes both data items and data processing functions. For example, the object
includes both data items and data processing functions. For example, the object Customers has Customers has four
four
data
data items
items(account,
(account, password,
password,telephone, and e-mail)
telephone, and twoand
and e-mail) datatwo
processing functions (readData()
data processing functions
and writeData()). According to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking website
(readData() and writeData()). According to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking website [15], db4o and Versant
[15],
are the more widely discussed ones of the object databases.
db4o and Versant are the more widely discussed ones of the object databases.

Customers Orders Lunch_boxes

account ID ID
password date title
telephone price
e-mail 1…n n…n
readData() readData() readData()
writeData() writeData() writeData()
deleteData() deleteData()
calculateAmount()

Order_details
quantity
readData()
writeData()
deleteData()

Figure 5. An
Figure example
5. An exampleofofaaclass diagramininananobject
class diagram object database.
database.

3.7. Grid and Cloud Database Solutions

This category of NoSQL databases stores recent access data in random access memory (RAM) and
uses grid computing to speed up the time of access data from a database [2]. According to the statistics
of the DB-Engines Ranking website [15], Hazelcast and Oracle Coherence are more widely discussed
ones of grid and cloud database solutions.

3.8. XML Databases

The files stored in this category of NoSQL databases are based on the XML format [18]. An example
of a school curriculum file stored in an XML database is shown in Figure 6. In this XML file, there are
three courses, internet of things, artificial neural network, and big data, which have course numbers
(c_no), C001, C002, and C003, credits, 3, 4, and 2, and instructors, Amy, Zoe, and Mary, respectively.
According to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking website [15], Oracle Berkeley DB and BaseX are
the more widely discussed ones of the XML databases.
 The files stored in this category of NoSQL databases are based on the XML format [18]. An
example of a school curriculum file stored in an XML database is shown in Figure 6. In this XML
file, there are three courses, internet of things, artificial neural network, and big data, which have
course numbers (c_no), C001, C002, and C003, credits, 3, 4, and 2, and instructors, Amy, Zoe, and
Mary, respectively.
Algorithms 2019, 12, 106 According to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking website [15], Oracle
11 of 17
Berkeley DB and BaseX are the more widely discussed ones of the XML databases.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<Courses>
<Course c_no="C001">
<title>Internet of Things</title>
<credits>3</credits>
<instructor>Amy</instructor>
</Course>
<Course c_no="C002">
<title>Artificial Neural Network</title>
<credits>4</credits>
<instructor>Zoe</instructor>
</Course>
<Course c_no="C003">
<title>Big Data</title>
<credits>2</credits>
<instructor>Mary</instructor>
</Course>
<!-- ... -->
</Courses>

Figure 6. 6.
Figure AnAn
example
exampleof
ofaa data fileininan
data file anXML
XML database.
database.

3.9. Multidimensional
3.9. Multidimensional Databases
Databases
The data
The data inin this
this category of NoSQL
category of databases is
NoSQL databases is stored
stored in
in aa multidimensional
multidimensional arrayarray in
in order
order to
to
analyze the value of each array element. Suppose a printing company stores
analyze the value of each array element. Suppose a printing company stores data in a data in a multidimensional
database as showndatabase
multidimensional in Figureas7 [19].
shownTheinprinting
Figure 7company
[19]. Theneeds to analyze
printing companythe needs
total sales amountthe
to analyze of
printed products
total sales amountbased on three
of printed dimensions:
products basedProducts, branches, and
on three dimensions: customerbranches,
Products, rank. Forand
example, the
customer
company has two branches, Taipei and Tainan, three products, copy paper, photo
rank. For example, the company has two branches, Taipei and Tainan, three products, copy paper, paper, and poster,
and two
photo customer
paper, ranks, and
and poster, platinum member ranks,
two customer and normal member.
platinum member Theand
bossnormal
of the member.
printing company
The boss
wants
of the printing company wants the total sales amount of each branch, each product, andtoeach
the total sales amount of each branch, each product, and each customer rank. According the
statistics
customer of the DB-Engines
rank.12,According
Algorithms 2019, Ranking website [15], intersystems cache and GT.M are the
to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking website [15], intersystems
x FOR PEER REVIEW more widely
11 of 16
discussed
cache and ones
GT.Mofarethethemultidimensional databases.
more widely discussed ones of the multidimensional databases.

Taipei Total sales Total sales Total sales

Branch amount amount amount Customer Rank
Tainan Total sales Total sales Total sales Platinum member
es
amount amount amount Normal member
Copy paper Photo paper Poster

Products
Figure 7. An example of a three-dimensional array in a multidimensional database.
Figure 7. An example of a three-dimensional array in a multidimensional database.
3.10. Multivalue Databases

3.10.This categoryDatabases
Multivalue of NoSQL databases is suitable for storing data of multivalued attributes or composite
attributes [20]. An example of student data is illustrated in a table of multivalue databases as shown
This category of NoSQL databases is suitable for storing data of multivalued attributes or
in Table 4. The schema of the table is students (SID, name, and society), where name is a composite
composite attributes [20]. An example of student data is illustrated in a table of multivalue
attribute composed of the two attributes, First_name and Last_name, society is a multivalued attribute.
databases as shown in Table 4. The schema of the table is students (SID, name, and society), where
There are six records in this data table, the name of each student is divided into two parts to save into
name is a composite attribute composed of the two attributes, First_name and Last_name, society is
the attributes, First_name and Last_name, respectively, and the attending societies of each student can
a multivalued attribute. There are six records in this data table, the name of each student is divided
into two parts to save into the attributes, First_name and Last_name, respectively, and the attending
societies of each student can have more than one value. According to the statistics of the DB-Engines
Ranking website [15], jBASE and Model 204 Database are the more widely discussed ones of the
multivalue databases.

Table 4. An example of a data table in a multivalue database.

Algorithms 2019, 12, 106 12 of 17

have more than one value. According to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking website [15], jBASE
and Model 204 Database are the more widely discussed ones of the multivalue databases.

Table 4. An example of a data table in a multivalue database.

Table Name: Students

Name
SID Society
First_Name Last_Name
S001 Frank Lee {Pop music, Choir}
S002 George Lu {Choir, Poetry}
S003 Hank Wu {Computer, Guitar}
S004 Ivy Lin {Computer, Pop music}
S005 Jack Chen {Pop music, Guitar}
S006 Kevin Yang {Computer, Poetry}

3.11. Event Sourcing

This category of NoSQL databases is suitable for storing events that occurred in the past in order
to track the status of a specific event. An example about a lecture registration system to store the data
in an event sourcing database is shown in Table 5. In this table, the first two fields, time and person,
can be considered as an event, and the last field current enrolment number is used to track the number
of people currently enrolled in the lecture [21]. According to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking
website [15], event store is the most widely discussed one of the event sourcing databases.

Table 5. An example of a data table in an event sourcing database.

Time
Person Current Enrolment Number
(dd/mm/yy)
22/12/2018 12:30 Amy 1
25/12/2018 10:40 Ruby 2
28/12/2018 13:20 Cindy 3
29/12/2018 14:10 John 4
30/12/2018 15:00 Mary 5
31/12/2018 16:50 Zoe 6

3.12. Time Series Databases (TSDBs)

This category of NoSQL databases is designed to handle time series data [22,23]. An example of
air quality data is illustrated as follows. Assume that an observing station measures the air quality
index (AQI) and the density of PM2.5 once an hour and transmits the measurement result to a time
series database (TSDB), and the results in 2018 are shown in Table 6 [24]. According to the statistics
of the DB-Engines Ranking website [15], Informix Time Series Solution and influxdata are the more
widely discussed ones of the TSDBs.
Algorithms 2019, 12, 106 13 of 17

Table 6. An example of a data table in a time series database (TSDB).

Measurement Time
Air Quality Index (AQI) The Density of PM2.5
(dd/mm/yy)
01/01/2018 00:00 156 45
01/01/2018 01:00 101 29
01/01/2018 02:00 97 19
... ... ...
31/12/2018 21:00 133 34
31/12/2018 22:00 135 36
31/12/2018 23:00 141 43

3.13. Scientific and Specialized DBs

This category of NoSQL databases is designed to solve scientific and professional issues.
For example, BayesDB allows users who have not been statistically trained to solve basic science
problems, and GPUdb is a database suitable for distributed computing [2].

3.14. Other NoSQL Related Databases

The NoSQL databases in this category seem to be able to be categorized into several other
categories mentioned earlier, but the official website of NoSQL database [2] categorizes them into
this special category without giving any explanation for the characteristics of this category of NoSQL
databases. Therefore, we have no way to know why this category is needed and the reasons why these
NoSQL databases are assigned to this category. According to the statistics of the DB-Engines Ranking
website [15], eXtremeDB is the most widely discussed one of other NoSQL related databases.

3.15. Unresolved and Uncategorized

Any NoSQL database will be assigned to this category of NoSQL databases if it cannot be classified
into any of the previously mentioned categories of NoSQL databases. According to the statistics of
the DB-Engines Ranking website [15], Adabas and CodernityDB are the more widely discussed ones
of the unresolved and uncategorized databases. By the way, the characteristics of the two categories
of NoSQL databases, unresolved and uncategorized and other NoSQL related databases, are similar.
This is based on the classification of the NoSQL database official website [2]. We do not know the basis
of the classification.

3.16. Summary
The basic concepts of each category of NoSQL databases have been described. Then, all the
categories of NoSQL databases are analyzed to get the results that each NoSQL database is suitable for
processing certain features of data. The results are summarized in Table 7.
Algorithms 2019, 12, 106 14 of 17

Table 7. Summary of suitable data features for NoSQL databases.

Categories of NoSQL Databases Suitable Data Features

Three-dimensional data.
Wide Column Store
Applications that often search for specific field data.
Document Store Semi-structured files, such as XML, JSON, and so on.
Key Value Store One-dimensional data, which is stored in key-value pairs.
Data stored in a graphic structure.
Graph Databases Suitable for data of social network relations, recommendation systems,
and so on.
Determine data features suitable processing based on the data format of
Multimodel Databases
a specific database.
The object-oriented concepts are used to describe the data itself and the
Object Databases relationship among the data.
Suitable for computer aided design (CAD) and office automation.
Grid and Cloud Database Solutions Applications that need to search recent access data frequently.
XML Databases Data stored in XML files.
Multidimensional Databases Applications that often analyze data in multiple dimensions.
Multivalue Databases Data with multivalued attributes or composite attributes.
Data with events that occurred in the past for tracking the status
Event Sourcing
of something.
Time Series Databases Data related to time series.
Other NoSQL Related Databases Unable to know.
Scientific and Specialized DBs Data suitable for scientific research or computing.
Unresolved and Uncategorized Data based on the data format of a specific database.

4. Choose an Appropriate Database

4.1. The Principles of Database Selection

If an enterprise prepares to choose a NoSQL database, it must understand the following questions
according to the cultures and characteristics of the enterprise.

1. Understand the current problems, goals, and challenges of the corporate operation database.
2. The engineers of the IT center or database administrators (DBAs) must decide to continue
using the current RDB or change using a NoSQL database based on the needs of enterprise and
their expertise.
3. If changing to use a NoSQL database, the IT engineers or DBA first select a suitable category of
NoSQL databases based on the features and formats of the enterprise’s operating data.
4. When deciding which NoSQL database to choose, the IT engineers or DBA can make a decision
according to the needs of the enterprise, the characteristics of each database, as well as the
reputation and popularity of each database on websites (for example, DB-Engines Ranking
website [15], vschart [25]). The more websites we query for this information, the more accurate the
reputation and popularity of each database, and the more we can find the right NoSQL database.

4.2. Database Selection Case 1

Suppose that a 3C shopping website uses an RDB to store data for a long period of time, and this
RDB generates 300,000 records per day. Users reflect that the website is slower, and hope the data
processing speed to be as fast as possible, so the business owner asks the information department staff
to solve this problem.
The head of the information department traced the reasons according to the boss instructions
and found that the reasons for the slower access speed of the data are not only a large amount of
data generated every day but also the need for many users to merge several tables of RDB with a
Algorithms 2019, 12, 106 15 of 17

large amount of data. Therefore, the supervisor recommends using the NoSQL database as a solution
because NoSQL databases can merge some tables of RDB in advance so that when querying a NoSQL
database, the desired data can be read quickly without waiting much time to do join operations.
After the business owner agrees, the head of the information department will then decide which
NoSQL database to use. The decision process is as follows.

1. The most suitable category of NoSQL database is the wide column store because access to the
database often requires searching for data in a specific field.
2. According to the DB-Engines Ranking website [15], the wide column store databases that are
more commonly discussed on the internet are Apache Cassandra and Apache HBase.
3. According to the experimental results of Chen et al. [26], the time of Apache HBase to read data is
less than that of Apache Cassandra. Therefore, Apache HBase is recommended as the NoSQL
database used by the enterprise.

4.3. Database Selection Case 2

In order to understand the news reporting strategy of a peer, a famous newspaper must collect
online news from various newspapers or media, so about tens of thousands of online news are stored
for analysis every day. The information staff found that RDB could not provide quick access to a large
amount of data in time; therefore, it is recommended to use the NoSQL database to solve the problem
of too slow access rate.
In response to this question, the head of the information department must decide which NoSQL
database to use for the newspaper company. The decision-making process is as follows.

1. Since the newspaper needs to collect files generated by a large number of instant messages such
as tens of thousands of online news and related readers’ messages every day, it is necessary to
replace the RDB with a NoSQL database.
2. There are fifteen categories of NoSQL databases available, and the category found to be suitable
for storing news multimedia materials is the document store.
3. According to the DB-Engines Ranking website [15], the document store database that is often
discussed on the internet has two NoSQL databases, MongoDB and Couchbase Server. Since
the former has a higher market share than the latter, it is recommended to use MongoDB as the
NoSQL database for the company.

4.4. Database Selection Case 3

An American multinational retail enterprise has the following challenges of its website [27].

1. This corporation intends to promote “online recommendation system optimization” to recommend

suitable products for each customer who visits the website of this corporation.
2. To achieve the goal, the database must join a large number of customer and product data quickly
to analyze in time the needs and trends of customers to products.
3. However, the RDB this company used cannot meet the above requirement.

For the above reasons, the head of the information department in this corporation decides to use a
NoSQL database to replace RDB. The decision process is described as follows.

1. The most suitable category of NoSQL database for the enterprise is graph databases because
graph databases is the most suitable for the recommendation system as described in Table 7.
2. According to the statistics of DB-Engines Ranking website [15], the most discussed NoSQL
database in graph databases are Neo4j and FlockDB.
3. Since Neo4j has the best market share among all graph databases [27]; thereby, Neo4j is
recommended as the NoSQL database used by this enterprise.
Algorithms 2019, 12, 106 16 of 17

5. Conclusions
The main contents of this paper are as follows. First of all, we introduce the basic characteristics
of the fifteen categories of NoSQL database (such as the wide column store, document store, key
value store, and graph databases, etc.) in the NoSQL database official website [2]. Then we analyze
the characteristics of the data that each category of NoSQL database is suitable for processing. Next,
we propose some principles and key points for reference to help enterprises to find an appropriate
NoSQL database from more than 225 ones when enterprises intend to abandon the use of RDB to use
NoSQL database. Finally, we illustrate three cases, 3C shopping website, newspapers, and the US retail
industry, to demonstrate how a particular company can choose a suitable NoSQL database to improve
its competitiveness and customer services.
In summary, if a company abandons RDB and switches to NoSQL DB, it needs to consider
the characteristics of the company’s data in order to find the right DB. The transaction data of the
e-commerce industry often needs to be related, the suitable NoSQL DB category is the wide column store,
and Apache HBase is a good choice. The news materials of the news industry have semi-structured
features. The suitable NoSQL DB category is the document store, and the better choice is MongoDB.
The retailer data needs to be used by the recommendation system, so the suitable NoSQL DB category
is the graph databases, and the best choice is Neo4j. We hope that these principles and examples will
help decision makers to change databases correctly.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, J.-K.C.; methodology, J.-K.C. and W.-Z.L.; writing—original draft
preparation, W.-Z.L.; writing—review and editing, J.-K.C.; supervision, J.-K.C.; project administration, J.-K.C.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to the reviewers for providing a lot of valuable comments to make this paper
more complete.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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