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NoSQL Comparisons : Cassandra vs HBase

After looking at both Cassandra and HBase, there is a natural tendency to wonder which one is better. This is not an easy decision to make. If you are highly-experienced with databases and database server administration then your priorities and preferences could be very different from someone who is just starting out on their first large-scale NoSQL setup. So rather ... Read More »

Intro to Amazon Redshift – A Columnar NoSQL Database

Amazon Redshift

Overview Amazon Redshift is technically a relational database management system and supports many of the features of a typical RDBMS.   However, it is geared for the high performance analysis needs found in traditional OLAP reporting systems without the need for cubes and pre-processing.  Due to its scalable architecture and columnar storage design along with the support of the other AWS ... Read More »

Cassandra Selection Criteria for NoSQL Databases

In looking at the features of Cassandra, it seems clear that many of them are aimed at particularly large enterprises, while others would also be useful for smaller applications. There are no clear-cut rules when you are selecting database software, but the following points offer a little guidance as to when you could be thinking about using Cassandra. 1. You ... Read More »

Redis vs Riak vs Memcached vs DynamoDB – A NoSQL Comparison

When four key value data stores each claim well-known enterprises and organizations as users, it’s probably because they each have something to offer – and something different in each case. Choosing between them will depend on individual requirements or constraints. The starting points are these: Redis is in-memory with configurable trade-off between persistency and performance Riak is a distributed, fault-tolerant ... Read More »

MongoDB vs CouchDB vs RavenDB – A NoSQL Comparison

When should you choose MongoDb, CouchDB or RavenDB? Ideally, these three NoSQL document stores could be clearly positioned so that any user need would fall neatly into one of the three domains. But hey, this is real life. MongoDB, CouchDB and RavenDB have their strengths and weaknesses, but they also overlap in some situations. One reason for this is the ... Read More »

Intro to DynamoDB – A Key-Value Store

dynamodb-icon

Amazon offers its DynamoDB NoSQL database as a managed service, part of its Amazon Web Services portfolio. This immediately distinguishes it from many other key value data stores that are installed either on a user’s own servers or separate hosted servers. DynamoDB is positioned as providing guaranteed throughput and low latency independently of the volumes of data handled. The company ... Read More »

Redis Clustering Now Available in 3.0

Redist-Cluster-Diagram

How Big a Difference Will This Make? Long promised and now finally part of Redis functionality, clustering had to wait in line. There were two reasons for it coming out later than other functionality. First, user demand for other stable characteristics such as persistence, replication, latency and introspection (determining the structure of a database at run time) were even stronger ... Read More »

Azure DocumentDB Preview

Azure-DocumentDB

It was only a matter of time. With the wave of enthusiasm for NoSQL databases and document store databases in particular, big hitters in the software industry had to come out with their own offering. Microsoft was no exception. However, the way that the vendor has approached the NoSQL market differentiates its solution – Azure DocumentDB or ADB for short ... Read More »

NoSQL Data Patterns and Caching Tips

Fast, flexible and distributed – such are the promises of many NoSQL databases that make intelligent tradeoffs between consistency, availability and partitioning to boldly go where SQL databases cannot. However, there’s a counter-effect; or rather an SQL-mindset concerning data patterns and caching that often needs to be explicitly avoided. Otherwise those great NoSQL advantages may shrivel and die. Consequently, a ... Read More »

Database Sharding Explained

DB Shards

All kinds of servers – database servers, web servers, even servers for online games – have a limit on how many simultaneous connections they can accept and how much data they can process. When a server reaches the limit of its capacity, it will appear to slow down or become unresponsive to any applications that are using it. In extreme ... Read More »