NoSQL For Dummies E-Book

Adam Fowler

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Get up to speed on the nuances of NoSQL databases and what they mean for your organization

This easy to read guide to NoSQL databases provides the type of no-nonsense overview and analysis that you need to learn, including what NoSQL is and which database is right for you. Featuring specific evaluation criteria for NoSQL databases, along with a look into the pros and cons of the most popular options, NoSQL For Dummies provides the fastest and easiest way to dive into the details of this incredible technology. You'll gain an understanding of how to use NoSQL databases for mission-critical enterprise architectures and projects, and real-world examples reinforce the primary points to create an action-oriented resource for IT pros.

If you're planning a big data project or platform, you probably already know you need to select a NoSQL database to complete your architecture. But with options flooding the market and updates and add-ons coming at a rapid pace, determining what you require now, and in the future, can be a tall task. This is where NoSQL For Dummies comes in!

• Learn the basic tenets of NoSQL databases and why they have come to the forefront as data has outpaced the capabilities of relational databases
• Discover major players among NoSQL databases, including Cassandra, MongoDB, MarkLogic, Neo4J, and others
• Get an in-depth look at the benefits and disadvantages of the wide variety of NoSQL database options
• Explore the needs of your organization as they relate to the capabilities of specific NoSQL databases

Big data and Hadoop get all the attention, but when it comes down to it, NoSQL databases are the engines that power many big data analytics initiatives. With NoSQL For Dummies, you'll go beyond relational databases to ramp up your enterprise's data architecture in no time.

Leseprobe

NoSQL For Dummies®

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/nosql to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Introduction

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting Started with NoSQL

Chapter 1: Introducing NoSQL: The Big Picture

A Brief History of NoSQL

Features of NoSQL

Why You Should Care about NoSQL

Chapter 2: NoSQL Database Design and Terminology

Managing Different Data Types

Describing NoSQL

Applying Consistency Methods

Integrating Related Technologies

Chapter 3: Evaluating NoSQL

The Technical Evaluation

The Business Evaluation

Getting Support

Part II: Key-Value Stores

Chapter 4: Common Features of Key-Value Stores

Managing Availability

Managing Keys

Managing Data

Chapter 5: Key-Value Stores in the Enterprise

Scaling

Reducing Time to Value

Chapter 6: Key-Value Use Cases

Managing User Information

High-Speed Data Caching

Chapter 7: Key-Value Store Products

High-Speed Key Access

Taking Advantage of Flash

Using Pluggable Storage

Separating Data Storage and Distribution

Handling Partitions

Chapter 8: Riak and Basho

Choosing a Key-Value Store

Finding Riak Support (Basho)

Part III: Bigtable Clones

Chapter 9: Common Features of Bigtables

Storing Data in Bigtables

Working with Data

Managing Data

Improving Performance

Chapter 10: Bigtable in the Enterprise

Managing Multiple Data Centers

Reliability

Scalability

Chapter 11: Bigtable Use Cases

Handling Sparse Data

Analyzing Log Files

Chapter 12: Bigtable Products

Managing Tabular Big Data

Securing Your Data

High-Performing Bigtables

Distributing Data Globally

Chapter 13: Cassandra and DataStax

Designing a Modern Bigtable

Finding Support for Cassandra

Part IV: Document Databases

Chapter 14: Common Features of Document Databases

Using a Tree-Based Data Model

Document Databases as Key-Value Stores

Patching Documents

Chapter 15: Document Databases in the Enterprise

Sharding

Preventing Loss of Data

Managing Consistency

Chapter 16: Document Database Use Cases

Publishing Content

Managing Unstructured Data Feeds

Managing Changing Data Structures

Consolidating Data

Chapter 17: Document Database Products

Providing a Memcache Replacement

Providing a Familiar Developer Experience

Providing an End-to-End Document Platform

Providing a Web Application Back End

Chapter 18: MongoDB

Using an Open-Source Document Database

Finding Support for MongoDB

Part V: Graph and Triple Stores

Chapter 19: Common Features of Triple and Graph Stores

Deciding on Graph or Triple Stores

Deciding on Triples or Quads

Managing Triple Store Structures

Chapter 20: Triple Stores in the Enterprise

Ensuring Data Integrity

Storing Documents with Triples

Chapter 21: Triple Store Use Cases

Extracting Semantic Facts

Tracking Provenance

Building a Web of Facts

Managing the Social Graph

Chapter 22: Triple Store Products

Managing Documents and Triples

Scripting Graphs

Using a Distributed Graph Store

Chapter 23: Neo4j and Neo Technologies

Exploiting Neo4j

Finding Support for Neo4j

Part VI: Search Engines

Chapter 24: Common Features of Search Engines

Dissecting a Search Engine

Indexing Data Stores

Alerting

Chapter 25: Search Engines in the Enterprise

Searching the Enterprise

Creating a Search Application

Chapter 26: Search Engine Use Cases

Searching E-Commerce Products

Enterprise Data Searching

Alerting

Chapter 27: Types of Search Engines

Using Common Open-Source Text Indexing

Combining Document Stores and Search Engines

Evaluating Enterprise Search

Storing and Searching JSON

Chapter 28: Elasticsearch

Using the Elasticsearch Product

Finding Support for Elasticsearch

Part VII: Hybrid NoSQL Databases

Chapter 29: Common Hybrid NoSQL Features

The Death of Polyglot Persistence

Advantages of a Hybrid Approach

Chapter 30: Hybrid Databases in the Enterprise

Selecting a Database by Functionality

Building Mission-Critical Applications

Chapter 31: Hybrid NoSQL Database Use Cases

Digital Semantic Publishing

Metadata Catalogs

Chapter 32: Hybrid NoSQL Database Products

Managing Triples and Aggregates

Combining Documents and Triples with Enterprise Capabilities

Chapter 33: MarkLogic

Understanding MarkLogic Server

Universal Indexing

MarkLogic Corporation

Part VIII: The Part of Tens

Chapter 34: Ten Advantages of NoSQL over RDBMS

Less Need for ETL

Support for Unstructured Text

Ability to Handle Change over Time

No Reliance on SQL Magic

Ability to Scale Horizontally on Commodity Hardware

Breadth of Functionality

Support for Multiple Data Structures

Vendor Choice

No Legacy Code

Executing Code Next to the Data

Chapter 35: Ten NoSQL Misconceptions

NoSQL Is a Single Type of Database

NoSQL Databases Aren’t ACID-Compliant

NoSQL Databases Lose Data

NoSQL Databases Aren’t Ready for Mission-Critical Enterprise Applications

NoSQL Databases Aren’t Secure

All NoSQL Databases Are Open-Source

NoSQL Databases Are Only for Web 2.0 Applications

NoSQL Is Just Hype

NoSQL Developers Don’t Understand How to Use an RDBMS

Updated RDBMS Technology Will Remove the Need for NoSQL

Chapter 36: Ten Reasons Developers Love NoSQL

No Need to Write SQL

Don’t Have to Spend Months Designing Schema

Less Data Transform Code (ETL)

Easier to Maintain Code

Execute Code Close to the Data for the Best Performance

Lots of Open-Source Options

Easy to Scale

Eventual Consistency Data Model

Esoteric Language Support

JavaScript End-to-End

About the Authors

Dedication

Authors' Acknowledgments

Cheat Sheet

Connect with Dummies

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

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NoSQL For Dummies®

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Media and software compilation copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014954658

ISBN 978-1-118-90574-6 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-90562-3 (epub); ISBN 978-1-118-90578-4 (epdf)

Introduction

I love NoSQL both as a movement and as a technology. It’s a fast-paced, constantly changing area. Barely a week goes by without a new NoSQL database being created to handle a specific real-life problem.

As a movement, NoSQL is interesting in that it started wholly independently of any commercial organization. In fact, it was the brainchild of interested individuals who grouped together and shared ideas. Some core ideas certainly came from large commercial organizations, including the Bigtable paper from Google and the key-value store paper from Amazon, but NoSQL was popularized as open source.

The normal process in software development is that several commercial companies form and compete with one another and gradually the field narrows. Then, once the remaining companies prove their worth, they’re gobbled up by big boys like Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft. Open-source alternatives appear only during the later phases of this cycle.

That’s not the case with NoSQL. Sure, there were a few early commercial players (very early in MarkLogic’s case — way back in 2001). However, the majority of publicly available NoSQL products were created in the open before companies incorporated them into their commercial products.

This book encourages a practical approach to evaluating NoSQL as a set of technologies and products. The book tells you how to determine which ones might meet your needs and how select the most appropriate ones. This information enables you to spot business and technical problems that NoSQL databases can solve.

After reading this book, not only will you be able to identify which type of NoSQL database to use, but perhaps more importantly, you’ll know the questions to ask vendors about their software and services prior to purchasing one.

This book discusses NoSQL in terms of real-life, complex mission-critical applications. Understanding complex enterprise applications allows you to see the flaws and benefits of each NoSQL database, and within contexts similar to the ones you see in your workplace.

This book guides you through this exciting area of technology and highlights how you and your organization can achieve similar benefits to those described. I hope you enjoy the journey!

Foolish Assumptions

My main aim for the book is to expose many NoSQL databases and point out their common features and specific use cases.

My other aim is to point out that NoSQL databases are ready for the big time! I have gone to pains to point out where things can be configured to support this, or where gaps still exist in offerings.

I hope that large enterprises that have not yet widely adopted NoSQL will be reassured by this book. I also hope that it will act as a call to action to NoSQL database vendors in hardening their offerings to support the key needs of each business sector and use cases in such systems.

As this book is considering enterprise classes of problems, I have to be aware of things like long-term development plans, resilient systems, support, and availability of services.

I’ve chosen to cover the following NoSQL databases (plus one search engine):

Riak: A key-value store

MongoDB: An aggregate (document) database that primarily stores JSON

Apache Cassandra: A column store (Bigtable clone)

Neo4j: A triple and graph store

MarkLogic Server: Primarily stores XML documents, also JSON, binary, text. Also provides in memory column indexes, a triple store and a search engine

Redis: An in-memory only key-value store

Elasticsearch: An Open Source search engine used with many NoSQL databases

I was keen to give a background to a breadth of databases in this book. I also needed to make sure I wasn’t covering the same subject multiple times. I decided to cover one database that primarily manages each data type (document, keys/values, column/tables, triple/graph).

I’m keen to ensure that I don’t give you the impression that each database in each data type area is created equal. Although I concentrate on just one database of each type, I also mention areas where other similar databases are stronger or weaker where appropriate.

I threw in a couple of wildcards. I want to cover Redis as an in memory database. Although in-memory databases have been around for years, Redis provides a NoSQL version of this which is applicable to a different set of problems.

I also cover a commercial NoSQL solution: MarkLogic Server. I include this database for two reasons. Firstly, and most importantly, MarkLogic Server can handle multiple data types whereas the others in my list only concentrate on one particular domain.

Secondly, I love MarkLogic Server – so much so, I joined MarkLogic as a Senior Sales Engineer. MarkLogic Server is also the market leader by software sales in NoSQL databases. (Most companies behind Open Source NoSQL databases only sell extensions to open source software and services, so this is perhaps to be expected!)

Although not strictly a database, Elasticsearch does use NoSQL approaches to its search engine design. NoSQL databases are often used to store semi-structured and unstructured data. This means search engines are an appropriate area to cover. Indeed, Elasticsearch (and Solr/Lucene) are commonly integrated with Open Source NoSQL databases to provide more advanced information retrieval and indexing services.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout the book, you'll see these little graphic icons to identify useful paragraphs.

The Tip icon marks tips and shortcuts that you can take to make a specific task easier.

The Remember icon marks the information that’s especially important to know.

The Technical Stuff icon marks information of a highly technical nature that you can safely skip over with impunity.

The Warning icon tells you to watch out! It marks important information that may save you headaches. Warning: Don't skip over these icons!

Beyond the Book

NoSQL For Dummies includes the following goodies online for easy download:

Cheat Sheet:

You can find the Cheat Sheet for this book here:

www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/nosql

Extras:

I provide a few extra articles here:

www.dummies.com/extras/nosql

Where to Go from Here

With this book, you have all the information you need to get started on your journey. You can start with Chapter 1, or you can take a look at the table of contents and start with a topic that most interests you.

Part I

Getting Started with NoSQL

Visit www.dummies.com for great Dummies content online.

In this part . . .

Discover exactly what NoSQL is.

Identifying terminology.

Categorizing technology.

Visit

www.dummies.com

for great Dummies content online.

Chapter 1

Introducing NoSQL: The Big Picture

In This Chapter

Examining the past

Recognizing changes

Applying capabilities

The data landscape has changed. During the past 15 years, the explosion of the World Wide Web, social media, web forms you have to fill in, and greater connectivity to the Internet means that more than ever before a vast array of data is in use.

New and often crucial information is generated hourly, from simple tweets about what people have for dinner to critical medical notes by healthcare providers. As a result, systems designers no longer have the luxury of closeting themselves in a room for a couple of years designing systems to handle new data. Instead, they must quickly create systems that store data and make information readily available for search, consolidation, and analysis. All of this means that a particular kind of systems technology is needed.

The good news is that a huge array of these kinds of systems already exists in the form of NoSQL databases. The not-so-good news is that many people don’t understand what NoSQL databases do or why and how to use them. Not to worry, though. That’s why I wrote this book. In this chapter, I introduce you to NoSQL and help you understand why you need to consider this technology further now.