Introducing NoSQL and MongoDB
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
At the core of most large-scale applications and services is a high-performance data storage solution. The back-end data store is responsible for storing important data such as user account information, product data, accounting information, and blogs. Good applications require the capability to store and retrieve data with accuracy, speed, and reliability. Therefore, the data storage mechanism you choose must be capable of performing at a level that satisfies your application’s demand.
Several data storage solutions are available to store and retrieve the data your applications need. The three most common are direct file system storage in files, relational databases, and NoSQL databases. The NoSQL data store chosen for this book is MongoDB because it is the most widely used and the most versatile.
The following sections describe NoSQL and MongoDB and discuss the design considerations to review before deciding how to implement the structure of data and the database configuration. The sections cover the questions to ask and then address the mechanisms built into MongoDB that satisfy the resulting demands.
What Is NoSQL?
A common misconception is that the term NoSQL stands for “No SQL.” NoSQL actually stands for “Not only SQL,” to emphasize the fact that NoSQL databases are an alternative to SQL and can, in fact, apply SQL-like query concepts.
NoSQL covers any database that is not a traditional relational database management system (RDBMS). The motivation behind NoSQL is mainly simplified design, horizontal scaling, and finer control over the availability of data. NoSQL databases are more specialized for types of data, which makes them more efficient and better performing than RDBMS servers in most instances.
NoSQL seeks to break away from the traditional structure of relational databases, and enable developers to implement models in ways that more closely fit the data flow needs of their system. This means that NoSQL databases can be implemented in ways that traditional relational databases could never be structured.
Several different NoSQL technologies exist, including the HBase column structure, the Redis key/value structure, and the Virtuoso graph structure. However, this book uses MongoDB and the document model because of the great flexibility and scalability offered in implementing back-end storage for web applications and services. In addition, MongoDB is by far the most popular and well-supported NoSQL language currently available. The following sections describe some of the NoSQL database types.
Document Store Databases
Document store databases apply a document-oriented approach to storing data. The idea is that all the data for a single entity can be stored as a document, and documents can be stored together in collections.
A document can contain all the necessary information to describe an entity. This includes the capability to have subdocuments, which in RDBMS are typically stored as an encoded string or in a separate table. Documents in the collection are accessed via a unique key.
Key-Value Databases
The simplest type of NoSQL database is the key-value stores. These databases store data in a completely schema-less way, meaning that no defined structure governs what is being stored. A key can point to any type of data, from an object, to a string value, to a programming language function.
The advantage of key-value stores is that they are easy to implement and add data to. That makes them great to implement as simple storage for storing and retrieving data based on a key. The downside is that you cannot find elements based on the stored values.
Column Store Databases
Column store databases store data in columns within a key space. The key space is based on a unique name, value, and timestamp. This is similar to the key-value databases; however, column store databases are geared toward data that uses a timestamp to differentiate valid content from stale content. This provides the advantage of applying aging to the data stored in the database.
Graph Store Databases
Graph store databases are designed for data that can be easily represented as a graph. This means that elements are interconnected with an undetermined number of relations between them, as in examples such as family and social relations, airline route topology, or a standard road map.