New Features of Oracle NoSQL

“In open source, we feel strongly that to really do something well, you have to get a lot of people involved.” Linus Torvalds

Currently, there are about 150 NoSQL databases (= Not Only SQL).

There are 5 major NoSQL data models: Collection, Columnar, Document-oriented, Graph and Key-value.

Oracle NoSQL, based on BerekelyDB (first release in 1994), was recently named by Forrester Research as a leader in the NoSQL key-value database market and Oracle NoSQL Database was called out as having strong adoption and maturity. A very good study and comparison of several NoSQL databases entitled 21 NoSQL Innovators to Look for in 2020 was written by Gary MacFadden.

Here are few examples:

– Collection/Multi-model: OrientDB, FoundationDB, ArangoDB, Alchemy Database, CortexDB
– Columnar: Accumulo, Cassandra, Druid, HBase, Vertica
– Document-oriented: Lotus Notes, Clusterpoint, Apache CouchDB, Couchbase, HyperDex, MarkLogic, MongoDB, OrientDB, Qizx
– Graph: Allegro, Neo4J, InfiniteGraph, OrientDB, Virtuoso, Stardog
– Key-value: Redis, CouchDB, Oracle NoSQL Database, Dynamo, FoundationDB, HyperDex, MemcacheDB, Riak, FairCom c-treeACE, Aerospike, OrientDB, MUMPS

Lat month (June 2015), Oracle announced Oracle NoSQL Database Version 3.3.4. This release offers new security features, including User Roles and Table-level Authorization, new language interfaces for Node.js and Python, and integration with Oracle Database Mobile Server. The prior release offers Big Data SQL support, RESTful API, C Table Driver, SQL-like DDL, Apache Hive support and much more.

A good starting point in order to get deeper into the NoSQL and Big Data world is the Oracle Big Data Learning Library.

Oracle recently announced Big Data SQL for Oracle NoSQL Database. This feature will allow Oracle Database users to connect to external data repositories like Oracle NoSQL Database or Hadoop in order to fetch data from any or all of the repositories (at once) through single SQL query.

Oracle Big Data SQL is an innovation from Oracle only available on Oracle Big Data Appliance. It is a new architecture for SQL on Hadoop, seamlessly integrating data in Hadoop and NoSQL with data in Oracle Database. Using Oracle Big Data SQL one can:

• Combine data from Oracle Database, Hadoop and NoSQL in a single SQLquery
• Query and analyze data in Hadoop and NoSQL
• Integrate big data analysis into existing applications and architectures
• Extend security and access policies from Oracle Database to data in Hadoopand NoSQL
• Maximize query performance on all data using Smart Scan

The recent update to Oracle REST Data Services enables a consistent RESTful interface to Oracle Database’s relational tables, JSON document store, and also enables access to Oracle NoSQL Database tables.

I still recommend reading the excellent article by Gwen Shapira entitled Hadoop and NoSQL Mythbusting.

Here are some useful links:

– NoSQL Database Administrator’s Guide
– Getting Started with NoSQL Database Table API
– NoSQL Database Run Book
– NoSQL Database Security Guide
– Oracle NoSQL Database Availability and Failover
– Download Oracle NoSQL Database, Server

It is interesting to note that according to Wikipedia, 12.1.3.3.4 is the first stable Oracle NoSQL release.

Check the DBMS popularity broken down by database model!