An Introduction to NoSQL Databases

RDBMSs put a lot of emphasis on keeping data consistent. They require a formal database schema and new data or modifications to existing data are not accepted unless they comply with this schema in terms of data types, referential integrity etc. Sometimes this focus on consistency may become a burden, because it induces (in some cases unnecessary) overhead and hampers scalability and flexibility.

In the video presentation below, Bart Baesens, Professor of Big Data & Analytics, discusses a series of non-relational database management systems which focus specifically on being highly scalable in a distributed environment: NoSQL databases. The discussion includes turn key-value stores, tuple and document stores, column-oriented databases and graph databases, and how they deviate from the typical relational model and which concepts they utilize to achieve a high scalability. Also included is how this high scalability often comes with a cost as well, such as strong querying facilities being absent, or not being able to provide strong consistency guarantees. The presentation is an extract from an upcoming book Principles of Database Management.

 

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