What Are NoSQL Databases and Why Enterprises Rely on NoSQL?

The business shift to digitization and customer experience has ushered enterprises into the digital revolution era. At the heart of the revolution are cloud technologies, mobile apps, big data applications, social and communication platforms, etc.

Running and maintaining modern applications has created a new set of technology requirements that can accommodate unprecedented scalability, speed, and data variability. Relational databases cannot meet growing requirements, and enterprises are turning to NoSQL (Not Only SQL) database (DB) technology designed for distributed data stores for huge-scale data needs.

NoSQL encompasses a wide range of database technologies that can store structured, semi- and unstructured data. NoSQL is widely recognized for its functionality, agility, ease of development, performance at scale, and flexible schemas for building hi-tech applications.

Consider just a few examples of global businesses that are deploying NoSQL for their applications. From Twitter, Facebook, and Google, to Tesco, Ryanair, Marriott, Gannett, and other big and small enterprises, which accumulate Terabits of data every single day and use NoSQL for their Big data and real-time web apps.

WHAT ARE NOSQL DATABASES?

The easiest way to understand what is a NoSQL database is to understand what it is not. Let’s start with the SQL understanding first.

SQL stands for Structured Query Language. People call it S.Q.L. or sequel. In short, it is the name of a standard language for communicating with relational databases that store the data. It can pull, edit, add, search, update, and delete information in the database records.

As the name suggests, NoSQL is NOT a Structured Query Language, NOT use SQL to query the data, NOT follow strict schemas like relational models; it is NOT a replacement for an RDBMS. Instead, it uses documents with data types of descriptions and values to store data.

NoSQL databases are designed to be used across large, distrusted systems. They are more scalable and much faster at handling large data loads than traditional relational databases. It is the core component of NoSQL that makes it an inexpensive solution for large datasets.

As your application grows and you start to add new fields, your schema evolves as needed. Your database is scaled horizontally. So, if you need to build something quickly, NoSQL is an excellent way to go.

RDBMS, on the other hand, scales by getting faster hardware and larger memory.

NoSQL databases have the following characteristics:

• Non-relational.
• NoSQL is schemaless.
• Most implement an aggregate pattern.
• It is running well on clusters.
• Open source/fully managed cloud.
• Have high scalability.
• Use distributed computing.
• Cost-effective.
• Simple API. Offers easy to use interfaces for storage and querying data provided.
• Able to process both unstructured and semi-structured data.
• No complex relationships, such as the ones between tables in an RDBMS.

Originally published at DevCom Blog.

Continue reading about NoSQL, including types of databases, their main advantages and disadvantages, and how much do NoSQL databases cost.