BEYOND RELATIONAL DATABASES Written by Margo Seltzer Presented

BEYOND RELATIONAL DATABASES Written by Margo Seltzer Presented by Mark Simko

Overview � � � � Intro Relational Prehistory New Frontier Emerging Data Needs Flexible Solutions Modularity Configurability Questions

Intro Number and variety of computing devices increasing rapidly � Applications impossible a few years ago are popping up everywhere � Greater need for data storage and retrieval Examples � Gaming applications � GPS � Messaging applications �

Intro Relational Databases � � � Highly successful past 30 years SQL infused Evolved over the years

Relational Prehistory IBM and University of California @ Berkeley circa 1970 s � Programmers had to rewrite large chunks of code whenever database changed Solved the problem in two ways � Hid the physical organization of DB from application, only saw logical view � Used a declarative language to describe data, rather then a collection of function calls �

New Frontier � � � 1998 DB researches noticed DBMS were becoming too complex Configuration and management needs to become automated Become more modular and simple, componentbased building blocks “One size no longer fits all” Michael Stonebraker

Emerging Data Needs � � � Data Warehousing Directory Services Web Search Mobile Device Caching XML Management Stream Processing

Flexible Solutions Back to basis approach � Every application build its own data storage service Lots of data management options � Each addresses a particular application class, SQL is used to hide different capabilities Produce storage engine that can be configurable � Individual can tweak it to their own requirements � Allows concentrated investment in a single storage system, improving quality

Flexible Solutions Two properties a solution must possess to address the wide range of emerging applications � � Modularity Configurability

Modularity Tools allow you to manage Ø � Size Allowing smaller, simpler applications Complexity Some programs are low concurrency, others medium and some high Enables the applications and data management capabilities to interact seamlessly

Configurability � Refers to how well a system can be matched to its environment and application needs For discussion, this article covers � Hardware � Environment (operating system) � Applications software architecture � “Natural” data format of application

Configurability Hardware � � Cpu speed Memory size Physical storage capabilities (RAM, magnetic flash) Compression

Configurability Environment (operating system) � Cell phones � Laptops � Servers � PDAs � GPSs � MP 3 players

Configurability Applications software architecture � Single thread � Collection of cooperating processes (each single threaded) � Multiple threads of control in a single process � Multiple multithreaded processes � Event-based architecture

Configurability “Natural” data format of application � � � Physical Clustering Indexing Mechanism Internal Structure of items in the database

New Style Databases for New Style Problems � � � Old style database systems solve old style problems We need new style database systems to solve new style problems Conventional Database Management Systems aren’t going away, but we need configurable Database systems to solve today’s and tomorrow’s problems

Questions?