The structure and type of NoSQL database you choose will depend on how your organization plans to use it. Here are some specific ways to use different types of NoSQL databases.
- Managing data relationships: Managing complex aggregation of data and the relationships between those points is usually done with a graph-based NoSQL database. This includes recommendation engines, knowledge graphs, fraud detection applications, and social networks where connections are made between people using different types of data.
- Low-latency performance: Gaming, home fitness apps, and advertising technologies require high bandwidth to manage real-time data. This infrastructure provides the most value to the consumer, whether it’s updating market rates or returning the most relevant ads. Web applications require in-memory NoSQL databases to provide fast response times and manage spikes in usage without the delays that can be experienced with disk storage.
- Scalability and large data volumes: E-commerce requires the ability to manage huge spikes in usage, whether it’s a one-day sale or the holiday shopping season. Key-value databases are often used in e-commerce applications because their simple structure is easy to scale during heavy traffic. This flexibility is valuable for gaming, advertising, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
Microservices and NoSQL databases
The need for large companies to deliver services without delay and scale faster has spurred the growth of microservices, prompting companies to examine what type of database to use for different applications.
Companies have found that using a single relational database for every component of an application has its limitations, especially when there are better alternatives for individual components. Microservices are an attractive option, in part because they eliminate the need for a single, shared data store for the entire application. Instead, an application has many loosely coupled and independently deployed services, each with its own data model and database, integrated through API or iPaaS gateways.
The model of using multiple databases in a single application, also known as multi-database persistence, has helped create space in the market for NoSQL databases to flourish. Today, developers can use the right database for the right microservice without trying to make everything work in the context of a single relational database.