Every once in a while the question comes up as to what is the “right” database for analytics. How do organizations move from their current data environments to environments that are able to support the needs of Big Data and Analytics? It was not too long ago that the predominant answer was a relational database; moreover these were often organized around a highly normalized structure that arranged the fields and tables of a relational database to minimize redundancy and dependency (See also).
These structures to a large extent existed to optimize database efficiencies – or sidestep inefficiencies – in a world that was memory and / or hardware constrained; think 20+ years ago. Many of these constraints no longer exist which has created more choices for practitioners in how to store data. This is especially true of data repositories that built to support analytics as a highly normalized structure is often inefficient and cumbersome for analytics. Matching the data design and management approaches to the need improves performance and reduces operational complexity and with it costs.
The table below lays out some of the approaches and where they might apply. Note, these are not mutually exclusive: one can persist semantic data in a relational database for example. Also, this is not exhaustive by any means. The table below provides a starting point for those that are considering how their data environments should evolve as they seek to move from their legacy environment to one that supports new demands created by the need for analytics.
|
Data Design Approach |
Analytical Activity |
| Relational. In this context “relational” refers to data stored in rows. | Relational structures are best used when the data structures are known and change infrequently. Relational designs often present challenges for analysts when queries and joins are executed that are incompatible with the design schema and / or indexing approach. This incompatibility creates processing bottlenecks, and resource challenges resulting in delays for data management teams. In the context of analytics the challenges associated with this form of data persistence are discussed in other posts, and a favorite Exploiting Big Data Strategies for Integrating with Hadoop by Wayne Eckerson; Published: June 1, 2012. |
| Columnar. Columnar data stores might also be considered relational. However, their orientation is around the column versus the row. | Columnar data designs lend themselves to analytical tasking involving large data sets where rapid search and retrieval in large data tables is a priority. See previous post on how columnar databases work. A columnar approach inherently creates vertical partitioning across the datasets stored this way. Columnar DBs allow for retrieval of only a subset of the columns and some columnar DBs allow for processing data in a compressed form. All this minimizes I/O for large retrievals. |
| Semantic | A semantic organization of data lends itself to analytical tasks where the understanding of complex and evolving relationships is key. This is especially the case where ontologies are required to organize entities and their relationships to one another: corporate hierarchies/networks; insider trading analysis for example. This approach to organizing data is often represented in the context of the “semantic web” whose organizing constructs are RDF and OWL. |
| File Based | File based approaches such as those used in Hadoop and SAS systems lend themselves to situations where data must be acquired and landed. However, the required organizational structure or analytical “context” is not yet defined. Data can be landed with minimal processing and made available for analysis in relatively raw form. Under certain circumstances file based approaches can improve performance as they are more easily used in MPP (Massively Parallel Processing or distributed computing) environments. Performance improvements will exist where data size is very large, and functions performed are “embarrassingly parallel“, and can work on platforms that designed around a “shared nothing architecture“; which is the architecture supporting Hadoop. The links referenced within the Relational section above speak to why and when you use Hadoop:see recent posts, and Exploiting Big Data Strategies for Integrating with Hadoop. |
There are a few interesting papers on the topic – somewhat dated but still useful:
Curt Monash’s site has a presentation worth looking at title: How to Select an Analytical Database. In general, Curt’s blog DBMS2is well worth tracking.
This deck presented by Mark Madsen at 2011 Strata Conference is both informative and amusing.
analyticaltern 
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