ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses different solutions for storing and managing big data. It reviews some of the NoSQL database solutions and indicates the important properties of each. The ‘NoSQL’ was used by Carlo Strozzi when he first introduced a lightweight open source relational database, namely ‘NoSQL’. A single MongoDB server stores multiple databases. The largest container in the MongoDB database is a collection. The basic unit in the database is a document, which is analogous to the rows in relational databases. However, unlike the rows or tuples in relational databases, a document has a dynamic schema, that is, fields may be added on the fly. The MongoDB data model enables the user to store arrays, and other more complex structures; it also extends support for hierarchical relationships. In order to handle very large databases, a collection can be partitioned and distributed for storage across a number of mongod instances or shards on multiple nodes within a cluster.
