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databaseerlangnon-relational-database

Suggest: Non RDBMS database for a noob

For a new application based on Erlang, Python, we are thinking of trying out a non-RDBMS database(just for the sake of it). Some of the databases I've researched are Mongodb, CouchDB, Cassandra, Redis, Riak, Scalaris). Here is a list of simple requirements.

  1. Ease of development - I need to make a quick proof-of-concept demo. So the database needs to have good adapters for Eralang and Python.
  2. I'm working on a new application where we have lots of "connected" data. Somebody recommended Neo4j for graph-like data. Any ideas on that?
  3. Scalable - We are looking at a distributed architecture, hence scalability is important.
  4. For the moment performance(in any form) isn't exactly on top of my list, and I don't think we'll be hitting the limitations of any of the above mentioned databases anytime soon.

I'm just looking for a starting point for non-RDBMS database. Any recommendations?

Solution
    • Ease of development - I need to make a quick proof-of-concept demo. So the database needs to have good adapters for Eralang and Python.

    Riak is written in Erlang => speaks Erlang natively

    • I'm working on a new application where we have lots of "connected" data. Somebody recommended Neo4j for graph-like data. Any ideas on that?

    Neo4j is great for "connected" data. It has Python bindings, and some Erlang adapters How to Use Neo4j From Erlang. Thing to note, Neo4j is not as easy to Scale Out, at least for free. But.. it is fully transactional ( even JTA ), it persists things to disk, it is baked into Spring Data.

    • Scalable - We are looking at a distributed architecture, hence scalability is important. For the moment performance(in any form) isn't exactly on top of my list, and I don't think we'll be hitting the limitations of any of the above mentioned databases anytime soon.

    I believe given your input, Riak would be the best choice for you:

    • Written in Erlang
    • Naturally Distributed
    • Very easy to develop for/with
    • Lots of features ( secondary indicies, virtual nodes, fully modular, pluggable persistence [LevelDB, Bitcask, InnoDB, flat file, etc.. ], extremely reliable, built in full text search, etc.. )
    • Has an extremely passionate and helpful community with Basho backing it up