Azure previews fully-managed NoSQL database and search services
I am pleased to announce previews of new NoSQL database and search services and the evolution of our Hadoop-based service. Available as previews today are Azure DocumentDB, a fully-managed transactional NoSQL document database-as-a-service, and Azure Search, which enables developers to easily add search capabilities to mobile and cloud applications. Generally available today, Azure HDInsight, our Hadoop-based solution for the cloud, now supports Apache HBase clusters.
With these new and updated services, we’re continuing to make it easier for customers to work with data of any type and size – using the tools, languages and frameworks they want to — in a trusted cloud environment. From Microsoft products like Azure Machine Learning, Azure SQL Database and Azure HDInsight to data services from our partners, we’re committed to supporting the broadest data platform so our customers get data benefits, in the cloud, on their terms.
Preview of Azure DocumentDB
Applications today must support multiple devices, multiple platforms with rapid iterations from the same data source, and also deliver high-scale and reliable performance. NoSQL has emerged as the leading database technology to address these needs. According to Gartner inquiries, flexible data schemas and application development velocity are cited as primary factors influencing adoption. Secondary factors attracting enterprises are global replication capabilities, high performance and developer interest.*
However, while NoSQL technologies address some document database needs, we’ve been hearing feedback that customers want a way to bridge document database functionality with the transactional capabilities of relational databases. Azure DocumentDB is our answer to that feedback – it’s a NoSQL document database-as-a-service that provides the benefits of a NoSQL document database but also adds the query processing and transaction semantics common to relational database systems.
Built for the cloud, Azure DocumentDB natively supports JSON documents enabling easy object mapping and iteration of data models for application development. Azure DocumentDB offers programming libraries for several popular languages and platforms, including.Net, Node.js, JavaScript, and Python. We will be contributing the client libraries to the open source community, so they can incorporate improvements into the versions published on Azure.com.
One DocumentDB customer, Additive Labs, builds online services to help their customers move to the cloud. “DocumentDB is the NoSQL database I am expecting today,” said Additive Labs Founder Thomas Weiss. “The ease and power of SQL-like queries had me started in a matter of minutes. And the ability to augment the engine’s behavior with custom JavaScript makes it way easier to adapt to our customers’ new requirements.”
Preview of Azure Search
Search has become a natural way for users to interact with applications that manage volumes of data. However, managing search infrastructure at scale can be difficult and time consuming and often requires specialized skills and knowledge. Azure Search is a fully-managed search-as-a-service that customers can use to integrate complete search experiences into applications and connect search results to business objectives through fine-tuned, ranking profiles. Customers do not have to worry about the complexities of full-text search or deploying, maintaining or managing a search infrastructure.
With Azure Search developers can easily provision a search service, quickly create and tune one or more indexes, upload data to be indexed and start issuing searches. The service offers a simple API that’s usable from any platform or development environment and makes it easy to integrate search into new or existing applications. With Azure Search, developers can use the Azure portal or management APIs to increase or decrease capacity in terms of queries per second and document count as load changes, delivering a more cost effective solution for search scenarios.
Retail platform provider Xomni is already using Azure Search to help the company manage its cloud infrastructure. “We have the most technically advanced SaaS solution for delivering product catalogue data to the retail industry in the market today,” said Xomni CTO Daron Yondem. “Integrating Azure Search into our platform will help solidify our leadership as datasets and faceted search requirements evolve over time.”
General availability of Apache HBase for HDInsight
In partnership with Hortonworks, we’ve invested in the Hadoop ecosystem through contributions across projects like Tez, Stinger and Hive. Azure HDInsight, our Hadoop-based service, is another outcome of that partnership.
Azure HDInsight combines the best of Hadoop open source technology with the elasticity and manageability that enterprises require. Today, we’re making generally available HBase as a managed cluster inside HDInsight. HBase clusters are configured to store data directly in Azure Blob storage. For example, customers can use HDInsight to analyze large datasets in Azure Blobs generated from highly-interactive websites or can use it to analyze sensor and telemetry data from millions of end points.
Microsoft data services
Azure data services provide unparalleled choice for businesses, data scientists, developers and IT pros with a variety of managed services from Microsoft and our partners that work together seamlessly and connect to our customers’ data platform investments– from relational data to non-relational data, structured data to unstructured data, constant and evolving data models. I encourage you to try out our new and expanded Azure data services and let us know what you think.
*Gartner, Hype Cycle for Information Infrastructure, 2014, Mark Beyer and Roxane Edjlali, 06 August 2014
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