Principal Tallan Consultant Leonard Lobel posted this insightful article on his technology blog in March 2020, and we’re thrilled to share it today:
Many of us are familiar with relational databases like SQL Server and Oracle. But Azure Cosmos DB is a NoSQL (non-relational) database – which is very different, and there are new ways to think about data modeling. In this post, we’ll use a familiar real-world relational data model and refactor it as a non-relational data model for Azure Cosmos DB.
First, there are many ways to describe Azure Cosmos DB, but for our purposes, we can define it as having two primary characteristics: it is horizontally scalable, and it is non-relational.
Horizontally scalable
In Azure Cosmos DB, you store data in a single logical container. But behind the container, Azure Cosmos DB manages a cluster of servers, and distributes the workload across multiple physical machines. This is transparent to us – we never worry about these back-end servers – we just work with the one container. Azure Cosmos DB, meanwhile, automatically maintains the cluster, and dynamically adds more and more servers as needed, to accommodate your growth. And this is the essence of horizontal scale. Keep reading…
Leonard Lobel (Microsoft MVP, SQL Server) is the chief technology officer and co-founder of Sleek Technologies, Inc., a New York-based development shop with an early adopter philosophy toward new technologies. He is also a principal consultant at Tallan, Inc., one of only 40 Microsoft National Systems Integrators in the United States. For more than 25 years, Tallan has been providing cutting-edge custom web/application development, business intelligence, customer relationship management, and integration services.Programming since 1979, Lenni specializes in Microsoft-based solutions, with experience that spans a variety of business domains, including publishing, financial, wholesale/retail, health care, and e-commerce. Lenni has served as chief architect and lead developer for various organizations, ranging from small shops to high-profile clients. He is also a consultant, trainer, and frequent speaker at local usergroup meetings, SQL PASS, SQLBits, Visual Studio Live!, and other industry conferences.