Mariano Vazquez explains how to configure MongoDB replica sets on Microsoft Azure and how that works:

• MongoDB will run the native binaries on a worker role and will store the data in Windows Azure storage using Windows Azure Drive (basically a hard disk mounted on Azure Page blobs)
• The good thing about using Azure Storage is that the data is georeplicated. It will also make backup easier because of the snapshot feature of blob storage (which is not a copy but a diff).
• It will use the local hard disk in the VM (local resources in the Azure jargon) to store the log files and a local cache.
• You can scale out to multiple Mongo Replica Sets by increasing the instance count of the MongoDB role

Original title and link: Using MongoDB Replica Sets With Node.js on Microsoft Azure: NoSQL Tutorials (NoSQL database©myNoSQL)

via: http://nodeblog.cloudapp.net/running-mongodb-on-azure-and-connect-from-a-nodejs-web-app

The setup includes a web-based interactive JavaScript console, which lets you put data into HDFS, launch MapReduce jobs, and also visualize results with HTML5 charts - and it’s very easy to use.

The JavaScript console and the visualization support are very nice additions on top of the managed Hadoop on Azure.

Feature checklists are still important, but technology adoption depends more and more on the user experience. Think of getting up to speed as being the first impression someone gets of a new technology.

I have a couple of ideas of what would be next in terms of facilitating the adoption of NoSQL technologies. But I’d really like to hear your opinions first.

Original title and link: Hadoop on Windows Azure: Visualizing Data (NoSQL database©myNoSQL)

via: http://blog.itrend.tv/hadoop-on-windows-azure-visualizing-data

One of the exciting new features in the just-released SQL Azure Q4 2011 Service Release is SQL Azure Federation. In a sentence, SQL Azure Federation enables building elastic and scalable database tiers.

We all know the benefits of sharding so why calling it differently? NIH?

Original title and link: SQL Azure Federation… Aka Sharding (NoSQL database©myNoSQL)

via: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2011/12/13/building-large-scale-elastic-database-tiers-with-sql-azure-introducing-federations.aspx

CloudSpokes, an Appirio-led community rearchitected their solution from Windows Azure to Salesforce’s Database.com:

Initially, Messinger said, his team was really happy with Windows Azure’s table storage and blob storage features, but trouble arose when it came to deploying computing resources called “Web Roles.” […]

Additionally, said Messinger, Windows Azure required some level of database-administration know-how, which is something the CloudSpokes didn’t really want to deal with. It wanted to focus on the front end and other business-critical aspects rather than on DBA work. So it looked to Database.com, and Messinger and Singh haven’t looked back since beginning the transition in mid-July.

This is the first time I’m reading a scenario where DaaS (database as a service) is explicitely mentioned as the main reason for migrating the architecture of an application.

Original title and link: CloudSpokes: From Microsoft Azure to Database.com (NoSQL database©myNoSQL)

via: http://gigaom.com/cloud/cloud-breakup-why-cloudspokes-chose-database-com-over-azure/

I don’t know how many are going to deploy Hadoop on Microsoft Azure, but at least we know it is possible:

Is it possible to deploy a Hadoop cluster in Azure? It sure is and setting one up is not difficult, here’s how you do it.

[…]

The Azure deployment is set to use 1 large VM for the Name Node, 1 large VM for the Job Tracker and 4 Extra Large nodes as Slaves. If you are ok with that configuration skip to the next step.

Original title and link: Hadoop in Microsoft Azure (NoSQL databases © myNoSQL)

via: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mariok/archive/2011/05/11/hadoop-in-azure.aspx

A paper by Andrew J.Brust. Abstract:

An introduction to NoSQL database technology, and its major subcategories, for those new to the subject; an examination of NoSQL technologies available in the cloud using Windows Azure and SQL Azure; and a critical discussion of the NoSQL and relational database approaches, including the suitability of each to line-of-business application development.

When analyzing NoSQL options available on the Azure platform, Andrew is listing:

• Azure Table Storage
• SQL Azure XML Columns
• SQL Azure Federation — check also The NoSQL gene in SQL Azure Federations
• OData (?)
• running NoSQL databases as Azure Worker Roles, VM roles, and Azure Drive

The paper concludes:

We saw how NoSQL databases are suitable for data management that is light-duty but large-scale, and how they work well for content management requirements of many stripes. We also saw, again and again, that relational databases are best for line-of-business applications. The database consistency, query optimization and set-based declarative query capability that relational databases have provided for decades is still required by most LOB applications; this has not changed.

Original title and link: Paper: NoSQL and the Windows Azure Platform (NoSQL databases © myNoSQL)

via: http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/E/9/9E9F240D-0EB6-472E-B4DE-6D9FCBB505DD/Windows Azure No SQL White Paper.pdf

It started as an embedded database. Then it became a server. Now it is available on Microsoft Azure:

Neo4j has a ‘j’ appended to the name. And now it is available on Windows Azure? This proves that in the most unlikely of circumstances sometimes beautiful things can emerge.

Until now it was only MongoDB, sones GraphDB and RavenDB that could run in the Microsoft cloud.

Original title and link: Neo4j on Windows Azure (NoSQL databases © myNoSQL)

via: http://blog.neo4j.org/2011/02/announcing-neo4j-on-windows-azure.html

Just after posting about this excellent Database.com and SQL Azure comparison, I have found another interesting Microsoft Azure article.

It is about Sharding with SQL Azure and is covering aspects as principles, challenges, and common patterns for horizontal partitioning, a high level design of an ADO.NET sharding library, and an intro to SQL Azure Federations:

The proposed implementation will map data to specific shards by applying one or more strategies upon a “sharding key” which is the primary key in one of the data entities. Related data entities are then clustered into a related set based upon the shared shard key and this unit is referred to as an atomic unit. All records in an atomic unit are always stored in the same shard.

Be aware that the article is quite long, but definitely worth reading.

Original title and link: Sharding with SQL Azure (NoSQL databases © myNoSQL)

via: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/sharding-with-sql-azure.aspx

Extensive comparison of the upcoming Database.com and Microsoft’s SQL Azure:

Salesforce.com will unbundle its underlying relational database engine from Force.com when the firm releases Database.com’s commercial version in 2011. In the meantime, developers can testdrive Database.com with a free Force.com developer account, which includes a Database.com database having:

• Three enterprise user accounts
• 100,000 rows of storage per month
• 150,000 transactions per month

According to the article, Database.com will support ACID transactions (Apex code), triggers and stored procedures (Apex code), relationships, a query language, full-text search. Looks like a relational database in the cloud, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be underneath.

Original title and link: Preliminary Comparison of Database.com and SQL Azure Features and Capabilities (NoSQL databases © myNoSQL)

via: http://oakleafblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/preliminary-comparison-of-databasecom.html

The Register writing about Microsoft initiative to bring NoSQL databases to the Azure cloud, Membase and MongoDB being mentioned in the article^[1]:

The addition of NoSQL suits Microsoft - by bringing more people to Azure - and it suits the NoSQLers, because they get more Windows devs to support.

You can run NoSQL options like Mongo and Memcached on Azure after some fiddling and configuring. The goal now is to deliver a development, deployment, and management experience already familiar to those on Windows, SQL Server, and Visual Basic.

Is VMWare/Spring making the same bet for the Java world? Judging by the Spring Data initiative, plus Grails support for Redis, Grails support for MongoDB, I’d say they are.

A question that I’d like to clarify to myself is how popular is memcached in the Java world? My impression is that Java people have stayed away from memcached so far, using Java based solutions like EHCache or Terracotta, but I might be completely wrong.

Original title and link: Microsoft coaches NoSQL options for Azure cloud (NoSQL databases © myNoSQL)

via: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/12/windows_azure_nosql/

Looks like today is the day of the NoSQL databases in the Microsoft cloud. After covering how to run MongoDB on Azure and today’s guide to running sones GraphDB on Azure, the third one joining the party is RavenDB:

The short answer was, with the current build, no. RavenDB uses the .NET HttpListener class internally, and apparently that class will not work on worker roles, which are restricted to listening on TCP only.

[…]

I have to sign a contribution agreement, and do some more extensive testing, but I hope that Ayende is going to pull my TCP changes into the RavenDB trunk so that this deployment model is supported by the official releases.

So, two document stores and a graph database are already available for Microsoft Azure. Which one is next?

Microsoft Azure and NoSQL Databases: MongoDB, sones GraphDB, and RavenDB originally posted on the NoSQL blog: myNoSQL

via: http://blog.markrendle.net/2010/08/running-ravendb-on-azure.html