The document discusses various ways to connect .NET applications to NoSQL databases like MongoDB and Cassandra. It covers client SDK APIs, REST/SOAP APIs, and SQL-based connectivity options. For SQL connectivity, the document explains that Progress DataDirect drivers normalize the NoSQL data model to expose it through SQL. Examples demonstrate connecting to MongoDB and Cassandra using the MongoDB and Cassandra .NET drivers, their REST APIs, and Progress DataDirect's ODBC drivers with SQL. The document concludes that SQL connectivity requires data normalization but offers familiar skills and easy BI integration.

1. Connecting your .NET
Applications to NoSQL
Databases
- MongoDB and Cassandra
30th June 2016

2. © 2016 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All rights reserved.2
Product Owner ODBC, JDBC & ADO.NET Drivers,
Progress DataDirect
https://www.progress.com/documentation/datadirect-connectors
Avadhoot.Kulkarni@progress.com
Avadhoot Kulkarni

3. © 2016 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All rights reserved.3
Agenda
 What is NoSQL?
• Understanding Schema Design
• Benefits
• Implementations
 Different ways of Connecting to NoSQL Data
• Client APIs
• REST/SOAP APIs
• SQL Based Connectivity, Progress DataDirect Drivers

4. Understanding Schema Design

5. © 2016 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All rights reserved.5
What is NoSQL?
Sample JSON Document (MongoDB):
{ name: “sue”, age: 26, status: “A”, groups: [“news”, “sports”]}
Relational database design
focuses on data storage
NoSQL database design
focuses on data use
Key Value Store (Cassandra):
NoSQL RDBMS

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Schema Design Comparison
Relational Design NoSQL Document Design
{ user: {
first: “Brody,
last: “Messmer”, ...
}
purchases: [
{ symbol: “PRGS”, date: “2013-02-13”, price: 23.50, qty: 100,
...},
{ symbol: “PRGS”, date: “2012-06-12”, price: 20.57, qty: 100,
...},
...
]
}
...
user_id first last …
123456 Brody Messmer …
…
user_id symbol date price qty …
123456 PRGS 2013-02-13 23.50 100 …
123456 PRGS 2012-06-12 20.57 100 …
…
Table: users
Table: purchases

7. A little Humor…..

8. Benefits of NoSQL

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Benefits of NoSQL
High Performance
• Data can easily be partitioned across multiple nodes
• Low default isolation levels for both read and write operations
• Object models (Denormalized schema design) reduce need for expensive joins
• Typical index support, even on fields within embedded documents and arrays
High Availability & Fault Tolerance
• Replica sets / nodes provide automatic failover and data redundancy
Easily Scale Up or Scale Out
• Capable of running on commodity hardware
Cost

10. NoSQL Implementations

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NoSQL Implementations
MongoDB
Type: JSON Document Store
Query Language: API / PSQL
Typical Use Case:
• Web Applications (especially when
built with JavaScript)
Additional Benefits:
• Node.js / Web friendly -- JSON
• Dynamic schema
Apache Cassandra
Type: Key Value Store
Query Language: CQL
Typical Use Case:
• Real-time analytic workloads
• Heavy Writes, with desire for
reporting
Additional Benefits:
• Especially High Availability with
CAP focus on Availability and
Partition Tolerance
MarkLogic
Type: Multi-Model
Query Language: API
Typical Use Case:
• Search
• Recommendation Engine
Additional Benefits:
• Handles any types of data

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Ways to Access NoSQL Data
Client SDK
REST/SOAP APIs
SQL Connectivity

13. Connectivity using Client API

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Client API Based Connectivity
Almost every NoSQL database has development SDKs to allow applications to integrate
with its data.
 Pros:
• Easiest and quickest way to develop application
 Cons:
• Functionality may be limited,
• Creates dependency on vendor SDK
• Learning the SDK is vendor specific learning
 When to Use:
• Time critical deliveries,
• Vendor specific Integration is acceptable

15. Example: Client SDK Connectivity to MongoDB
Components Used for the Demo Sample
MongoDB C# Driver
• Nuget Package Link
https://www.nuget.org/packages/mongocsharpdriver/
• Getting Started
https://docs.mongodb.com/getting-started/csharp/client/

16. Example: Client SDK Connectivity to MongoDB
What does the sample do?
• Insert object of type MyClass – Square
• Insert object of type MyClass – Circle
• Insert object of type SubClass – SubClass
• Count All Objects which Has Corners > 1
• Count All Objects which Has Ratio > 1

17. Example: Client SDK Connectivity to MongoDB

19. Example: Client SDK Connectivity to Cassandra
Components Used for the Demo Sample
Cassandra C# Driver
 Nuget Package Link
https://www.nuget.org/packages/CassandraCSharpDriver/
 Getting Started
https://academy.datastax.com/resources/getting-started-apache-
cassandra-and-c-net

20. Example: Client SDK Connectivity to Apache Cassandra
What does the sample do?
• CREATE the USERS Table
• Insert User – Salman
• Insert Another User - Shahrukh
• Select a User using Where Clause Filter Condition

21. Example: Client SDK Connectivity to Cassandra

22. Example: Client SDK Connectivity to Cassandra

23. REST/SOAP API Based
Connectivity

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REST/SOAP API Based Connectivity
Some NoSQL vendors expose their low level APIs over REST and/or SOAP. Few provide
this connectivity out-of-the box i.e. CouchDB; While few need extra setup, e.g.
Cassandra & MongoDB
 Pros:
• Usually more flexible and performant than SDK Access
• Small vendor specific learning compared to Client SDK
 Cons:
• More complex to integrate compared to SDK
 When to Use:
• Performance is Key
• Looking integration which is less vendor dependent

25. REST API Connectivity to MongoDB
There are Multiple REST Interfaces for MongoDB
• https://docs.mongodb.com/ecosystem/tools/http-interfaces/
Building First Mongo DB Application using REST
• https://www.mongodb.com/blog/post/building-your-first-application-
mongodb-creating-rest-api-using-mean-stack-part-1
REST APIs for MongoDB CRUD Operations
• http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/1071823/RESTful-WEB-API-for-
CRUD-operations-in-MongoDB

26. REST API Connectivity to Cassandra
Apache-Meos REST API Reference
• https://mesosphere.github.io/cassandra-mesos/docs/rest-api.html
Writing your first client
• https://docs.datastax.com/en/developer/nodejs-driver/1.0/nodejs-
driver/quick_start/qsQuickstart.html
RESTful APIs using spring Boot and Cassandra
• http://myjourneyonjava.blogspot.in/2015/08/restful-api-using-spring-boot-
and.html

27. SQL Based Connectivity

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SQL Based Connectivity
There are few third party vendors like Progress DataDirect, who provides SQL standard
based drivers for NoSQL Data sources.
 Pros:
• No new learning, we all know SQL and ODBC/JDBC/ADO.NET
• Easy to integrate with BI/Analytics tool which expect xDBC/ADO.NET Integration
 Cons:
• Not a natural fit for the Data Mapping.
• Some operations could become very slow because of limitations of underlying APIs/Protocols
 When to Use:
• Third party BI/Analytical tool integration
• Designing Applications which are vendor agnostic
• Data Sync/Integration applications with RDBMS DataSources

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SQL Connectivity to NoSQL Databases Is Hard
Cassandra MongoDB Challenges
Non-Standard Query Language
Lack of Common RDBMS Functionality
• No Support for Joins
• Limited support for filters, aggregates, etc
• Sorting is not ANSI SQL Compliant
• No ACID Transactions
• Unique Authentication
Non-relational Schema
• Heavy use of complex types (denormalized data model)
• Self-describing schema – Can only discover columns by selecting data
• Primary / Foreign Keys maintained by apps, not the database
Frequent Release Cadence

30. Example: SQL Connectivity to MongoDB
Progress DataDirect ODBC Driver for MongoDB
 Download Page :
https://www.progress.com/connectors/mongodb
 Documentation:
https://documentation.progress.com/output/DataDirect/odbcmongo
help/index.html

31. Example: SQL Connectivity to MongoDB
What does the sample do?
• Uses ADO.NET ODBC Bridge to Progress DataDirect MongoDB ODBC
Driver
• Application clears all rows in the MyClass Collection (Table).
• Insert object of type MyClass – Square
• Insert object of type MyClass – Circle
• Insert object of type SubClass – SubClass
• Count All Objects which Has Corners > 1
• Count All Objects which Has Ratio > 1

32. Example: SQL Connectivity to MongoDB

33. Example: SQL Connectivity to MongoDB

34. Example: SQL Connectivity to Cassandra
Progress DataDirect ODBC Driver for Apache Cassandra <Preview>
 Download Page :
https://www.progress.com/connectors/apache-cassandra
 Documentation:
https://documentation.progress.com/output/DataDirect/jdbccassandrahe
lp/

35. Example: SQL Connectivity to Apache Cassandra
What does the sample do?
• Uses .NET ODBC Bridge to Progress DataDirect Apache Cassandra ODBC
Driver
• Delete all the rows from USERS Table
• Insert User – Salman
• Insert Another User - Shahrukh
• Select a User using Where Clause Filter Condition

36. Example: SQL Connectivity to Cassandra

37. Example: SQL Connectivity to Cassandra

38. © 2016 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All rights reserved.38
Collection Name: stock
{ symbol: “PRGS”,
purchases:[
{date: ISODate(“2013-02-13T16:58:36Z”), price: 23.50, qty: 100},
{date: ISODate(“2012-06-12T08:00:01Z”), price: 20.57, qty: 100,
sellDate: ISODate(“2013-08-16T12:34:58Z”)}, sellPrice: 24.60}
]
}
“Normalizing” the NoSQL Data Model
Table Name: stock
_id symbol
1 PRGS
stock_id Date Price qty sellDate sellPrice
1 2013-02-13
16:58:36
23.50 100 NULL NULL
1 2012-06-12
08:00:01
20.57 100 2013-08-16
12:34:58
24.60
Table Name: stock_purchases

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“Normalizing” the NoSQL Data Model
The Benefits:
 Re-use of existing skills (SQL, Joins, etc.)
• Exposing complex types using concepts familiar to those savvy
with RDBMS
 As arrays/lists/maps/sets grow, table definitions remain constant
 Simplified / Narrower table definitions
 Joins across parent/child tables result in a single query to the database.
In other words, there’s no performance penalty.
 Data in arrays can be sorted and/or aggregated via SQL

40. NoSQL is non-standard, non-relational way of storing information.
Client SDK API based access is the easiest way to reach NoSQL data from applications,
though it might be limited, creates dependency on the SDK libraries and has lot of data
source specific learning.
REST APIs based access is a bit more complex, but provides more flexibility in terms of its
usage. The API knowledge is data-source specific; If written good code, should perform
better than client SDK.
SQL based connectivity, no new data source specific learnings, easy integration with
third party BI/Analytics tools which expects SQL connectivity. As it’s not the natural way of
connectivity to NoSQL, Data Normalization is required. Some SQL connectivity solutions
like Progress DataDirect takes care of this transparent to the application.
Normalisation techniques should be the key criteria for choosing the right SQL
Connectivity solution for NoSQL DataSources.
Recap

41. Questions?