Relational and NoSQL Databases: The Appropriate Database Model Choice

For over four decades, Relational database management systems RDBMS have been the primary model for data storage, retrieval and management. However, due to the continuous information growth in current organizations and the increasing needs for scalability and performance, specially while handling a very huge amount of data that generated by various new generation real time applications or social networking sites that could be unstructured or semi-structured data, poses a set of challenges to the existing RDBMS Vendors. Such challenges have created a need for adaptation alternative technologies in the field of data storage and manipulation. NoSQL technology is the alternative category of Database Management Systems that have been emerged as the solution to the ever-growing data requirements. In this paper, the advantages and the limitations of relational databases we will be presented. The NoSQL data model, types of NOSQL data stores, characteristics of each data store, advantages and disadvantages of NoSQL over RDBMS will also be discussed. The paper helps the interest users to take a review of the different database model solutions, which can serve as a base for selecting the proper database model that can satisfy their application requirements.