DEVOPSdigest

Couchbase announced new features in Couchbase Server that include support for multi-document ACID transactions and a host of query enhancements. Couchbase Server 6.5 will deliver feature parity with SQL and relational database management systems (RDBMS), making it easier for enterprises to develop business-critical applications on Couchbase.

Couchbase Server 6.5 is currently in beta and will be generally available this winter.

As enterprises continue to create new applications to maintain competitiveness in a fast-moving digital environment, there is an increased need for a more agile, performant, and scalable database on which these applications are built. With Couchbase Server 6.5, developers already accustomed to working with the SQL open standard can leverage these same skills within a NoSQL environment to address the requirements of today’s web, mobile and IoT applications.

Key highlights of Couchbase Server 6.5 include:

- Distributed ACID transactions: While Couchbase Server has always supported single document transactions, Couchbase Server 6.5 will offer distributed ACID transactions across multiple documents and multiple nodes. As a distributed scale-out data platform, Couchbase has a long-standing distinction of being a leader in scalability, performance, and high availability. With multi-document distributed transactions, Couchbase remains true to those tenets. The addition of multi-document distributed transactions allows Couchbase to provide transactions semantics without compromising performance and scale it has always been known for.

- Query enhancements: Couchbase Server 6.5 delivers numerous query enhancements, including RDBMS ANSI standard equivalent window functions, which simplify complex queries and reduces code complexity, particularly for financial and statistical reporting. In fact, in a forthcoming report titled Database Query Comparative Analysis, IT consultancy Altoros compares the query capabilities of Couchbase against two other approaches. Across the nine business scenarios Altoros tested against, Altoros found that Couchbase’s declarative approach versus a leading competitor’s procedural approach resulted in significantly less code developers must write when creating applications.

Couchbase also introduces and previews query optimization for NoSQL. The patent-pending cost-based query optimizer, much like in RDBMS, helps developers eliminate time spent on tweaking queries by using a rule-based optimizer to choose the optimal execution plan.

Carl Olofson, Research VP, IDC, said: “Couchbase is bringing together features of NoSQL with the familiarity and query power of SQL, making it easy for RDBMS developers to adopt and create new applications. So it’s not a matter of either/or, it’s ‘this’ and ‘this.’ Today’s developers are creating a different class of application using the agility of NoSQL, but increasingly find that they also require the integrity and consistency of relational, including support for transactions. Couchbase 6.5 marries SQL and transactions with NoSQL quite nicely.”

Ravi Mayuram, SVP of Engineering and CTO, Couchbase, said: “Today's market reality is that NoSQL databases are critical for modern business applications. Enterprises are looking to NoSQL databases to provide equivalent relational database functionality that they still depend on. With support for multi-document transactions that we are delivering in 6.5, we are addressing this need whereby Couchbase can be relied on for both NoSQL advantages -- schema flexibility, scale and performance-- as well as relational database mainstays such as SQL and transactions. Bridging traditional databases to modern NoSQL database in this unique way, Couchbase Server 6.5 will exponentially accelerate application development, delivery, deployment, and scaling.”