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Possible Duplicate:
NoSql vs Relational database

I have been on a couple projects where my teams chose to use a NoSQL DB (i.e. MongoDB) rather than a RDBMS like PostgreSQL or MySQL. By midway through our project, most people in my teams ended up disliking NoSQL database. One of my theories is that the number of use cases for NoSQL is very limited so we might have chosen the database for the wrong reason in the first place. Another theory is that many modern frameworks/gems/plugins/etc up-to-date are designed with RDBMS in mind so using a ORM for NoSQL Database feels unnatural (i.e. Mongoid) vs using ActiveRecord (a SQL ORM) in Rails for example which was designed with ActiveRecord in mind. Maybe ease of use will be better in the future?

NoSQL is supposed to be schemaless but is that truly benefiting? Isn't there a huge amount of risk over data integrity for that?

Can someone give good real use cases where using a NoSQL DB is truly useful over a Relational Database? Today is the end of the world so I really want to know!

Community
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RubyFanatic
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    There was *lots* of discussion on this a few years ago - walk through the [nosql](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/nosql) tag to review. Historical note: questions like these (why should I use X rather than Y?) are no longer considered on-topic for Stack Overflow. – Michael Petrotta Dec 21 '12 at 01:06
  • On top of everything @MichaelPetrotta said, why is this tagged Python, or MySQL? – abarnert Dec 21 '12 at 01:07
  • @MichaelPetrotta Where would they be considered on-topic? Genuinely curious. – Nathan Dec 21 '12 at 01:10
  • @MichaelPetrotta: I saw these answers on different places but those were the consensuses before last year which unfortunately seems a long time ago so that's why I want to get the most up-to-date answer now. – RubyFanatic Dec 21 '12 at 01:12
  • @Nathan, well, *don't quote me on this*, because I don't hang out there much, and they [*hate*](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/73382/please-stop-using-programmers-se-as-your-toilet-bowl) it when people say this, but this *might* be on-topic for [Programmers](http://programmers.stackexchange.com). Meditate on their [FAQ](http://programmers.stackexchange.com/faq). – Michael Petrotta Dec 21 '12 at 01:13
  • Yeah, I get it, @RubyFanatic, but you might be out of luck, unless Ronald answered to your satisfaction. But see my comment above. – Michael Petrotta Dec 21 '12 at 01:13

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NoSQL is supposed to be useful in cases where there's a huge amount of data, without the kind of requirements needed for an RDBMS.

I can't give you any use cases, because I think it's a niche thing. Basically, NoSQL sounds like the kind of system where you'll have a pretty good idea if you need it, and if you don't, that probably means you should stick with an RDBMS.

There's a lot to say about the relational model, so I wouldn't walk away from it lightly.

Here's the Wiki, which is pretty readable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NoSQL

RonaldBarzell
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