Unbundling Database Architecture: Turning Databases Inside-Out

Relational database technology has been around for a few decades now. In the last several years we have seen a resurgence of innovation around data storage and data processing. This has pushed us into the realm of thinking outside of traditional SQL and big iron monolithic computing.

NoSQL, NewSQL and distributed commodity/cloud storage is changing how we build persistence into our applications. However the fundamentals of databases have not changed much. Lower cost memory and the availability of cheaper cloud computing has created a lot of innovation, but how databases function under the hood has not changed very much.

The fundamentals of how transaction atomicity, replication and considerations such as CAP theorem are still tackled in much the same way as they were with the earlier database engines. But is there a different way to look at how applications manage persistence for OLTP type of transactions? Well, Apache Samza presents an interesting approach to how data is managed. While it takes things from a streaming centric approach, this could present a new way for how applications can manage general data storage in the future.

Here is an interesting blog that presents a breakdown how the Apache Samza architecture and how this can facilitate more general purpose application data management by using an "unbundled" architecture in the heart of the database engine. Is this just another specialized data storage engine geared toward steaming data and analytics, or a whole new way to think about database architecture?