Database Technologies Hub

Master SQL, NoSQL, Elasticsearch & Big Data with real-world use cases and expert guidance

15+ Database Types
50+ Use Cases
100+ Code Examples
Possibilities

SQL Databases

PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL Global Development Group
Complexity
7.5/10
Learning Curve
7/10
Performance
9/10
Scalability
8/10
Employee Management
Order Management
Financial Systems
Healthcare Records
Education Platforms
-- Employee Management System CREATE TABLE employees ( id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY, employee_id VARCHAR(10) UNIQUE NOT NULL, first_name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL, last_name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL, email VARCHAR(100) UNIQUE, department_id INT REFERENCES departments(id), hire_date DATE DEFAULT CURRENT_DATE, salary DECIMAL(10,2), manager_id INT REFERENCES employees(id), created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT NOW() ); -- Complex query for employee hierarchy WITH RECURSIVE employee_hierarchy AS ( SELECT id, first_name, last_name, manager_id, 1 as level FROM employees WHERE manager_id IS NULL UNION ALL SELECT e.id, e.first_name, e.last_name, e.manager_id, eh.level + 1 FROM employees e JOIN employee_hierarchy eh ON e.manager_id = eh.id ) SELECT * FROM employee_hierarchy ORDER BY level, last_name;
MySQL
Oracle Corporation
Complexity
6/10
Learning Curve
5/10
Performance
8.5/10
Community
9.5/10
E-commerce Platforms
Content Management
Mobile App Backends
Gaming Leaderboards
-- Order Management System CREATE TABLE orders ( order_id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, customer_id INT NOT NULL, order_date DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, total_amount DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL, status ENUM('pending', 'processing', 'shipped', 'delivered', 'cancelled') DEFAULT 'pending', shipping_address TEXT, INDEX idx_customer (customer_id), INDEX idx_status_date (status, order_date) ); -- Get monthly sales report SELECT DATE_FORMAT(order_date, '%Y-%m') as month, COUNT(*) as total_orders, SUM(total_amount) as revenue, AVG(total_amount) as avg_order_value FROM orders WHERE status = 'delivered' GROUP BY DATE_FORMAT(order_date, '%Y-%m') ORDER BY month DESC;

NoSQL Databases

MongoDB
MongoDB Inc.
Complexity
6.5/10
Flexibility
9.5/10
Scalability
9/10
JSON Support
10/10
Content Management
User Profiles
IoT Data Storage
Social Media
Product Catalogs
// Employee Profile Management with MongoDB db.employees.insertOne({ employeeId: "EMP001", personalInfo: { firstName: "John", lastName: "Doe", email: "john.doe@company.com", phone: "+1-555-0123" }, jobDetails: { department: "Engineering", position: "Senior Developer", startDate: new Date("2020-01-15"), salary: 95000, skills: ["JavaScript", "Python", "MongoDB", "React"] }, address: { street: "123 Main St", city: "San Francisco", state: "CA", zipCode: "94105" }, performance: [ { year: 2023, rating: 4.5, bonus: 5000 }, { year: 2022, rating: 4.2, bonus: 4000 } ] }); // Complex aggregation for department analytics db.employees.aggregate([ { $match: { "jobDetails.department": "Engineering" } }, { $group: { _id: "$jobDetails.position", count: { $sum: 1 }, avgSalary: { $avg: "$jobDetails.salary" }, topSkills: { $push: "$jobDetails.skills" } }}, { $sort: { count: -1 } } ]);
Redis
Redis Ltd.
Speed
10/10
Simplicity
9/10
Memory Usage
8.5/10
Real-time
10/10
Session Management
Real-time Analytics
Pub/Sub Messaging
Rate Limiting
# Redis for Real-time Order Tracking # Set order status HSET order:12345 status "processing" HSET order:12345 updated_at "2025-06-19T10:30:00Z" HSET order:12345 customer_id "CUST789" # Track order progress LPUSH order:12345:timeline "Order placed" LPUSH order:12345:timeline "Payment confirmed" LPUSH order:12345:timeline "Processing started" # Real-time notifications PUBLISH order_updates "{'orderId': '12345', 'status': 'processing'}" # Session management for employee login SETEX session:emp_john_doe 3600 "{'employeeId': 'EMP001', 'role': 'manager'}" # Rate limiting for API calls INCR api_calls:emp_001:$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M) EXPIRE api_calls:emp_001:$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M) 60

Search Engines

Elasticsearch
Elastic N.V.
Search Power
10/10
Complexity
8/10
Analytics
9.5/10
Real-time
9/10
Employee Search
Order Search
Log Analytics
Security Monitoring
Product Discovery
// Employee Search System with Elasticsearch PUT /employees/_mapping { "properties": { "employeeId": { "type": "keyword" }, "fullName": { "type": "text", "analyzer": "standard", "fields": { "suggest": { "type": "completion" } } }, "department": { "type": "keyword" }, "skills": { "type": "keyword" }, "location": { "type": "geo_point" }, "experience": { "type": "integer" }, "bio": { "type": "text" } } } // Advanced employee search GET /employees/_search { "query": { "bool": { "must": [ { "match": { "fullName": "john developer" } } ], "filter": [ { "term": { "department": "engineering" } }, { "range": { "experience": { "gte": 3 } } } ] } }, "aggs": { "skills_distribution": { "terms": { "field": "skills", "size": 10 } }, "department_breakdown": { "terms": { "field": "department" } } }, "highlight": { "fields": { "bio": {} } } }
Apache Solr
Apache Software Foundation
Enterprise Features
9.5/10
Faceted Search
10/10
Configuration
7/10
Stability
9/10
Enterprise Search
Faceted Navigation
Document Management
E-commerce Search

Big Data Technologies

Apache Spark
Apache Software Foundation
Processing Speed
9.5/10
Memory Usage
8.5/10
ML Support
9/10
Real-time
8.5/10
ML Training
Stream Processing
ETL Operations
HR Analytics
# Employee Analytics with Apache Spark from pyspark.sql import SparkSession from pyspark.sql.functions import * from pyspark.ml.feature import VectorAssembler from pyspark.ml.regression import LinearRegression spark = SparkSession.builder.appName("EmployeeAnalytics").getOrCreate() # Load employee data employees_df = spark.read.csv("employee_data.csv", header=True, inferSchema=True) # Advanced analytics: Predict employee retention retention_features = employees_df.select( "experience_years", "satisfaction_score", "salary", "projects_completed", "training_hours", "stayed_1_year" # target variable ) # Feature engineering assembler = VectorAssembler( inputCols=["experience_years", "satisfaction_score", "salary", "projects_completed", "training_hours"], outputCol="features" ) # Prepare data for ML ml_data = assembler.transform(retention_features) train_data, test_data = ml_data.randomSplit([0.8, 0.2]) # Train retention prediction model lr = LinearRegression(featuresCol="features", labelCol="stayed_1_year") model = lr.fit(train_data) # Real-time employee performance aggregation performance_metrics = employees_df.groupBy("department") \ .agg( avg("satisfaction_score").alias("avg_satisfaction"), count("employee_id").alias("employee_count"), max("salary").alias("max_salary"), stddev("performance_rating").alias("performance_variance") ) performance_metrics.show()
Apache Hadoop
Apache Software Foundation
Data Volume
10/10
Batch Processing
9.5/10
Complexity
9/10
Ecosystem
9.5/10
Data Warehousing
Log Processing
Historical Analysis
ETL Pipelines

Database Selection Mindset Guide

Master the art of choosing the right database technology for your specific use case

SQL Database Mindset

ACID Compliance First

Think about data integrity, consistency, and reliability. Perfect for financial transactions and critical business data.

Structured Relationships

Design with clear entity relationships in mind. Great for normalized data with well-defined schemas.

Complex Query Power

Leverage JOIN operations, subqueries, and advanced SQL features for sophisticated data analysis.

Mature Ecosystem

Benefit from decades of optimization, extensive tooling, and proven enterprise solutions.

Perfect Use Cases:

Employee Management System
Manage complex employee hierarchies, payroll calculations, and compliance reporting with referential integrity.
Order Management Platform
Handle transactions, inventory tracking, and financial reporting with ACID guarantees.
Banking & Finance
Process financial transactions, maintain account balances, and ensure regulatory compliance.
NoSQL Database Mindset

Scale-First Thinking

Design for horizontal scaling and distributed architecture. Think about eventual consistency over immediate consistency.

Flexible Schema Design

Embrace schema evolution and varying data structures. Perfect for rapid development and changing requirements.

Developer Velocity

Match data structures with your application objects. Reduce the object-relational impedance mismatch.

Performance Optimization

Optimize for specific access patterns and denormalize data for read performance.

Perfect Use Cases:

User Profile Management
Store diverse user data, preferences, and behavior patterns with flexible schemas.
Content Management
Handle varying content types, metadata, and rapid content publication workflows.
Mobile App Backends
Support rapid feature development and offline-first architectures with flexible data models.
Big Data Mindset

Volume, Velocity, Variety

Think in terms of massive scale, high-speed processing, and diverse data types. Design for petabyte-scale operations.

Distributed Processing

Embrace parallel computing and fault tolerance. Design algorithms that can be distributed across clusters.

Machine Learning Ready

Design data pipelines that feed ML models. Think about feature engineering and model training at scale.

Batch vs Stream

Choose between batch processing for historical analysis and stream processing for real-time insights.

Perfect Use Cases:

HR Workforce Analytics
Analyze employee patterns, predict turnover, and optimize recruitment strategies using historical data.
Business Intelligence
Process large datasets for strategic insights, market analysis, and performance optimization.
IoT Data Processing
Handle sensor data streams from thousands of devices for predictive maintenance and optimization.

Technology Comparison Matrix

Compare key metrics across different database technologies to make informed decisions

90%
PostgreSQL
ACID Compliance & Complex Queries
95%
MongoDB
Flexibility & Developer Experience
100%
Redis
Speed & Real-time Performance
98%
Elasticsearch
Search & Analytics Power
85%
Apache Spark
Big Data Processing
80%
Hadoop
Massive Data Storage

Database Selection Decision Framework

Follow this systematic approach to choose the right database for your project

1

Define Your Requirements

Data Structure

Is your data highly structured (SQL) or flexible/nested (NoSQL)?

Query Patterns

Do you need complex JOINs (SQL) or simple key-value lookups (NoSQL)?

Consistency Needs

Do you require ACID compliance or can you work with eventual consistency?

Scale Requirements

How much data? How many concurrent users? Growth projections?

2

Assess Performance Needs

Low Latency Required

Consider: Redis, Elasticsearch, In-memory solutions

High Throughput Needed

Consider: Apache Spark, Hadoop, Distributed databases

Complex Search Required

Consider: Elasticsearch, Apache Solr, Full-text search

3

Consider Team & Operations

Team Expertise

What databases does your team already know? Training time available?

Operational Complexity

Can you handle clustering, sharding, and distributed systems management?

Total Cost of Ownership

Include licensing, hardware, maintenance, and operational costs.

Real-World Implementation Patterns

Enterprise Employee Management

PostgreSQL Redis Elasticsearch
Data Layer
PostgreSQL for core employee data, org chart, payroll
Cache Layer
Redis for session management, frequent lookups
Search Layer
Elasticsearch for employee directory, skills search

Why This Architecture?

  • PostgreSQL: ACID compliance for payroll, complex org relationships
  • Redis: Fast session management, real-time notifications
  • Elasticsearch: Powerful employee search, skills matching

E-commerce Order Platform

MySQL MongoDB Redis
Transactional Data
MySQL for orders, payments, inventory
Product Catalog
MongoDB for flexible product attributes
Real-time Features
Redis for cart management, recommendations

Why This Architecture?

  • MySQL: ACID transactions for financial operations
  • MongoDB: Flexible product schemas, rapid catalog updates
  • Redis: Shopping cart persistence, real-time recommendations

Analytics & Reporting Platform

Apache Spark Elasticsearch PostgreSQL
Data Processing
Spark for ETL, ML model training
Search & Analytics
Elasticsearch for log analysis, metrics
Reporting
PostgreSQL for aggregated reports, dashboards

Why This Architecture?

  • Apache Spark: Large-scale data processing, ML capabilities
  • Elasticsearch: Real-time search, log aggregation
  • PostgreSQL: Structured reporting, business intelligence

Recommended Learning Paths

Beginner Path

3-6 months
Weeks 1-4

SQL Fundamentals

Start with MySQL or PostgreSQL. Learn basic CRUD operations, JOINs, and database design.

Weeks 5-8

NoSQL Introduction

Explore MongoDB for document storage and Redis for caching concepts.

Weeks 9-12

Practical Projects

Build a simple employee management or order system using learned technologies.

Intermediate Path

6-12 months
Months 1-3

Advanced SQL & NoSQL

Master complex queries, indexing strategies, and database optimization techniques.

Months 4-6

Search Technologies

Learn Elasticsearch for full-text search and analytics capabilities.

Months 7-9

Architecture Patterns

Study microservices data patterns, CQRS, and polyglot persistence.

Advanced Path

12+ months
Months 1-4

Big Data Technologies

Master Apache Spark, Hadoop ecosystem, and distributed computing concepts.

Months 5-8

Specialized Databases

Explore graph databases, time-series databases, and vector databases for AI.

Months 9-12

Enterprise Architecture

Design and implement large-scale data architectures with multiple database technologies.