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Why is Riak TS considered as a NoSQL database when it needs a predefined schema for tables? This schema even cannot be changed! Source: documentation

I think that some people may think that when Riak TS is built on Riak KV, then it is a NoSQL database, but that each row maps to a key-value pair do not bring a NoSQL advantage. If the Riak TS is not schema-less, it should not be considered as a NoSQL database in my opinion.

Do I understand it wrong? Why is it officially considered as NoSQL?

MacakM
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SQL is not only about having a table schema. First the query language supported is only a tiny subset of SQL. Then, Riak TS doesn't provide things that you'd expect from other traditional SQL DB, like ACID, transactions, etc. Also, it's not really a normal DB as you can't update values.

So it doesn't make sense to define it as an "relational DB" or "SQL database". But it doesn't really make sense to define it as a "NoSQL DB" :) I think the best definition is a "TimeSeries distributed DB"

dams
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  • But why would Riak do that? Other TimeSeries DBs either provides ACID or can have flexible schema... Riak TS does not bring any advantage against them – MacakM May 08 '18 at 18:21
  • @MacakM I don't think you are following the advantages of RiakTs which include speed and massive scalability for very large data sets. The primary/intended use cases don't require ACID transactions or a flexible schema although to be fair if Basho had been around longer some of these features may have eventually made it into RiakTS. BTW I did a write up on data modeling for TS which might be interesting reading: https://github.com/cvitter/Riak-TS-Data-Modeling – Craig May 14 '18 at 19:08
  • I can see the advantages of Riak TS compared to relational databases... but I cannot see advantages compared to other time-series databases, like InfluxDB or Timescale – MacakM May 14 '18 at 19:22
  • InfluxDB open source doesn't scale on more than one box. The enterprise version doesn't scale more than a few boxes. Timescale doesn't scale on more than one box. Riak TS scales up to 100 boxes (in theory), and 50 realistically (unless you have a very fast network) – dams Jun 13 '18 at 09:03