HOW MONGODB SOLVES THE INDUSTRY USE-CASES OF CISCO?

MongoDB: The NoSQL Database

MongoDB is an open-source document database and leading NoSQL database. NoSQL stands for “Not Only SQL” is an alternative to the relational database. MongoDB is written in C++. It is used to store a larger amount of data and also allows you to work with that data.

WHY IT IS CALLED AS NoSQL DATABASE? 🤔

MongoDB is not based on the table-like relational database structure but provides an altogether different mechanism for storage and retrieval of data, that’s why known as NoSQL database. It stores data in BSON, means binary encoding JSON which stores data in key-value pairs.

How MongoDB Works?

1. There are no tables in MongoDB. All the data is stored in JSON format,i.e. key-value pairs. These key-value pairs are stored in a document, which in turn is stored in a collection.
2. A collection in MongoDB can have any number of documents and such documents can have any number of key-value pairs. A
3. data in the MongoDB database is stored in BSON which supports more data types than JSON and stores anything like, string, integer, boolean, double, binary data, object, array, JavaScript code and many more.
4. These documents are grouped inside a collection. These collection always exists in a database and there is no pre-defined structure of a collection.

Features of MongoDB

These are some important features of MongoDB:

1. It is a schema-less database written in C++.
2. Support ad hoc queries → In MongoDB, you can search by field, range query and it also supports regular expression searches.
3. Indexing → You can index any field in a document.
4. Replication → MongoDB supports Master Slave replication.
5. Avoid single point of failure → MongoDB can run over multiple servers. The data is duplicated to keep the system up and also keep its running condition in case of hardware failure.
6. Load balancing → It has an automatic load balancing configuration because of data placed in shards.
7. Supports map reduce and aggregation tools.
8. Uses JavaScript instead of Procedures.
9. Provides high performance.
10. Stores files of any size easily without complicating your stack.
11. It also supports:

• JSON data model with dynamic schemas
• Auto-sharding for horizontal scalability
• Built in replication for high availability

Advantages of MongoDB

The following are the few advantages of MongoDB NoSQL database-

1. MongoDB is a schema-less NoSQL database. We do not need to design the schema of the database when we are using MongoDB. This saves a lot of time. Thus, the code we write defines the schema.
2. MongoDB is easy to scale.
3. It is very easy to set-up and install MongoDB.
4. The document query language supported by MongoDB is very simple as compared to SQL queries.
5. Because the MongoDB uses JSON format to store data, it is very easy to store arrays and objects.
6. MongoDB is free to use. There is no cost for it.
7. Performance of MongoDB is much higher than compared to any relational database.
8. There is no need for mapping of application objects to database objects in MongoDB.
9. MongoDB uses internal memory for storage which enables faster access to the data.

Disadvantages of MongoDB

The following are the few disadvantages of MongoDB NoSQL database

1. MongoDB uses high memory for data storage.
2. There is a limit for document size, i.e. 16mb.
3. There is no transaction support in MongoDB.

Now, Let us discuss CISCO industry use-cases of MongoDB, their challenges and how CISCO found solutions in MongoDB.

INTRODUCTION OF CISCO

Cisco is the worldwide leader in networking, transforming how people connect, communicate and collaborate. In November 2011, Cisco launched WebEx Social (previously known as Quad), an enterprise collaboration platform designed for today’s social, mobile, visual and virtual workforce. A “Facebook for enterprises,” WebEx Social connects people to the information and expertise they need, when they need it. Users share knowledge and ideas throughout the enterprise, and across geographic and organizational boundaries.

THE PROBLEM

WebEx Social is a true Enterprise 2.0 platform. The comprehensive collaboration platform combines the four core Enterprise 2.0 pillars- business processes, content, communication and social features that enable users to work together effortlessly.

CHALLEGE: With their existing relational database, complex SQL queries against highly normalized schema were time consuming and Cisco had little room to scale horizontally. Additionally, it was difficult to manage schema upgrades and migrate data from release to release.

So, Cisco wanted an open source, NoSQL solution that was scalable, flexible and met the product’s hardcore enterprise needs: secure, mature commercial support, able to deliver consistent back up and disaster recovery, and easy to integrate with legacy systems.

…AND CISCO FOUND THEIR SOLUTION IN MONGODB !!!

WHY MONGODB ?🤔

MongoDB has lightweight MapReduce feature. On which, Cisco developers are able to automatically generate, with ease, recommendations such as users to connect with, communities to join and interesting content to view, as well as statistics, including top contributors, most popular colleagues and most downloaded docs. MongoDB now serves as the primary real-time data store for WebEx Social’s social features that are write-heavy in nature.

“MongoDB is a very active, open source project with a vibrant community. It matches WebEx Social’s feature set and fits in line exactly with our needs”

— said Gandhi.

RESULTS

MongoDB provides Cisco with a user friendly platform for customers and an easy, powerful technology for developers.

CONCLUSION

MongoDB is one of the most widely used NoSQL databases on the modern web. It is easy to understand. The document query language provides a lot of options and it is as powerful as the SQL. Unlike relational databases, MongoDB is easy to scale. MongoDB is widely used along with NodeJS frameworks and AngularJS frameworks and ReactJS. It is a core part of the MEAN and MERN stack.

HOPE YOU WILL FIND SOME INSIGHTFUL KNOWLWDGE.