Stores data without imposing a relational schema. Common kinds: graph, column-family, document and key-value.
Also called NoSQL database.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains Non-relational database in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Schema
The middle part of a Unity Catalog name (
catalog.schema.table), grouping tables, views, volumes, functions and models inside a catalog. A grant on it covers everything in it now and later, and nothing inside can be reached withoutUSE SCHEMA.
Related terms
- Column-family database
A NoSQL database that still has rows and columns, but organises related columns into named groups called column families. Apache Cassandra works this way.
- Cosmos DB
NoSQL database distributed globally, offering writes in multiple regions, automatic indexing and latency below 10 ms.
- Cosmos DB in Fabric
A document-style NoSQL database living inside Fabric, optimised for AI workloads and running on Azure Cosmos DB technology. Fabric copies its contents into OneLake as Delta tables without any setup, so they can be queried through a SQL analytics endpoint.
- Graph database
Stores things as nodes and the relationships between them as edges, which makes it a good fit for richly connected data like social networks; it is one kind of non-relational database.