Document-oriented Cosmos DB API: data is JSON and queries use a dialect resembling SQL.
Also called Cosmos DB API.
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Terms in this definition
- JSON
Text-based format for structured data. ARM templates and Cosmos DB documents are written in it, and most Azure REST APIs exchange request and response bodies as application/json.
- Serverless
Compute tier for single Azure SQL databases that scales automatically, pauses when idle and charges by the second. It is offered in General Purpose and Hyperscale, not Business Critical, and reserved capacity does not apply.
Related terms
- Apache Cassandra
A column-family database that is open source. Azure offers a fully managed Cosmos DB API for it that still uses CQL (Cassandra Query Language), letting existing workloads migrate with little rework.
- Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL
Microsoft is retiring this Citus-based distributed PostgreSQL offering and doesn't advise starting new projects on it. Its suggested homes are elastic clusters in Azure Database for PostgreSQL for relational work, or Cosmos DB for NoSQL if NoSQL suits better.
- Azure Table Storage
Holds structured NoSQL records without a fixed schema, using keys and attributes; think device details, contact lists or user records. It now sits within the Azure Cosmos DB family, where Azure Cosmos DB for Table is the premium step up.
- Document database
A NoSQL store whose values are JSON documents that it is designed to parse and query, so it is really a specialised key-value store. In Azure, Cosmos DB offers this through its NoSQL and MongoDB APIs.