An overview of modern SQL-free databases

SQL-free databases are quickly moving forward those days. They aren't "embedded databases" nor "key-value databases" anymore. Modern SQL-free databases are now featureful, while remaining fast, light and reliable. They really can replace SQL databases (even column databases) for a lot of tasks.

Via http://00f.net/2009/an-overview-of-modern-sql-free-databases

Update 1: check-out also the post from Richard Jones on a list of distributed key-value stores with a quick decent analysis on most of them. 

Update 2: Leonard Lin over at random($foo) posted yesterday a great post on his own experience with key-value stores. Worth it the read as he ended up writing his own thin consistent hashing layer in front of Tokyo Tyrant, i.e. pretty equivalent to what LightCloud is.

Update 3: Even if done in Python, here i an interesting performance comparison of key/value stores for language model count.

Update 4: And what about another key-value database: Redis, written in ANSI-C for Posix systems?

Update 5: Yahoo is talking about their own key-value store Sherpa.

Update 6: Liked this post on the rational why one will want to go beyond a relational database.

Update 7: But SQL-free DBs do have some serious drawback regarding mostly ad hoc reporting and ad hoc data fixing as alighted in this post on the dark side of NoSQL.

Tagged Database Distributed Key-Value Key-Value Store LightCloud MySQL Performance Project Voldemort Tokyo Cabinet Tokyo Tyrant
​