ArangoDB: Achieving Success With a Multivalue Database

By Otavio Santana, Independent Software Consultant at OS Expert

Handling diverse database structures often introduces significant complexity to system architecture, especially when multiple database instances are required. This fragmentation can complicate operations, increase costs, and reduce efficiency. Multimodel databases like ArangoDB provide a unified solution to address these challenges. They simplify architecture and streamline data management by supporting multiple data models — key-value, document, and graph — within a single database instance.

Unlike relational databases, NoSQL databases do not adhere to a universal standard like SQL. Instead, they are categorized based on their storage structure. Among the popular types are:

• Key-value: Resembling a Java Map or a Python dictionary, this structure retrieves entire values as BLOBs using a key.
• Wide-column: Similar to key-value but splits values into columns, offering more granular data retrieval.
• Document: Structured like JSON or XML, this type provides greater query flexibility.

Graph: Enables complex relationship modeling and querying by representing entities and their connections.

A multimodel database combines these capabilities into a single system. For instance, ArangoDB supports key-value, document, and graph models, eliminating the need for separate databases.

This article demonstrates how to use ArangoDB to explore key-value and document models in Java applications using Jakarta NoSQL.

Setting Up ArangoDB

To start with ArangoDB, Docker provides a straightforward way to manage third-party services. By running the following command, you can set up an ArangoDB instance with ease:

docker run -e ARANGO_NO_AUTH=1 -d --name arangodb-instance -p 8529:8529 arangodb/arangodb        

Exploring Key-Value Data

Key-value databases are ideal for simple data models. Let’s create a sample application to manage airport data using ArangoDB’s key-value capabilities.

For more code snippets and insights for managing diverse databases, continue reading on DZone.com.