Database Design for NoSQL Systems

The popularity of NoSQL database systems is rapidly increasing, especially to support nextgeneration web applications. However, given the high heterogeneity existing in this world, where more than fifty systems are available, database design is usually based on best practices and guidelines which are strictly related to the selected system. We propose a database design methodology for NoSQL systems with initial activities that are independent of the specific target system. The approach is based on NoAM (NoSQL Abstract Model), a novel abstract data model for NoSQL databases, which exploits the commonalities of various NoSQL systems and is used to specify a system-independent representation of the application data. We show how this intermediate representation can be implemented in target NoSQL databases, taking into account their specific features. Overall, the methodology aims at supporting scalability, performance, and consistency, as needed by next-generation web applications.