Can anyone tell me what the implications are when attempting to use a regular database as a data warehouse?
I understand a data warehouse is known for storing data in a more structured manner however what's the implication of using a standard database to achieve the same result? Can we not just create a regular database table with structured data as it would reside in a data warehouse?
Data structure is not the issue - optimization is.
OLTP databases like SQLS are optimized to reliably record transactions. They store data as records, and extensively use disk I/O.
BI databases like Redshift or Teradata are optimized to query data. They store data as columns, and often are in-memory only (no disk I/O).
As a result, traditional databases are better at getting data in, while BI databases are better at getting data out (both platforms are trying to mitigate their weaknesses, so the difference is blurring).
Practically speaking, you can use regular databases like SQLS to build a data warehouse without any problems, unless your needs are special:
Data size is large (billions of records)
Refresh rate is high (hour/minute/real time)
You intend to use live connection from BI tools like Tableau or PowerBI (as opposed to loading data extract into them)
Your queries are highly complex and computationally intensive
You can also combine both platforms. Import, process, integrate and store data in a regular database, and then convert it into a star schema (dimensional model) and publish it to a BI database (i.e, keep normalized data in SQLS and publish star schema to Redshift).
If you intend to import data into BI tools like Tableau or PowerBI, then you can safely use any traditional database, because they rely on their internal engines and using BI database won't give you any advantages.
data warehouses also will have redundant or duplicate data in them, not really what you are looking for in a regular database
Related
Looking for suggesting on loading data from SQL Server into Elasticsearch or any other data store. The goal is to have transactional data available in real time for Reporting.
We currently use a 3rd party tool, in addition to SSRS, for data analytics. The data transfer is done using daily batch jobs and as a result, there is a 24 hour data latency.
We are looking to build something out that would allow for more real time availability of the data, similar to SSRS, for our Clients to report on. We need to ensure that this does not have an impact on our SQL Server database.
My initial thought was to do a full dump of the data, during the weekend, and writes, in real time, during weekdays.
Thanks.
ElasticSearch's main use cases are for providing search type capabilities on top of unstructured large text based data. For example, if you were ingesting large batches of emails into your data store every day, ElasticSearch is a good tool to parse out pieces of those emails based on rules you setup with it to enable searching (and to some degree querying) capability of those email messages.
If your data is already in SQL Server, it sounds like it's structured already and therefore there's not much gained from ElasticSearch in terms of reportability and availability. Rather you'd likely be introducing extra complexity to your data workflow.
If you have structured data in SQL Server already, and you are experiencing issues with reporting directly off of it, you should look to building a data warehouse instead to handle your reporting. SQL Server comes with a number of features out of the box to help you replicate your data for this very purpose. The three main features to accomplish this that you could look into are AlwaysOn Availability Groups, Replication, or SSIS.
Each option above (in addition to other out-of-the-box features of SQL Server) have different pros and drawbacks. For example, AlwaysOn Availability Groups are very easy to setup and offer the ability to automatically failover if your main server had an outage, but they clone the entire database to a replica. Replication let's you more granularly choose to only copy specific Tables and Views, but then you can't as easily failover if your main server has an outage. So you should read up on all three options and understand their differences.
Additionally, if you're having specific performance problems trying to report off of the main database, you may want to dig into the root cause of those problems first before looking into replicating your data as a solution for reporting (although it's a fairly common solution). You may find that a simple architectural change like using a columnstore index on the correct Table will improve your reporting capabilities immensely.
I've been down both pathways of implementing ElasticSearch and a data warehouse using all three of the main data synchronization features above, for structured data and unstructured large text data, and have experienced the proper use cases for both. One data warehouse I've managed in the past had Tables with billions of rows in it (each Table terabytes big), and it was highly performant for reporting off of on fairly modest hardware in AWS (we weren't even using Redshift).
I am Asp.Net MVC/SQLSERVER developer and I am very new to all these and so I may be on compelete wrong path.
I came to know by googling that Snowwflake can put/get data from AWS-S3, Google Storage and Azure. And Snowflake has their database and tables as well.
I have following questions,
Why one should use Snowflake when you can compute your data with Cloud Storage(S3 etc) and Talend or any other ETL tool?
Can we use Snowflake as database for data driven web application? and if yes, could you provide link or something to start?
Once again I am very new to all these and expecting from you to get ideas and best way to work arround this.
Thak you in advance.
Why one should use Snowflake when you can compute your data with Cloud Storage(S3 etc) and Talend or any other ETL tool?
You're talking about three different classes of technology product there, which are not equivalent:
Snowflake is a database platform, similar to other database technologies it provides data storage and metadata and a SQL interface for data manipulation and management.
AWS S3 (and similar products) provides scalable cloud storage for files of any kind. You generally need to implement an additional technology such as Spark, Presto, or Amazon Athena to query data stored as files in cloud storage. Snowflake can also make use of data files in cloud storage, either querying the files directly as an "external table" or using a COPY statement to load the data into Snowflake itself.
Talend and other ETL or data integration tools are used to move data between source and target platforms. Usually this will be from a line of business application, such as an ERP system, to a data warehouse or data lake.
So you need to think about three things when considering Snowflake:
Where is your analytical data going to be stored? Is it going to be files in cloud storage, loaded into a database or a mix of both? There are advantages and disadvantages to each scenario.
How do you want to query the data? It's fairly likely you'll want something that supports the use of SQL queries, as mentioned above there are numerous technologies that support SQL on files in cloud storage. Query performance will generally be significantly better if the data is loaded into a dedicated analytical database though.
How will the data get from the data sources to the analytical data repository, whatever that may be? Typically this will involve either a third party ETL tool, or rolling your own solution (which can be a cheaper option initially but can become a significant management and support overhead).
Can we use Snowflake as database for data driven web application?
The answer to that is yes, in theory. It very much depends on what your web application does because Snowflake is a database designed for analytics, i.e. crunching through large amounts of data to find answers to questions. It's not designed as a transactional database for a system that involves lots of updates and inserts of small amounts of data. For example Snowflake doesn't support features like referential integrity.
However, if your web application is an analytical one (for example it has embedded reports that would query a large amount of data and users will typically be reading data and not adding it) then you could use Snowflake as a backend for the analytical part, although you would probably still want a traditional database to manage data for things like users and sessions.
You can connect your web application to Snowflake with one of the connectors, like https://docs.snowflake.com/en/user-guide/odbc.html
Snowflake excels for large analytic workloads that are difficult to scale and tune. If, for example, you have many (millions/billions) of events that you want to aggregate into dashboards, then Snowflake might be a good fit.
I agree with much of what Nathan said, to add to that, from my experience every time I've created a database for an application it's been with an OLTP database like PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database, or SQL Server.
One big problem of using MPP/Distributed Databases is that they don't enforce referential integrity, so if that's important to you then you don't want to use MPP/Distributed Databases.
Snowflake and other MPP/Distributed Databases are NOT meant for OLTP workloads but instead for OLAP workloads. No matter what snake oil those companies like databricks and snowflake try to sell you MPP/Distributed databases are NOT meant for OLTP. The costs alone would be tremendous even with auto-scaling.
If you think about it, Databricks, Snowflake, etc. have a limit to how much they want to optimize their platforms because the longer a query runs the more money they make. For them to make money they have to optimize performance but not too much otherwise it will effect their income.
This can be an in-depth topic so I would recommend doing more research into OLTP Vs. OLAP.
Enforcing Referential integrity is a double edged sword, the downside being as the data volume grows the referential violation check significantly slows down the inserts and deletes. This results in the developer having to put the RI check in the program (with a dirty read) and turn off the RI enforcement by the database, finally ending up with a Snowflake like situation.
Bottom line is Snowflake not enforcing RI should not be a limitation for OLTP applications.
I want to process my data into Qlikview but i am confused about to process the data through Cube or directly from SQL.
Can anyone tell me which gives better performance from cube and SQL?
Note: I have millions of data into the database.
Generally as the volume of data grows, the advantages of SSAS tend to become more apparent than those from using SQL Server as the source. How will the data be used? When it comes to large scale aggregations SSAS becomes very beneficial. SSAS will also force a structured layout, as the relationships are predefined in the cube as opposed to joins. Some additional features that SSAS brings are hierarchical analysis (hierarchies) as well as ease of use with tools such as Excel and SSRS, although it sounds like you're only looking to use Qlikview for this. However, your best option would be to do a baseline for both SSAS and SQL Server in your environment with queries that best represent what would be run when this is implemented, and assess the results from there.
From BI tool perspective it doesn't matter as you can connect to both source (SQL is more common but it depends on your expertise). Regarding performance the best strategy is to have separate extract layer and store data incrementally as qvd (for example every night previous day) so performance is not as important with incremental reload as even for big data sets it should be quick.
If your original source of data is SQL in my opinion it doesn't make sense to replicate data in 3 places (SQL, cube and QlikView) better connect directly to source save it incrementally raw data as qvd and then have transformer which will model that data.
i am new to SSAS platform. I am curious about how it is technically solved.
I heard that SQL query is not working on this OLAP (MOLAP). Is it true?
I imagined that it is in technical way just some standard DB table of facts with links to dimension DB tables.
Am I wrong?
Where are that data?
In RAM or on hard drive?
Are they structured in classic DB model or in another way?
Analysis Services stores MOLAP data in a structure that is completely different from a relational database. You use a relational database as a source, but the data is copied, compressed, indexed, and restructured in such a way as to optimize storage and retrieval. There is physical storage required. SSAS also takes advantage of RAM and holds what it can there to be more responsive to queries. It is possible to keep source data in a relational database if you set up partitions to use ROLAP storage, but generally better performance is gained by using MOLAP storage.
For more information, see:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174915.aspx
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/2009/ssas-storage-modes/
http://www.bidn.com/blogs/dustinryan/ssis/872/ssas-2008-storage-modes
no, you cant run standard T-SQl queries on a SSAS database, you must run MDX queries (the syntax is different but it remembers T-SQl queries)
You mentioned MOLAP. MOLAP is one of 3 ways a SSAS databse can store data, the others are HOLAP and ROLAP. No matter whihc storage mode you choose, my first statment is valid, you must query your DB using MDX, not T-SQL.
The data is on files on your file share as it is on your OLTP database. If you go to your instance folder, there is a folder called data where all the data is.
What is the difference between a database and a data warehouse?
Aren't they the same thing, or at least written in the same thing (ie. Oracle RDBMS)?
Check out this for more information.
From a previous link:
Database
Used for Online Transactional Processing (OLTP) but can be used for other purposes such as Data Warehousing. This records the data from the user for history.
The tables and joins are complex since they are normalized (for RDMS). This is done to reduce redundant data and to save storage space.
Entity – Relational modeling techniques are used for RDMS database design.
Optimized for write operation.
Performance is low for analysis queries.
Data Warehouse
Used for Online Analytical Processing (OLAP). This reads the historical data for the Users for business decisions.
The Tables and joins are simple since they are de-normalized. This is done to reduce the response time for analytical queries.
Data – Modeling techniques are used for the Data Warehouse design.
Optimized for read operations.
High performance for analytical queries.
Is usually a Database.
It's important to note as well that Data Warehouses could be sourced from zero to many databases.
From a Non-Technical View:
A database is constrained to a particular applications or set of applications.
A data warehouse is an enterprise level data repository. It's going to contain data from all/many segments of the business. It's going to share this information to provide a global picture of the business. It is also critical to integration between the different segments of the business.
From a Technical view:
The word "Data Warehouse" has been given no recognized definition. Personally, I define a data warehouse as a collection of data-marts. Where each data-mart consists of one or more databases where the database is specific to a specific problem set (application, data-set or process).
Simply put a database is a component of a data-warehouse. There are many places to explore this concept, but because there is no "definition", you will find challenges with any answer you give.
A data warehouse is a TYPE of database.
In addition to what folks have already said, data warehouses tend to be OLAP, with indexes, etc. tuned for reading, not writing, and the data is de-normalized / transformed into forms that are easier to read & analyze.
Some folks have said "databases" are the same as OLTP -- this isn't true. OLTP, again, is a TYPE of database.
Other types of "databases": Text files, XML, Excel, CSV..., Flat Files :-)
The simplest way to explain it would be to say that a data warehouse consists of more than just a database. A database is an collection of data organized in some way, but a data warehouse is organized specifically to "facilitate reporting and analysis". This however is not the entire story as data warehousing also contains "the means to retrieve and analyze data, to extract, transform and load data, and to manage the data dictionary are also considered essential components of a data warehousing system".
Data Warehouse
Data Warehouse vs Database: A data warehouse is specially designed for data analytics, which involves reading large amounts of data to understand relationships and trends across the data. A database is used to capture and store data, such as recording details of a transaction.
Data Warehouse:
Suitable workloads - Analytics, reporting, big data.
Data source - Data collected and normalized from many sources.
Data capture - Bulk write operations typically on a predetermined batch schedule.
Data normalization - Denormalized schemas, such as the Star schema or Snowflake schema.
Data storage - Optimized for simplicity of access and high-speed query. performance using columnar storage.
Data access - Optimized to minimize I/O and maximize data throughput.
Transactional Database:
Suitable workloads - Transaction processing.
Data source - Data captured as-is from a single source, such as a transactional system.
Data capture - Optimized for continuous write operations as new data is available to maximize transaction throughput.
Data normalization - Highly normalized, static schemas.
Data storage - Optimized for high throughout write operations to a single row-oriented physical block.
Data access - High volumes of small read operations.
DataBase :-
OLTP(online transaction process)
It is current data, up-to-date detailed data, flat relational
isolated data.
Entity relationship is used to design the database
DB size 100MB-GB simple transaction or quires
Datawarehouse
OLAP(Online Analytical process)
It is about Historical data Star schema,snow flexed schema and galaxy
schema is used to design the
data warehouse
DB size 100GB-TB Improved query performance foundation
for DATA MINING DATA VISUALIZATION
Enables users to gain a deeper understanding and knowledge about various
aspects of their corporate data through fast, consistent, interactive access
to a wide variety of possible views of the data
Any data storage for application generally uses the database. It could be relational database or no sql databases which are currently trending.
Data warehouse is also database. We can call data warehouse database as specialized data storage for the analytical reporting purposes for the company.
This data used for key business decision.
The organized data helps is reporting and taking business decision effectively.
Database:
Used for Online Transactional Processing (OLTP).
Transaction-oriented.
Application oriented.
Current data.
Detailed data.
Scalable data.
Many Users, Administrators / Operational.
Execution time: short.
Data Warehouse:
Used for Online Analytical Processing (OLAP).
Oriented analysis.
Subject oriented.
Historical data.
Aggregated data.
Static data.
Not many users, manager.
Execution time: long.
A Data Warehousing (DW) is process for collecting and managing data from varied sources to provide meaningful business insights. A Data warehouse is typically used to connect and analyze business data from heterogeneous sources. The data warehouse is the core of the BI system which is built for data analysis and reporting.
Source for the Data warehouse can be cluster of Databases, because databases are used for Online Transaction process like keeping the current records..but in Data warehouse it stores historical data which are for Online analytical process.
A Data Warehouse is a type of Data Structure usually housed on a Database. The Data Warehouse refers the the data model and what type of data is stored there - data that is modeled (data model) to server an analytical purpose.
A Database can be classified as any structure that houses data. Traditionally that would be an RDBMS like Oracle, SQL Server, or MySQL. However a Database can also be a NoSQL Database like Apache Cassandra, or an columnar MPP like AWS RedShift.
You see a database is simply a place to store data; a data warehouse is a specific way to store data and serves a specific purpose, which is to serve analytical queries.
OLTP vs OLAP does not tell you the difference between a DW and a Database, both OLTP and OLAP reside on databases. They just store data in a different fashion (different data model methodologies) and serve different purposes (OLTP - record transactions, optimized for updates; OLAP - analyze information, optimized for reads).
See in simple words :
Dataware --> Huge data using for Analytical/storage/ copy and Analysis .
Database --> CRUD operation with Frequently used data .
Dataware house is Kind of storage which u are not using on daily basis & Database is something which your dealing frequently .
Eg. If we are asking statement of bank then it gives us for last 3/4/6/more months bcoz it is in database. If you want more than that it stores on Dataware house.
Example: A house is worth $100,000, and it is appreciating at $1000 per year.
To keep track of the current house value, you would use a database as the value would change every year.
Three years later, you would be able to see the value of the house which is $103,000.
To keep track of the historical house value, you would use a data warehouse as the value of the house should be
$100,000 on year 0,
$101,000 on year 1,
$102,000 on year 2,
$103,000 on year 3.