Using the right storage for the right requirements

For decades, organizations have been using traditional relational databases and trying to fit everything there, whether it is key/value-based user session data, unstructured log data, or analytics data for a data warehouse. However, the truth is, the relational database is meant for transaction data, and it doesn't work very well for other data types—it's like using a Swiss Army knife, which has multiple tools that work but to a limited capacity; if you want to build a house, then the knife's screwdriver will not be able to perform a heavy lift. Similarly, for specific data needs, you should choose the right tool that can do the heavy lifting, and scale without compromising performance.

Solution architects need to consider multiple factors while choosing the data storage to match the right technology. Here are the important ones:

• Durability requirement: How should data be stored to prevent data...