Schema-Based JSON Data Stores in Relational Databases

Abstract

JSON is a simple, compact and light weighted data exchange format to communicate between web services and client applications. NoSQL document stores evolve with the popularity of JSON, which can support JSON schema-less storage, reduce cost, and facilitate quick development. However, NoSQL still lacks standard query language and supports eventually consistent BASE transaction model rather than the ACID transaction model. This is very challenging and a burden on the developer. The relational database management systems (RDBMS) support JSON in binary format with SQL functions (also known as SQL/JSON). However, these functions are not standardized yet and vary across vendors along with different limitations and complexities. More importantly, complex searches, partial updates, composite queries, and analyses are cumbersome and time consuming in SQL/JSON compared to standard SQL operations. It is essential to integrate JSON into databases that use standard SQL features, support ACID transactional models, and has the capability of managing and organizing data efficiently. In this article, we empower JSON to use relational databases for analysis and complex queries. The authors reveal that the descriptive nature of the JSON schema can be utilized to create a relational schema for the storage of the JSON document. Then, the powerful SQL features can be used to gain consistency and ACID compatibility for querying JSON instances from the relational schema. This approach will open a gateway to combine the best features of both worlds: the fast development of JSON, consistency of relational model, and efficiency of SQL.