Eldon Broady

Key-Value Store Explained

There are wide arrays of databases and data models out there, so parsing through them and understanding all of them is a difficult task. However, having some general knowledge into a variety of different models allows you to get a better understanding of what is right for your platform or organization. In this article, we'll talk about key value stores and how they work.

What is a Key Value Store?

A key value store, sometimes referred to as a key value database, uses associative arrays as their data model. An associative array is composed of a collection of pairs, and these pairs appear no more than once in each collection.

In these pairs, the key is represented by some sort of string, usually a filename or URL, and the value can contain any type of data. The value is then stored without the need for schema.

This means you don't have to index the data, but keep in mind that this gives you less control over what is returned when you input a query. Key value stores are useful because they're extremely simple and flexible. You can easily retrieve, store, and update your data without the need for a query language.

Thanks to key store values functionality of partitioning, it is able to store data on more than one node, and this makes it extremely scalable as well.

Use a Key Value Store if Your Value Simplicity

All in all, using a key value store is valuable to those who desire simplicity when it comes to their data models. Key value stores make the path to data requests extremely straightforward. All it has to do is take a direct request to the object in the memory of your database. Typically, distributed systems utilize this data model because they don't have to worry about performance suffering from indexing or the amount of data stored.

There are plenty of great key-value stores out there that may have additional capabilities and functionalities that better meet the needs of your systems or platforms. Looking into these solutions ensures you make the best choice for what you need.

Author Resource:-

Eldon Broady writes about database technologies, graph database, and modern API tools. You can find his thoughts at GraphQL blog. Click here for more information on GraphQL database.