MarkLogic Encapsulates Document Database on Docker Containers

MarkLogic has become the latest provider of a database that can be encapsulated into Docker containers.

Version 9.0-5 of the company’s namesake document database can now be deployed via Docker containers running a production environment, says Jim Clark, vice president of product management for MarkLogic.

Other new capabilities include support for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Private Cloud, new application programming interfaces (APIs) for creating centralized data hubs, an ontology driven entity extraction to simplify identification of key concepts in unstructured data, and support for encryption as a default configuration option.

Clark says MarkLogic next plans to add support for Kubernetes, as the number of containerized applications that IT organizations are looking to deploy on an enterprise-class document database increases. Thanks to the rise of containers, the rate at which applications are being deployed on document databases is increasing sharply, he says, adding many developers prefer to host those applications on a document database rather than a traditional database because of the level of scale in terms of data volume that MarkLogic enables without compromising application performance.

Much of the increase in Docker containers is being driven by a desire to not be locked into a specific cloud computing platform, adds Clark. Many cloud service providers have embedded multiple types of data stores in their service that lock an IT organization into proprietary application programming interfaces (APIs).

MarkLogic has been navigating the tension between application developers and database administrators (DBAs), who tend to favor relational databases. Developers prefer not to have to wait for DBAs to define a relational database schema before they can deploy their applications. Because document databases eliminate that requirement, many developers view them as a faster means of putting applications in a production environment without having to engage with a DBA. That shift is driving a significant amount of cultural change across enterprise IT organizations, he notes.

It’s unclear at this point to what degree databases will be deconstructed into a series of data stores accessed as microservices. But what is clear is as the number of stateful containerized applications that need access to both a database and persistent storage increases, the number of databases encapsulated in Docker containers will grow. IT organizations will be challenged with connecting all the microservice pipelines to multiple types of backend databases.

No one knows for certain how this latest iteration of the database wars will play out in the enterprise. Every provider of a relational database now makes available an additional layer of software than make their database appear to be a document database to a subset of the applications on it. While that approach may reduce costs by centralizing the database platform, there is a performance trade-off. Ultimately, DevOps teams will continue managing multiple databases. The good news is that, thanks to Docker containers, they should all be a lot easier to deploy.

Mike Vizard

Mike Vizard is a seasoned IT journalist with over 25 years of experience. He also contributed to IT Business Edge, Channel Insider, Baseline and a variety of other IT titles. Previously, Vizard was the editorial director for Ziff-Davis Enterprise as well as Editor-in-Chief for CRN and InfoWorld.

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