Microsoft's open-source extensions for PostgreSQL aim to handle document-style data, challenging MongoDB's dominance and blurring the lines between relational and NoSQL databases.
When Microsoft unveiled an open source extension stack for PostgreSQL designed to handle document-style data, it wasn't merely targeting MongoDB, the leading NoSQL player. According to one expert, this move also blurred the lines between relational and non-relational databases.
Despite Microsoft's colossal valuation, largely built on proprietary software, its latest foray into backing open source systems and competing in the document database market signals a schema-light approach favored by developers. Microsoft has developed pg_documentdb_core, a custom PostgreSQL extension that enables support for Binary JavaScript Object Notation (BSON, a binary-encoded serialization of JSON documents), and pg_documentdb_api, a data layer providing MongoDB-compatible commands for create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) operations, queries, and index management. These extensions are set to run on the Azure Cosmos DB PostgreSQL database service. Microsoft also emphasizes that its extensions can be used with FerretDB, an open-source MongoDB alternative. FerretDB claims its 2.0 version delivers performance improvements of up to 20x for certain workloads compared to earlier versions, partly due to backend optimizations. This move was seen as another indication that document databases, classified as part of the NoSQL or non-relational database category, would become a feature of relational systems rather than a separate category. 'The intellectual distance between document/JSON DBMSes and relational DBMSes is shrinking. At some point, the two system categories will be indistinguishable (at least in terms of the data model). The DocumentDB/FerretDB announcement is further evidence of this,' he said. 'All the NoSQL systems are becoming relational, except for Redis. They now expose a relational data model with support for nested data (for example, JSON). They also expose a SQL interface, but they can't get themselves to call it SQL for some reason. Instead, they give their query languages a different name – Cassandra has CQL and Aerospike has AQL – and claim it is 'inspired' by SQL. Even MongoDB added support for – which requires any organization offering MongoDB as a service to release the source code of the entire service – and also offers proprietary licenses. Its claim to be a favorite among developers is not unfounded as it ranks highly on the Stack Overflow survey and counts Wells Fargo bank, Sega, and L'Oréal among its customers. A spokesperson at MongoDB said: 'The rise of MongoDB imitators proves our document model is the industry standard. But bolting an API onto a relational database isn't innovation – it's just kicking the complexity can down the road. These 'modern alternatives' come with a built-in sequel: the inevitable second migration when performance, scale, and flexibility hit a wall. Developers building modern, AI-powered applications don't have time for do-overs. MongoDB is purpose-built to get it right the first time.' CEO Peter Farkas said FerretDB wanted to work with Microsoft to achieve the long-term aim of building a 'more solid foundation for users to have a MongoDB alternative.' 'The goal with this is to work broadly among the providers of MongoDB alternatives and have more cooperation. After a while, they would have one solid foundation for MongoDB alternatives, which everybody could build on,' he said. The reason for building on PostgreSQL was that, like Pavlo, Farkas sees the NoSQL group of databases eventually becoming a feature of relational systems. 'From time to time, specialized databases appear on the market, and these would live independently for a good while, but then going by history, large databases like Oracle or PostgreSQL would start to support features, either at their core or through extensions like what we did with Microsoft,' he said. PostgreSQL began adding support for JSON documents in 2013 and has developed it ever since, but that is not enough to create a rival to MongoDB on its own, Farkas argued. 'With PostgreSQL, working with extensions is much easier than getting something into the core database. Even large enterprises like Microsoft may not be able to steer the PostgreSQL community in that way, but extensions provide a very similar experience to the user. It's not complicated to install a Postgres extension and use it alongside PostgreSQL and for now, the innovation with PostgreSQL happens through extensions,' he said. Meanwhile, MongoDB has introduced new data types and features that could not be supported by the current JSON functionality of PostgreSQL, Farkas said. 'It would not be possible to implement a performant MongoDB-compatible experience on top of the JSON support in PostgreSQL, and it was never a goal to become MongoDB-compatible.' Through the partnership with Microsoft, Farkas wants to create a developer-friendly experience for a document database without having to get their hands dirty with PostgreSQL itself
DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS MONGODB POSTGRESQL DOCUMENT DATABASES OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
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