Mongo DB - Main Features

Main Features

The following is a brief summary of some of the main features:

Ad hoc queries

MongoDB supports search by field, range queries, regular expression searches. Queries can return specific fields of documents and also include user-defined JavaScript functions.

Indexing

Any field in a MongoDB document can be indexed (indices in MongoDB are conceptually similar to those in RDBMSes). Secondary indices are also available.

Replication

MongoDB supports master-slave replication. A master can perform reads and writes. A slave copies data from the master and can only be used for reads or backup (not writes). The slaves have the ability to select a new master if the current one goes down.

Load balancing

MongoDB scales horizontally using sharding. The developer chooses a shard key, which determines how the data in a collection will be distributed. The data is split into ranges (based on the shard key) and distributed across multiple shards. (A shard is a master with one or more slaves.)

MongoDB can run over multiple servers, balancing the load and/or duplicating data to keep the system up and running in case of hardware failure. Automatic configuration is easy to deploy and new machines can be added to a running database.

File storage

MongoDB could be used as a file system, taking advantage of load balancing and data replication features over multiple machines for storing files.

This function, called GridFS, is included with MongoDB drivers and available with no difficulty for development languages (see "Language Support" for a list of supported languages). MongoDB exposes functions for file manipulation and content to developers. GridFS is used, for example, in plugins for NGINX. and lighttpd

In a multi-machine MongoDB system, files can be distributed and copied multiple times between machines transparently, thus effectively creating a load balanced and fault tolerant system.

Aggregation

MapReduce can be used for batch processing of data and aggregation operations. The aggregation framework enables users to obtain the kind of results for which the SQL GROUP BY clause is used.

Server-side JavaScript execution

JavaScript can be used in queries, aggregation functions (such as MapReduce), are sent directly to the database to be executed.

Capped collections

MongoDB supports fixed-size collections called capped collections. This type of collection maintains insertion order and, once the specified size has been reached, behaves like a circular queue.

For further information on the points listed look up the MongoDB Developer Manual