Performance Evaluation of NoSQL Databases Versus Relational Databases for Big Data Web Applications

International Journal of Computer Science and Technology | Vol. 13, No. 2, February 2011 | pp. 8–14
DOI: 10.46882/2011/IJCST/000108

Research Article

Title: Performance Evaluation of NoSQL Databases Versus Relational Databases for Big Data Web Applications

Names of Authors: Thomas B. Miller¹, Anna K. Novak²

Authors’ Affiliations: ¹Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA; ²Department of Software Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland

Abstract: Modern web platforms generate immense amounts of semi-structured and unstructured data, testing the horizontal scalability limits of traditional Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS). This research paper evaluates the performance profiles of a leading document-oriented NoSQL database (MongoDB) against a standard relational database instance (MySQL) under enterprise workloads. We constructed an intensive benchmarking test suite modeling CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) query operations across data configurations scaling up to 10,000,000 entries. Metrics monitored included read/write throughput, CPU usage, memory foot-printing, and execution latencies. The empirical results demonstrate that MongoDB outperforms MySQL in write operations by a factor of 3.8, preserving an average write latency of 14 milliseconds under concurrency peaks of 5,000 requests per second. For complex multi-table JOIN operations, MySQL displayed superior execution stability, whereas MongoDB experienced high memory inflation due to its denormalized schema mapping. Our data concludes that while NoSQL frameworks offer superior horizontal scaling and flexibility for high-volume unstructured logs, RDBMS remains indispensable for systems requiring strict ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) transaction assurances.

Keywords: NoSQL Databases, RDBMS, MongoDB, MySQL, Big Data, Benchmarking, Database Performance

Manuscript Timeline: Received September 14, 2010; Revised October 22, 2010; Accepted November 04, 2010; Published February 20, 2011.

Citation: Miller, B. T., & Novak, K. A. (2011). Performance Evaluation of NoSQL Databases Versus Relational Databases for Big Data Web Applications. International Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 13(2), 8–14.

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