Columnar databases

Columnar or column-oriented databases are based on columns. Data in a certain column in a two-dimensional relation is stored together.

HBase is one of the most famous columnar databases. It is based on the Google Bigtable storage system. Column-oriented databases are designed for huge data scenarios, so they scale up easily. For example, Facebook uses HBase to power their message infrastructure. For small datasets, HBase is not a suitable architecture. First, the recommended hardware topology for HBase is a five-node server deployment. Also, it needs a lot of administration and is difficult to learn and master.