blob: 0c0d955dbd0de498f759bcb297d728ccc60e4245 [file]
---
layout: post
status: PUBLISHED
published: true
title: Apache Ignite 2.3 - More SQL and Persistence Capabilities
id: 1aea9cd8-d671-4ad7-b2fc-935573b0c378
date: '2017-11-01 21:12:11 -0400'
categories: ignite
tags:
- key-value
- store
- database
- apache
- sql
- ignite
- bigdata
permalink: ignite/entry/apache-ignite-2-3-more
---
<p>Putting aside the regular bug fixes and performance optimizations, the Apache Ignite 2.3 release brings new SQL capabilities and Ignite persistence improvements that are worth mentioning. </p>
<h3>SQL</h3>
<p>Let's start with SQL first.</p>
<p>Apache Ignite users have consistently told us that despite all of Ignite&rsquo;s SQL capabilities, it&rsquo;s been at times challenging trying to figure out how to start using Ignite as an SQL database. </p>
<p>This was mostly caused by scattered documentation pages, lack of &ldquo;getting started&rdquo; guides and tutorials. We&rsquo;ve remedied this oversight! All related SQL knowledge has been curated in a <a href="https://apacheignite-sql.readme.io/docs" target="_blank">single documentation domain</a>.</p>
<p>Are you curious about the SQL scope? Go to the new <a href="https://apacheignite-sql.readme.io/docs/sql-reference-overview" target="_blank">SQL Reference Overview</a> section!</p>
<p>Cannot wait to learn how the Ignite SQL engine runs internally? We&rsquo;ve prepared an <a href="https://apacheignite-sql.readme.io/docs/how-ignite-sql-works" target="_blank">Architectural Overview</a> section for you. </p>
<p>Simply need to know how to connect to an Ignite cluster from an SQL tool? Here is a <a href="https://apacheignite-sql.readme.io/docs/how-ignite-sql-works" target="_blank">tooling</a> section for you. </p>
<p>Let&rsquo;s take a look at some specific SQL features released in Ignite 2.3. </p>
<p>First, we&rsquo;re proud to deliver support of <a href="https://apacheignite-sql.readme.io/docs/alter-table" target="_blank">ALTER TABLE</a> command. Presently, the command allows adding new columns to an SQL schema in runtime -- avoiding any cluster restarts. Once a new column is added, it can be turned into an index. Again, in runtime. No restarts!</p>
<p>Another significant addition seen in Ignite 2.3 is the integration with <a href="https://apacheignite-sql.readme.io/docs/sqlline" target="_blank">SQLLine tool</a> that is bundled with every Apache Ignite release and can be used as a default command line tool for SQL based interactions. </p>
<p>To prove that it's fairly simple to work with Ignite as with an SQL database using the tool, we recorded a short screencast for you:</p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/FKS8A86h-VY" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogs.apache.org/ignite/mediaresource/89364a0d-3c7e-427c-8237-868318dcd6f1" alt="screencast.png" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 50%;"/></a> </p>
<h3>Ignite Persistence</h3>
<p>Ignite native persistence keeps getting more attention and installs -- which is why the community released a feature requested by at least a dozen users. The feature allows enabling the persistence for specific data sets. Before Ignite version 2.3, the persistence could be enabled globally only.</p>
<p>Now, it's up to you to decide which data to persist and which to store in RAM only. The persistence can be configured via <a href="https://apacheignite.readme.io/docs/memory-configuration#section-data-regions" target="_blank">data regions</a> as shown below:</p>
<p><a href="https://apacheignite.readme.io/docs/memory-configuration#section-data-regions" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogs.apache.org/ignite/mediaresource/0c7ce964-1218-49eb-bc9b-54a4725cabed" alt="persistence_cfg.png" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 60%;"/></a></p>
<p>This data region will consume up to 500 MB of RAM and will store a superset of data on disk ensuring that no data loss happens in case of a crash or even if there is no more space left in RAM.</p>
<h3>Anything else?</h2>
<p>Flip through <a href="https://ignite.apache.org/releases/2.3.0/release_notes.html">our release notes</a> to see all the changes and improvements available in Apache Ignite 2.3 -- and, for sure, download and use this version in production. </p>
<p>Questions, comments? Let us know!</p>