Quest Software has begun shipping a version of its Toad data management toolkit for cloud or NoSQL databases, intended to enable database administrators to manage non-relational data through a familiar SQL-based interface. Toad for Cloud Databases is available as a fully functional, commercial-grade product, for free, the vendor says.
While the term 'cloud databases' is in the product name, the toolkit is intended for a variety of non-relational databases in both cloud and on-premises settings, John Whittaker, senior manager of product marketing for Quest, tells 5 Minute Briefing. "It's for big data, NoSQL, non-relational databases, which are commonly called 'cloud databases' in the industry," he explains. "We look at them as cloud databases because they were born out of the likes of Yahoo and Google." However, he adds, "this technology doesn't have to live in the cloud. It can be in a variety of places."
Toad for Cloud Databases enables users to generate queries, migrate, browse, and edit data, as well as create reports and tables in a familiar SQL view. By simplifying these tasks, the toolkit opens the door to a wider audience of developers, allowing more IT teams to experience the productivity gains and cost benefits of NoSQL and Big Data, Quest says.
Quest first released Toad for Cloud Databases into beta in June 2010. Since then, Quest was grown its list of supported platforms and integrating a UI for its bi-directional data connector between Oracle and Hadoop. Toad for Cloud Databases now supports: Apache Hive; Apache Hbase; Apache Cassandra; MongoDB; Amazon SimpleDB; Microsoft Azure Table Services; Microsoft SQL Azure, as well as all Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)-enabled relational databases such as Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, and DB2.
Quest's connector between Oracle and Hadoop is designed to enable data transfer between Oracle and Hadoop in both directions. The bidirectional characteristic of the utility enables organizations to take advantage of Hadoop's lower cost of storage and analytical capabilities, according to Quest. Quest also contributed the connector to the Apache Hadoop project as an extension to the existing SQOOP framework, and is also available as part of Cloudera's Distribution Including Apache Hadoop.
The new Toad solution provides the same functionality that Toad for relational databases has been delivering for a number of years now, Whittaker adds. "You can do a variety of different things, such as joining both relational and non-relational databases and cleansing, and all that good stuff that would expect to be able to do in a general Toad tool," he says. "We're now bringing that to the big data, non-relational world."
More details are available at the Quest site.