How Does FaunaDB Work? FaunaDB Basics

TL;DR

FaunaDB combines the consistency associated with SQL and the flexibility and scalability associated with NoSQL in an entirely serverless cloud database. This guide shows how to create a database, collection, and documents; model Twitter-style relationships; query data with FQL; and prepare a Node.js API. Read on to understand FaunaDB’s core concepts and how its references, history, indexes, and query functions work together.

Transcript

when you build an app one of the main pain points that you'll face is your database you often hear developers debate the merits of sql versus nosql on one hand you have safety security and consistency and on the other you have flexibility scalability and productivity but what if there's a database that could put an end to this debate once and for a... Read More

Key Insights

• 🦺 Fauna DB combines the benefits of SQL and NoSQL databases, offering safety, security, scalability, and flexibility.
• 👤 It is entirely serverless, eliminating the need for provisioning and allowing users to pay only for what they use.
• 😒 Fauna DB uses the CALVIN model for partition database systems, making it suitable for complex data modeling.
• 😤 The database supports multi-tenancy, allowing organizations to have child databases for specific teams or organizations.
• 🤙 Fauna DB offers multiple native APIs, including GraphQL, and has a custom query language called FQL.
• 👻 Functions in Fauna DB allow for code reuse and maintainability, improving the overall development process.
• 📜 The database provides powerful indexing capabilities, enabling quick and efficient retrieval of documents.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is FaunaDB, and what are its main benefits?

FaunaDB is an entirely serverless cloud database designed to combine safety, security, and consistency with flexibility, scalability, and productivity. It requires no provisioning, charges only for actual usage beyond the free tier, and can be managed through a web interface or command line.

Q: How do you create a database and collection in FaunaDB?

After creating a free Fauna account and opening the dashboard, click the button to create a new top-level database. Then create a collection, give it a usually plural name, and use it to contain related documents, much like an SQL table.

Q: What are collections and documents in FaunaDB?

A collection is similar to an SQL table or a folder containing many documents. A document is represented as a plain JavaScript object and does not need to follow a rigid structure, although consistent key names help when querying documents by fields such as name or email address.

Q: How does FaunaDB model relationships between documents?

FaunaDB automatically assigns each document a unique ID and a ref property pointing to its collection and ID. You can store one document’s reference in another document, for example, saving a user reference on a tweet, to join data across collections similarly to an SQL foreign key.

Q: What do FaunaDB document history and TTL options do?

History retains changes to a document over time: Fauna creates a changed copy and archives the original instead of replacing it. This supports time-series data and examining earlier states, while TTL, or time to live, can automatically delete ephemeral data that is no longer needed.

Q: What is FQL, and how can it be used?

FQL is FaunaDB’s custom functional query language and is presented as intuitive and flexible. Queries can be executed in the dashboard console, from the command line using Fauna Shell, or later through Node.js; the tutorial covers about 10 common functions.

Q: How does the FQL Get function retrieve a document?

Get retrieves a single document from a reference. That reference can be created with the Ref function, which takes a collection and document ID as its arguments, and executing the resulting query returns the document data.

Q: Can FaunaDB use GraphQL and support multi-tenant applications?

Yes. FaunaDB provides multiple native APIs, including GraphQL, and uploading a GraphQL schema can automatically create the collections and indexes needed to retrieve data. It also supports multi-tenancy through an unlimited number of child databases that can scope data and privileges to a particular organization or team.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Fauna DB is a cloud database that solves the debate between SQL and NoSQL, offering safety, security, scalability, and productivity.

• It is entirely serverless and easy to use, with a web interface and command line capabilities.

• Fauna DB can handle complex data modeling use cases and is extremely fast and scalable in the cloud.