Learn GBase 8a: A New Analytical Database

By Mi Miao, Database Development Engineer at Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

I am Mi Miao, a database development engineer at Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. I have one year of work experience and have used transactional OldSQL databases such as Oracle and MySQL as well as internet NoSQL systems like Hive and HBase. I had never systematically studied NewSQL analytical databases. Before this training, I only knew that GBase was a Chinese database product that had been deployed at scale by some major companies and offered extremely high performance for processing hundreds of millions or billions of data records. I traditionally assumed GBase was a transactional database similar to Oracle, while also wondering about their differences. With this misunderstanding and curiosity, I joined the GBase 8a training in October 2022.

The first introductory session explained GBase databases in great detail for us beginners. The GBase product family includes the GBase UP big data platform, the GBase 8s secure transactional database, and the GBase 8d directory database. The GBase 8a covered in this training is a new analytical database. I felt both embarrassed by my earlier misunderstanding and thrilled, as if I had discovered a hidden treasure. This introductory session also drew my attention to the rise of Chinese databases and helped me understand why they are so popular right now.

It was an unexpected delight to have the opportunity to learn a new type of analytical database (OLAP). OLAP, or Online Analytical Processing, refers to what we call a data warehouse. In this GBase 8a course, I learned about the GBase 8a MPP Cluster, a distributed parallel database cluster that supports OLAP and is designed as a general-purpose computing platform for managing ultra-large data volumes, featuring high performance, high availability, and high scalability. GBase 8a MPP Cluster holds clear advantages both in analytical data efficiency and in managing big data security. The GBase 8a course covered core cluster technologies and architecture in detail, as well as how to install, uninstall, upgrade, and use the product. We were provided with free software packages, licenses, and cloud server environments for hands-on practice. Outside of class, instructors were available to answer questions, and we had learning group chats for discussion. This free training environment allowed me to feel the dedication of General Data Technology Co., Ltd.

The architecture of GBase 8a MPP Cluster is somewhat similar to HBase – both support structured data types and offer high query efficiency for tables with a large number of unique values. They can even be grouped together as analytical databases. However, GBase 8a retains relational database characteristics and supports simple transactions, whereas HBase abandons the relational model and is mainly oriented toward unstructured computing models for the internet. Therefore, they are categorized as analytical NewSQL and internet NoSQL databases, respectively.

As for this training, my only personal regret is that we had relatively few hands-on exercises. I hope to have the opportunity to apply the theoretical knowledge from the course to real projects. Finally, I look forward to hearing more good news in the future from China's General Data Technology Co., Ltd. and its GBase databases.