8 min read
Hybrid Search in PostgreSQL: What It Costs to Own the Fusion
Azure AI Search and Cosmos DB fuse keyword and vector results for you; pgvector doesn't. What owning RRF in PostgreSQL involves, and when it pays.
Cosmos DB
38 articles
8 min read
Where Agent State Breaks: Resume, Retries and Duplicate Runs
Typed state and checkpoints don't stop an agent paying twice: five places agent workflow state breaks at its boundaries, and patterns that hold.
1 min read
Vector Database Selection: Comparing Azure AI Search, Cosmos DB, and PostgreSQL
Azure AI Search, Cosmos DB with vector indexing, and Azure Database for PostgreSQL with pgvector each provide vector search capabilities with different…
1 min read
Cosmos DB Vector Search: Implementing Semantic Search at Global Scale
Configure your Cosmos account with write regions near your users and read replicas globally. Vector searches automatically route to the nearest replica…
1 min read
Cosmos DB Vector Search: Building AI-Ready Databases
Cosmos DB vector search brings global scale and multi-model capabilities to AI applications.
8 min read
Where Should Your Vectors Live on Azure? Search Index vs Database
Azure AI Search, Cosmos DB for NoSQL and PostgreSQL with pgvector can all hold embeddings now. Here is how I decide between a search index and your database.
1 min read
Cosmos DB Mirroring to Fabric: Analytical Queries at Scale
Unlike SQL mirroring which uses change tracking, Cosmos DB mirroring leverages the built in analytical store: 1. Go to your Cosmos DB account 2. Navigate to…
1 min read
Azure Cosmos DB Best Practices for 2022
The partition key decision is crucial and difficult to change later: New in 2022 partition up to 3 levels: Optimize indexing for your query patterns: Write…
1 min read
Graph Traversal Patterns in Azure Cosmos DB
Exploring the local neighborhood of a vertex is one of the most common operations in graph databases.
1 min read
Azure Cosmos DB for Apache Gremlin
Graph databases excel at representing relationships between entities. Unlike relational databases where joins can become expensive, graph databases traverse…
1 min read
Azure Cosmos DB for Apache Cassandra
Azure Cosmos DB for Apache Cassandra bridges the gap between familiar Cassandra development and cloud-native scalability.
1 min read
Azure Cosmos DB API for MongoDB: Patterns and Best Practices
Azure Cosmos DB's MongoDB API provides a powerful option for teams wanting MongoDB compatibility with Azure's enterprise-grade platform.
1 min read
Point-in-Time Restore in Azure Cosmos DB
PITR works with the continuous backup feature to provide granular recovery options. You can restore entire accounts, specific databases, or individual…
1 min read
Continuous Backup in Azure Cosmos DB
Unlike periodic backup mode, continuous backup captures every change as it happens, allowing granular point-in-time recovery down to the second.
1 min read
Burst Capacity in Azure Cosmos DB
When your Cosmos DB container isn't fully utilizing its provisioned throughput, the unused capacity accumulates as burst credits. These credits can be used…
1 min read
Hierarchical Partition Keys in Azure Cosmos DB
Traditional single partition keys can lead to hot partitions in scenarios where data is naturally hierarchical. Hierarchical partition keys solve this by…
1 min read
Azure Cosmos DB Updates - September 2022
The latest updates bring significant performance enhancements to Cosmos DB, including optimized query execution and improved throughput management.
1 min read
Getting Started with Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL
Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL is a managed database service that extends PostgreSQL with distributed capabilities. It uses the Citus extension to transform…
1 min read
Dataverse Elastic Tables: High-Volume Data Storage
Elastic tables are ideal for: IoT sensor data Application telemetry Audit logs High frequency transactions Time series data Define an elastic table schema:…
1 min read
Time-To-Live (TTL) in Azure Cosmos DB: Automatic Data Expiration
TTL is a powerful feature for automatic data lifecycle management, reducing storage costs and ensuring compliance with data retention policies without…
1 min read
Implementing Conflict Resolution Policies in Cosmos DB
Proper conflict resolution is essential for multi-region write scenarios. Choose the right strategy based on your data semantics and ensure thorough testing…
1 min read
Cosmos DB Multi-Region Writes: Active-Active Global Architecture
Multi-region writes enable true active-active architectures, but require careful design to handle the inevitable conflicts that arise from concurrent…
1 min read
Cosmos DB Global Distribution: Building Planet-Scale Applications
Global distribution in Cosmos DB provides the foundation for building truly global, resilient applications that serve users with consistent low latency…
1 min read
Understanding Cosmos DB Consistency Levels: Tradeoffs and Best Practices
Consistency levels in Cosmos DB give you fine-grained control over the CAP theorem tradeoffs, enabling you to optimize for your specific application…
1 min read
Azure Cosmos DB Partition Strategies for Optimal Performance
Proper partition key design is fundamental to Cosmos DB success. Take time to analyze your access patterns and data distribution before finalizing your…
1 min read
Event Sourcing Patterns with Azure Cosmos DB
Event Sourcing with Azure Cosmos DB provides a robust foundation for building systems that require complete audit trails, temporal queries, and event driven…
2 min read
Cosmos DB Integrated Cache: Reducing RU Costs at Scale
The Cosmos DB integrated cache is the feature I've been waiting for since the first time I watched a read-heavy application burn through its RU budget…
1 min read
Real-Time Analytics with Cosmos DB Analytical Store
The question that sparked this post came from a data engineer on a client project: "can we run Power BI reports against Cosmos DB without destroying the…
2 min read
Azure Cosmos DB Serverless - Pay Per Request Database
We had a Cosmos DB Serverless conversation at the end of 2020 and I'm returning to it because the experience of using it in actual development over two…
8 min read
Synapse Link for Cosmos DB: Is It Time to Retire the Nightly ETL?
When Azure Synapse Link can replace a Cosmos DB export pipeline, the limits to check first, and how to query the analytical store from SQL and Spark.
8 min read
Cosmos DB Change Feed in Production: Failures, Leases and Lag
Running Cosmos DB change feed consumers in production: Functions trigger vs processor, poison batches, dead-lettering, idempotency and lag estimation.
7 min read
Cosmos DB Serverless vs Provisioned: Working Out the Break-Even
How to work out whether Azure Cosmos DB serverless (preview) beats 400 RU/s of provisioned throughput, with the break-even maths and a way to measure it.
1 min read
Azure Cosmos DB Serverless: Pay-Per-Request NoSQL
Cosmos DB Serverless: NoSQL without the commitment.
1 min read
Azure Cosmos DB Partitioning Strategies
Of every Cosmos DB design conversation I've had, partition key choice is the one that has the biggest cost-and-performance consequence and the smallest…
1 min read
Azure Synapse Link for Cosmos DB: Real-Time Analytics
Synapse Link: analytics without the pipeline complexity.
1 min read
Azure Cosmos DB Consistency Levels Explained
Strong and Bounded Staleness cost double because reads wait for quorum. Start with Session - it provides intuitive consistency for users while maintaining…
8 min read
Cosmos DB Change Feed: Functions Trigger or Change Feed Processor?
How to choose between the Azure Functions trigger and the .NET SDK v3 change feed processor, and the leases, retries and delete gaps that decide it.
8 min read
Moving to the Azure Cosmos DB .NET SDK v3: Patterns I Keep
What changed from the v2 DocumentClient to the Cosmos DB .NET SDK v3, and the client, query, batch and bulk patterns I reuse after migrating.