CAP theorem - tradeoff between consistency and availability in a NoSQL database that is ACID complaint

Course Q&A Data Engineering Data Storage and Queries
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1

Thank you for the course. I have a question: could you frame what is the tradeoff between consistency and availability in a NoSQL that is ACID compliant (e.g., MongoDB)?

Thanks!

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Hello @naponhit,
I am not sure which part of the course says that, but I don’t think there is a rule of thumb that NoSQL databases are ACID compliant. Unlike MongoDB maybe which are document stores that cannot only be eventually consistent. What could be the tradeoffs, MongoDB’s default configuration favors availability over strict consistency. Hope it helps

3

Thank you for your reply. Joe mentioned that NoSQL database systems that are not ACID-compliant typically prioritize availability over consistency (source: Storage Systems > Week 1 > Distributed Storage Systems (+/- 5:00)).

However, it is interesting to note that MongoDB offers flexibility in tuning this trade-off, allowing users to prioritize either consistency (the default) or availability.

Thanks for your help!

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