External storage services integration
Neptune DXP’s provision of a private relational database holding structured data is likely to address a wide range of needs. When specialised data needs emerge, Neptune DXP can be integrated with your purpose-built storage type of choice using the REST API Designer. By onboarding a REST API able to interface with the data storage service you can engineer access to external data storage services, such as:
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Relational Databases, for access to structured data sitting outside your private Neptune DXP database.
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Unstructured Databases for access to unnormalized data addressing specific use cases.
Alternatively, if the storage service provides a NodeJS client library it could be accessed through the script.
External relational databases
If you need strict separation of concerns between Neptune DXP’s own and your business data, you can use the TypeORM framework in Neptune DXP server scripts to programmatically access additional relational databases. Connections can be established to on-premise or managed cloud services with the following supported databases (and associated cloud managed services):
| Amazon RDS | Microsoft Azure Cloud | Google Cloud | |
|---|---|---|---|
CockroachDB |
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MariaDB |
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SQL Server |
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MySQL |
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Oracle |
on compute engine only |
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PostgreSQL |
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SAP HANA |
on compute engine only |
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SQLite |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
You can initiate access through a single TypeORM connection for all databases or through dedicated connections. Typical use cases could direct access to backend databases used by ERP, CRM or ECommerce systems, supplementary databases holding proprietary data (for example, customer reviews, context, product information, footfall metrics, logs etc. not held in a COTS application).
External unstructured databases
Neptune DXP native NoSQL support
Neptune DXP provides native support through the TypeORM library for MongoDB. All you need is to establish a connection to an on-premise or managed cloud service and utilise the built-in library to master or query data. Support for MongoDB is well provided for by established cloud services such as:
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Amazon AWS Document DB as a managed service with built-in MongoDB compatibility
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Google Cloud as a managed service
API Driven datastore’s
For specialised workloads you can utilise a range of databases services with the proviso that they publish:
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REST API compatible with the OpenAPI specification allowing to import or define the data service’s API to access its functions
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NodeJS client library allowing you to establish a connection and interact with the datastore.
Below are examples of the most common types of storage services along with mainstream implementations covered with multiple NodeJS libraries and/or REST APIs implementations available through the public domain either on a free open source basis or as a paid managed service:
| Typical use cases | Popular implementations | |
|---|---|---|
Document |
session data |
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Object Storage |
documents, digital assets, data lakes |
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File Storage |
text-based/office data files |
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Key-Value Stores |
in-memory caching |
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Wide-Column |
sensor data, messaging, eCommerce, personalisation engines |
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Graph Database |
fraud detection, social networking, review engines |
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Time-Series |
IoT, logging, telemetry |
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Ledger Database |
blockchain, distributed systems of record |
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Multi-Model |
wide-ranging combinations of the above |