AzureFunBytes Episode 67 - What's New With @AzureCosmosDB?
Tags: azure, databses, nosql, cloud
Published: 2022-01-27 20:25:26

AzureFunBytes is a weekly opportunity to learn more about the fundamentals and foundations that make up Azure. It's a chance for me to understand more about what people across the Azure organization do and how they do it. Every week we get together at 11 AM Pacific on [Microsoft LearnTV](https://cda.ms/226) and learn more about Azure.

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This week on AzureFunBytes join us to discuss what's new with [Azure Cosmos DB](https://cda.ms/3J3).  Azure Cosmos DB is a fully managed platform for NoSQL databases that works with most programming languages with multiple API’s for accessing and manipulating data. Choose from multiple database APIs including the native [Core (SQL) API](https://cda.ms/3HV), [API for MongoDB](https://cda.ms/3HW), [Cassandra API](https://cda.ms/3HX), [Gremlin API](https://cda.ms/3HY), and [Table API](https://cda.ms/3HZ).  Build fast with open source APIs, multiple SDKs, schemaless data and no-ETL analytics over operational data.  Azure Cosmos DB is a schema-less service that will automatically index your data regardless of the model you choose.  [Common use cases for Azure Cosmos DB](https://cda.ms/3J2) include IoT, retail, marketing, gaming, web apps, mobile apps, social applications, and analytics.  

Some of the big advantages of using Azure Cosmos DB include low latency and global availability with replication, multi-region writes, auto-scaling, and integration into other Azure Services (Azure Kubernetes Service, Azure Key Vault, more).  Backing the reliability of Azure Cosmos DB is an unbeatable SLA, 99.999% availability, and enterprise-level security for every application.

To help me understand more about Azure Cosmos DB, I'll welcome [Gahl Levy](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gahllevy/) and [Theo van Kray](https://www.linkedin.com/in/theo-van-kraay-3388b130/) from the Cosmos DB product team.  They will join me to provide updates on all the latest on Azure Cosmos DB and how it has support for it’s own native SQL API as well as other open source APIs. The two most popular of these is Azure Cosmos DB’s MongoDB API and Cassandra API. In this episode we will introduce viewers to these two API’s and talk about the benefits of using them. We will also talk about the latest updates and features as well as how to get started on migrating existing workloads to Azure Cosmos DB.

{% youtube fuTwz4fWhjo %}

[00:00:00 - Opening](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo)
[00:02:26 - Welcome back to AzureFunBytes!](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=146)
[00:03:55 - Welcome Gahl and Theo!](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=235)
[00:06:01 - How did you get here, Theo?](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=370)
[00:07:40 - How did you get here, Gahl?](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=460)
[00:09:21 - Reviewing the different APIs for Azure Cosmos DB](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=561)
[00:13:36 - Common use cases](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=816)
[00:17:10 - More info on the API for MongoDB](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=1030)
[00:23:32 - How long does it take to autoscale?](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=1412)
[00:26:28 - How do I upgrade my database account to receive new features?](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=1588)
[00:28:20 - Demo the API for MongoDB](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=1700)
[00:30:46 - Now let's learn about the Cassandra API for Azure Cosmos DB](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=1846)
[00:35:09 - Cassandra MI vs API - how to choose?](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=2109)
[00:37:38 - How to migrate your Cassandra workloads to Azure Cosmos DB](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=2258)
[00:41:38 - Demo: Cassandra live migration](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=2498)
[00:44:15 - Configuring Spark](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=2655)
[00:54:56 - Reviewing the migrated data](https://youtu.be/fuTwz4fWhjo?t=3296)

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## About Gahl Levy

Gahl Levy is a Senior Product Manager at Microsoft with the Azure Cosmos DB Engineering team.  Gahl has spent the last 8 years of his career working on database software and cloud infrastructure. He’s responsible for the API for MongoDB at Cosmos DB.

Gahl earned an MBA with honors from UC Berkeley and a B.S. in Computer Science from UC Santa Cruz.

## About Theo van Kray

Theo has previously worked as a Software Developer building business critical back-end ESB integrations and OLTP workloads for one of the largest insurers in the world. Shifting his focus and interests to analytics in 2016, Theo worked in the public sector as a Big Data Architect, and received his Masters in Data Science in 2017 from the University of Dundee, where he was awarded best research project for the academic year. Theo is passionate about NoSQL and distributed computing of all shapes and sizes, and quickly established himself as a Cosmos DB Product champion after joining Microsoft in 2017 as a Data Solution Architect. Theo now works in the Cosmos DB Engineering team as a Program Manager.

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Learn about Azure fundamentals with me!

Live stream is normally found on Twitch, YouTube, and [LearnTV](https://cda.ms/226) at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET Thursday. You can also find the recordings here as well:

[AzureFunBytes on Twitch](https://twitch.tv/azurefunbytes)
[AzureFunBytes on YouTube](https://aka.ms/jaygordononyoutube)
[Azure DevOps YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-ikyViYMM69joIAv7dlMsA)
[Follow AzureFunBytes on Twitter](https://twitter.com/azurefunbytes)

Useful Docs:
[Get $200 in free Azure Credit](https://cda.ms/219)
[Microsoft Learn: Introduction to Azure fundamentals](https://cda.ms/243)
[Microsoft Learn: Work with NoSQL data in Azure Cosmos DB](https://cda.ms/3J5)
[Azure Cosmos DB documentation](https://cda.ms/3J3)
[Common Azure Cosmos DB use cases](https://cda.ms/3J2)
[Try Azure Cosmos DB for free](https://cda.ms/3J1)
[Getting started with SQL queries](https://cda.ms/3HV)
[Azure Cosmos DB API for MongoDB](https://cda.ms/3HW)
[Introduction to the Azure Cosmos DB Cassandra API](https://cda.ms/3HX)
[Introduction to Gremlin API in Azure Cosmos DB](https://cda.ms/3HY)
[Introduction to Azure Cosmos DB: Table API](https://cda.ms/3HZ)
[Tutorial: Use Data migration tool to migrate your data to Azure Cosmos DB](https://cda.ms/3J0)

Migrating to Cassandra Docs:

Hybrid cluster - Cassandra MI only

- - The best option – especially for on prem customers. Use Cassandra replication out of the box.
  - [Docs](https://aka.ms/CassandraHybridClusterMigration)
  - [Video](https://aka.ms/CassandraHybridClusterVideo)
  - Dependent on customer running OSS Cassandra v3.11 (or higher) in their source environment

Dual-writes - Cassandra MI and API (with CLTTL enabled)

- - Next best option for real-time migration

  - Docs: 

  - - [MI](https://aka.ms/CassandraDualWritesMigration)
    - [API](https://aka.ms/CassandraAPIDualWritesMigration)

  - More involved, but works for any Cassandra wire protocol compatible source, and thus will work in a wider number of use cases.

Offline - Cassandra MI and API 

- - Spark with Cassandra Connector is the best option for offline migrations at scale.
  - [Docs (MI)](https://aka.ms/CassandraMISpark)
  - [Docs (API)](https://aka.ms/CassandraAPISpark)