A Rule-based Conversion of an EER Schema to Neo4j Schema Constraints

Resumo


Several application domains hold highly connected data, like supply chain and social network. In this context, NoSQL graph databases raise as a promising solution since relationships are first class citizens in their data model. Nevertheless, a traditional database design methodology initially defines a conceptual schema of the domain data, and the Enhanced Entity-Relationship (EER) model is a common tool. This paper presents a rule-based conversion process from an EER schema to Neo4j schema constraints, as Neo4j is the most representative NoSQL graph database management system with an expressive data model. Different from related work, our conversion process deals with all EER model concepts and generates rules for ensuring schema constraints through a set of Cypher instructions ready to run into a Neo4j database instance, as Neo4J is a schemaless system, and it is not possible to create a schema a priori. We also present an experimental evaluation that demonstrates the viability of our process in terms of performance.
Palavras-chave: Conceptual modeling, NoSQL graph database, graph database design, entity-relationship model, Neo4j

Referências

Akoka, J., Comyn-Wattiau, I., and Prat, N. (2017). A four v’s design approach of nosql graph databases. In: ER Conference, pages 58–68. Springer.

Angles, R. (2012). A Comparison of Current Graph Database Models. In: ICDE Conference Workshops, pages 171–177. IEEE.

Daniel, G., Sunye, G., and Cabot, J. (2016). UMLtographdb: mapping conceptual schemas to graph databases. In: ER Conference, pages 430–444. Springer.

Elmasri, R. and Navathe, S. B. (2016). Fundamentals of Database Systems. Pearson Higher Education, 7 edition.

Pokorny, J. (2017). Modelling of graph databases. Journal of Advanced Engineering and Computation, 1(1):04–17.

Robinson, I., Webber, J., and Eifrem, E. (2015). Graph Databases: New Opportunities for Connected Data. O’Reilly Media, Inc., 2 edition.

Ruiz, D. S. and et al. (2015). Inferring Versioned Schemas from NoSQL Databases and its Applications. LNCS, 9381:467–480.

Sadalage, P. J. and Fowler, M. (2012). NoSQL Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Emerging World of Polyglot Persistence. Pearson Education.

Sousa, V. M. d. and Cura, L. M. d. V. (2018). Logical design of graph databases from an entity-relationship conceptual model. In: iiWAS Conference, pages 183–189. ACM.

Virgilio, R. D., Maccioni, A., and Torlone, R. (2014). Model-driven design of graph databases. In: ER Conference, pages 172–185. Springer.
Publicado
04/10/2021
DA SILVA, Telmo Henrique Valverde; MELLO, Ronaldo dos Santos. A Rule-based Conversion of an EER Schema to Neo4j Schema Constraints. In: SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO DE BANCO DE DADOS (SBBD), 36. , 2021, Rio de Janeiro. Anais [...]. Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação, 2021 . p. 181-192. ISSN 2763-8979. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbbd.2021.17876.