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Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2012 09:41:29 -0400
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 <CAJHHpg37DSH+Jj6Cj_B9B2o+Ux28NA8kHJqmKEcADTgbNn4Cug@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Solr Use Cases
From: "Brian O'Neill" <bone@alumni.brown.edu>
To: user@cassandra.apache.org
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Roshni,

We're using SOLR to support ad hoc queries and fuzzy searches against
unstructured data stored in Cassandra.  Cassandra is great for storage
and you can create data models and indexes that support your queries,
provided you can anticipate those queries.  When you can't anticipate
the queries, or if you need to support a large permutation of
multi-dimensional queries, your probably better off using an index
like SOLR.

Since SOLR only supports a flat document structure, you may need to
perform transformation before inserting into SOLR.  We chose not to
use DSE, so we used a cassandra-triggers as our mechanism to integrate
SOLR. (https://github.com/hmsonline/cassandra-triggers)  We intercept
the mutation, transform the data into a document (w/ multi-value
fields) and POST it to SOLR.

More recently though, we're looking to roll out ElasticSearch.  As our
query demand increases, we expect SOLR to quickly become a PITA to
administrer.  (master->slave relationships)  IMHO, ElasticSearch's
architecture is a better match for Cassandra.  We are also looking to
substitute cassandra-triggers for Storm, allowing us to build a data
processing flow using Cassandra and ElasticSearch bolts.  (we've open
sourced the Cassandra bolt and we'll be open sourcing the elastic
search bolt shortly)

-brian


On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 8:27 AM, Roshni Rajagopal
<roshni_rajagopal@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Im new to Solr, and I hear that Solr is a great tool for improving search
> performance
> Im unsure whether Solr or DSE Search is a must for all cassandra deployments
>
> 1. For performance - I thought cassandra had great read & write performance.
> When should solr be used ?
> Taking the following use cases for cassandra from the datastax FAQ page, in
> which cases would Solr be useful, and whether for all?
>
> Time series data management
> High-velocity device data ingestion and analysis
> Media streaming (e.g., music, movies)
> Social media input and analysis
> Online web retail (e.g., shopping carts, user transactions)
> Web log management / analysis
> Web click-stream analysis
> Real-time data analytics
> Online gaming (e.g., real-time messaging)
> Write-intensive transaction systems
> Buyer event analytics
> Risk analysis and management
>
>
> 2. what changes to cassandra data modeling does Solr bring? We have some
> guidelines & best practices around cassandra data modeling.
> Is Solr so powerful, that it does not matter how data is modelled in
> cassandra? Are there different best practices for cassandra data modeling
> when Solr is in the picture?
> Is this something we should keep in mind while modeling for cassandra today-
> that it should be  good to be used via Solr in future?
>
> 3. Does Solr come with any drawbacks like its not real time ?
>
> I can & should read the manual, but it will be great if someone can explain
> at a high level.
>
> Thank you!
>
>
> Regards,
> Roshni


-- 
Brian ONeill
Lead Architect, Health Market Science (http://healthmarketscience.com)
Apache Cassandra MVP
mobile:215.588.6024
blog: http://brianoneill.blogspot.com/
twitter: @boneill42