Questions about using a DHT as a database

[Hyperion35]

Hi all

What are the advantages and limitations of using a Distributed Hash Table as a database?

How does it compare to NoSql Databases and relational databases?

Can someone give a practical use case of using a DHT with an application and how that application performs CRUD and querying operations on the DHT.

Would I create a separate DHT for each record like how a NoSql database creates a separate document for each record?

Basically, is a DHT a sophisticated enough data structure to have all the functionality of a NoSql or relational database? And if so, how does it achieve it.

Thanks in advance

[Seneca]

@Hyperion35

What are the advantages and limitations of using a Distributed Hash Table as a database?

Advantages are it’s distributed nature and relatively fast search for such a distributed system (O(log(n))), leading to scalability. Limitations depend on how you use it, in SAFE the DHT is also used as a routing layer, causing additional latency.

@Hyperion35

How does it compare to NoSql Databases and relational databases?

A DHT is actually just a table of key-value pairs spread over many nodes.

@Hyperion35

Can someone give a practical use case of using a DHT with an application

BitTorrent? And SAFE.

@Hyperion35

Would I create a separate DHT for each record like how a NoSql database creates a separate document for each record?

No, definitely not.

@Hyperion35

Basically, is a DHT a sophisticated enough data structure to have all the functionality of a NoSql or relational database? And if so, how does it achieve it.

You could build such functionality on top of it, yes.