Apache Ignite

Apache Ignite is an open-source distributed database, caching, and processing platform designed for high-performance, low-latency, and horizontally scalable computing. It's primarily used for in-memory computing but also supports disk-based storage.

At its core, Apache Ignite is an in-memory computing platform. It stores data in RAM, dramatically speeding up data processing compared to disk-based databases.

Ignite is designed as a distributed system. Data and computations are distributed across multiple nodes in a cluster, leading to high scalability and resilience. Apache Ignite supports [[Structured Query Language|SQL]] queries with a distributed joins feature, allowing it to run high-performance, complex queries over large datasets.

Ignite functions as a key-value store but extends beyond this with SQL query support, transactions, and other database-like features. It can be used as a distributed cache, providing an intermediate layer where data is temporarily stored for fast access, reducing the load on underlying databases.

Despite being an in-memory data grid, Apache Ignite supports [[ACID]] transactions, ensuring data integrity and consistency across all operations.

Ignite maintains data redundancy and automatically handles node failures, ensuring that the system is fault-tolerant and data is not lost. Apart from data storage and caching, Ignite provides a compute grid that allows you to run computation tasks in the memory cluster, leading to efficient distributed computing.

Ignite can be integrated with various [[Relational Database Management System|RDBMS]], [[Non-relational Database|NoSQL]], [[Hadoop]], and machine learning frameworks. It can also be deployed on top of Hadoop clusters to accelerate big data processing.