6.9. Schema Design Smackdown

This section will describe common schema design questions that appear on the dist-list. These are general guidelines and not laws - each application must consider it's own needs.

6.9.1. Rows vs. Versions

A common question is whether one should prefer rows or HBase's built-in-versioning. The context is typically where there are "a lot" of versions of a row to be retained (e.g., where it is significantly above the HBase default of 3 max versions). The rows-approach would require storing a timstamp in some portion of the rowkey so that they would not overwite with each successive update.

Preference: Rows (generally speaking).

6.9.2. Rows vs. Columns

Another common question is whether one should prefer rows or columns. The context is typically in extreme cases of wide tables, such as having 1 row with 1 million attributes, or 1 million rows with 1 columns apiece.

Preference: Rows (generally speaking). To be clear, this guideline is in the context is in extremely wide cases, not in the standard use-case where one needs to store a few dozen or hundred columns.