Announcing the General Availability of NebulaGraph Enterprise v5.0: The First Distributed GQL Database

We are excited to announce the General Availability of NebulaGraph Enterprise v5.0, a groundbreaking release that establishes NebulaGraph as the first distributed graph database to offer native support for the Graph Query Language (GQL).This milestone represents the pinnacle of three years of focused research and development, showcasing our commitment to innovation and excellence in the graph database industry.

Recognizing the importance of GQL early on, we embarked on this ambitious project in November 2021. The initial phase involved a thorough analysis of the GQL standards, followed by extensive design discussions. Over the next few years, we engaged in multiple development iterations and nearly a year of rigorous validation, continuously refining our implementation as the standards evolved. Today, we are proud to unveil NebulaGraph Enterprise v5.0.

Why Native GQL Support Matters More Than GQL Compatibility

Implementing GQL at the architecture level is a complex and challenging endeavor, requiring a well-designed architecture and significant enhancements across the metadata, computation, and storage layers of the database. You could refer to the enhanced kernel engine in Announcing NebulaGraph Enterprise v5.0 RC release: Delivering Full-Fledged GQL Support.

Some might assume that implementing a new query language is as simple as syntactic translation or adaptation. However, our experience tells us otherwise. Pure syntactic adaptation is fraught with challenges. Existing graph languages, such as Gremlin and Cypher, performing syntax translation to GQL might be in lack of catalog and schema management, which are fundamental to GQL as it draws heavily from SQL standards.

Historical attempts to translate query languages have not been successful. For example, some graph database vendors that have dedicated effort to convert Cypher to its own query languages have seen little progress. This underscores the necessity of native GQL support at the architecture level for achieving optimal performance and full compliance with the standards.

Key Enhancements in NebulaGraph Enterprise v5.0

Performance Boosts Up to 3x Faster with 90% Less Memory Overhead

NebulaGraph Enterprise v5.0 delivers a significant performance boost, achieving up to 3x faster query execution while reducing memory overhead by nearly 90%. This is evidenced by the results from the LDBC SNB Interactive benchmark, where the Enterprise v5.0 demonstrated an average speedup of 3.01 times compared to the previous version.

Graph Projection: Efficient Subgraph Analysis

NebulaGraph Enterprise v5.0 introduces support for graph projection, a powerful feature that allows users to create subgraphs based on existing graphs or MATCH queries. This capability enables users to isolate and focus on specific portions of their graph data, making it more efficient to perform complex graph computations and queries. By working with subgraphs, users can significantly reduce the computational overhead and improve query performance, leading to faster insights and more responsive applications.

Multi-Level Permission Management

Security and compliance are paramount in modern data management. NebulaGraph Enterprise v5.0 supports multi-level permission management, offering fine-grained access control down to the property level. This hierarchical permission system spans service groups, schema, graphtype/graph, nodetype/edgetype, and property, ensuring that only authorized users can access sensitive data. This feature not only enhances security and compliance with data privacy regulations but also improves administrative efficiency by reducing the risk of human error.

Query Optimization and Isolation

NebulaGraph Enterprise v5.0 introduces substantial advancements in query optimization and isolation, including query-level resource limits and index hints. The query-level resource limits allow each query statement to utilize a specified amount of CPU and memory resources, and users can individually set the response time for each query. The major benefit of this capability is that it prevents a few resource-intensive queries from monopolizing system resources and potentially bringing down the entire cluster. This granular control ensures that the system remains stable and responsive, even under heavy workloads. The index hints give users more control over query execution. By specifying which indexes to use, users can optimize query performance and ensure that the most efficient execution path is taken. These improvements are crucial for enterprises handling complex relational data where efficiency, consistency, and security are paramount.

Upgraded UI Experience for Analysts and DBAs

The new UI experience of visualization tools in NebulaGraph Enterprise v5.0 offers significant improvements for both business analysts and DBAs:

• Explorer: Redesigned for better interaction and focus on analysis, the new Explorer interface allows users to save and load historical analysis results, making it easier to track and revisit previous analyses.
• Dashboard: The Dashboard will integrate alert monitoring and diagnostics, enabling quick root cause analysis. It will also support multi-tenant management and resource allocation, providing DBAs with powerful tools to manage and optimize their database environments.

Conclusion

NebulaGraph Enterprise v5.0 represents a significant advancement in graph database technology, offering native GQL support to meet the growing demands of complex data environments. We invite you to explore the capabilities of NebulaGraph Enterprise v5.0 and join us in advancing the frontiers of graph database technology. Reach out to us today!