Upgrading your MongoDB® database to the latest major version can offer a range of benefits for developers, administrators, and businesses alike. Newer versions of MongoDB® often include performance improvements that can help you achieve faster query execution, lower latency, and reduced I/O operations. This can be especially important for applications that require real-time processing or handling large datasets.
In addition to improved performance, upgrading to the latest version of MongoDB® can give you access to new features and functionality that can help you manage your data more effectively and streamline your application development. For example, MongoDB® 5.0 introduces native time-series collections, making it easier to work with time-series data, while also offering improved data densification, gap filling, and automatic removal of data.
Another key reason to stay up to date with the latest major version of MongoDB® is security. Each new major version includes security enhancements to protect against emerging threats. By upgrading to the latest version, you can ensure that you remain protected against security vulnerabilities and keep your data secure.
Staying up to date can also ensure that you receive ongoing support and maintenance for your database system. MongoDB® provides support for each major version for a set period of time, after which support is phased out. Upgrading to the latest version can help you ensure that you receive the support you need to keep your database system running smoothly.
In the rest of this post, we will highlight some of the key features of MongoDB® database version 5.0 and why they are important to consider for you or your organization. The previously mentioned native time-series, Live Resharding, Stable API as well as Client-side Field Level Encryption are some of the major features part of version 5.0 that you might be missing out on if you don’t update to the later versions of your database management system.
Native Time-Series
MongoDB® Database 5.0 supports native time-series. Developers can now work more closely with time-series data, implement IoT, financial analytics, and any other area where time-series data is present.
- MongoDB® stores time-series data in a highly optimized way that reduces I/O and storage footprints.
- Time-series collections support data densification and gap filling allow better handling of missing data.
- Time-series collections also support delete operations and automatic removal of data (TTL).
- Time-series collections can sit together with the regular MongoDB® Database collections within the same database, making it easier to query the required insights.
- During the vast volume of streaming time-series data, MongoDB® will adjust the ingestion rates and handle out-of-order situations by dynamically generated time partitions.
- Time-series collections automatically create a clustered-index so the query can be executed with low latency.
- Time-series collections can be sharded to distribute data horizontally.
- Window Functions allows you to execute analytical queries like moving average and cumulative sums like SQL.
Live Resharding
In previous versions choosing the right shard key was an important decision, as it was a complicated and time-consuming manual task to reshard. With version 5.0 you can reshard your collections on the fly. When the reshard command is invoked, MongoDB® clones the existing collection then starts applying the new oplog to the new collection.
For a production system with terabytes of data, it becomes very helpful as live resharding eliminates the need for manual intervention of complex work-flow and cross-checking that the migration happens correctly. With live resharding, evolving your application becomes a simple task. You can now do research and development, or performance tuning by horizontal scaling, with just a few commands on both of your app development and production environment.
Stable API
MongoDB® 5.0 has introduced the Stable API, which reduces the dependence of the application life-cycle on the database life-cycle. The Stable API allows you to simply pin your driver to a specific release, without worrying about whether changes occur in the underlying MongoDB® rapid or major releases. This eliminates the need for developers to retest their application for every minor release of MongoDB® Database, making their lives easier.
Client-side Field Level Encryption
MongoDB® Database 5.0 offers a strict security approach that allows you to run your applications seamlessly without interruptions. With Field Level Encryption (FLE), MongoDB® Database can encrypt the most sensitive fields in your documents before they leave the application. FLE offers three distinct advantages that are not available with in-flight or at-rest encryption alone:
- Protects data in-use, while it resides in the memory of your active database instance.
- Makes data unreadable to anyone who runs the database or has access to the underlying database infrastructure.
- Simplifies the enforcement of right to erasure mandates in modern privacy regulations like the GDPR or the CCPA.
Conclusion
In conclusion, upgrading to the latest major version of MongoDB® can offer significant benefits, including improved performance, access to new features and functionality, enhanced security, and ongoing support and maintenance.
MongoDB® version 5.0 introduces several key features, including native time-series, live resharding, stable API, and client-side field level encryption, which can streamline application development, improve data management, and protect sensitive data. Staying up to date with the latest major version of MongoDB® database can help developers, administrators, and businesses achieve their goals efficiently and securely. You can read the full release notes for MongoDB® here.
