A time series database (TSDB) is a software system that is optimized for storing and serving
time series
In mathematics, a time series is a series of data points indexed (or listed or graphed) in time order. Most commonly, a time series is a sequence taken at successive equally spaced points in time. Thus it is a sequence of discrete-time data. E ...
through associated pairs of time(s) and value(s).
In some fields, ''
time series
In mathematics, a time series is a series of data points indexed (or listed or graphed) in time order. Most commonly, a time series is a sequence taken at successive equally spaced points in time. Thus it is a sequence of discrete-time data. E ...
'' may be called profiles, curves, traces or trends.
Several early time series databases are associated with industrial applications which could efficiently store measured values from sensory equipment (also referred to as
data historians), but now are used in support of a much wider range of applications.
In many cases, the repositories of time-series data will utilize
compression algorithm
In information theory, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compression ...
s to manage the data efficiently.
Although it is possible to store time-series data in many different database types, the design of these systems with time as a key index is distinctly different from
relational databases which reduce discrete relationships through referential models.
Overview
Time series datasets are relatively large and uniform compared to other datasets―usually being composed of a
timestamp
A timestamp is a sequence of characters or encoded information identifying when a certain event occurred, usually giving date and time of day, sometimes accurate to a small fraction of a second. Timestamps do not have to be based on some absolut ...
and associated data.
Time series datasets can also have fewer relationships between data entries in different tables and don't require indefinite storage of entries.
The unique properties of time series datasets mean that time series databases can provide significant improvements in storage space and performance over general purpose databases.
For instance, due to the uniformity of time series data, specialized compression algorithms can provide improvements over regular compression algorithms designed to work on less uniform data.
Time series databases can also be configured to regularly delete old data, unlike regular databases which are designed to store data indefinitely.
Special
database indices can also provide boosts in query performance.
List of time series databases
The following database systems have functionality optimized for handling
time series
In mathematics, a time series is a series of data points indexed (or listed or graphed) in time order. Most commonly, a time series is a sequence taken at successive equally spaced points in time. Thus it is a sequence of discrete-time data. E ...
data.
See also
*
Operational historian
*
Delta encoding
Delta encoding is a way of storing or transmitting data in the form of '' differences'' (deltas) between sequential data rather than complete files; more generally this is known as data differencing. Delta encoding is sometimes called delta compr ...
**
Differential backup
A differential backup is a type of data backup that preserves data, saving only the difference in the data since the last full backup. The rationale in this is that, since changes to data are generally few compared to the entire amount of data in ...
References
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