Not a relational database
Berkeley DB is not a relational database.
First, Berkeley DB does not support SQL queries. All access to data is through the Berkeley DB API. Developers must learn a new set of interfaces in order to work with Berkeley DB. Although the interfaces are fairly simple, they are non-standard.
SQL support is a double-edged sword. One big advantage of relational databases is that they allow users to write simple declarative queries in a high-level language. The database system knows everything about the data and can carry out the command. This means that it’s simple to search for data in new ways, and to ask new questions of the database. No programming is required.
On the other hand, if a programmer can predict in advance how an application will access data, then writing a low-level program to get and store records can be faster. It eliminates the overhead of query parsing, optimization, and execution. The programmer must understand the data representation, and must write the code to do the work, but once that’s done, the application can be very fast.
Second, Berkeley DB has no notion of schema and data types in the way that relational systems do. Schema is the structure of records in tables, and the relationships among the tables in the database. For example, in a relational system the programmer can create a record from a fixed menu of data types. Because the record types are declared to the system, the relational engine can reach inside records and examine individual values in them. In addition, programmers can use SQL to declare relationships among tables, and to create indices on tables. Relational engines usually maintain these relationships and indices automatically.
In Berkeley DB, the key and value in a record are opaque to Berkeley DB. They may have a rich internal structure, but the library is unaware of it. As a result, Berkeley DB cannot decompose the value part of a record into its constituent parts, and cannot use those parts to find values of interest. Only the application, which knows the data structure, can do that. Berkeley DB does support indices on tables and automatically maintain those indices as their associated tables are modified.
Berkeley DB is not a relational system. Relational database systems are semantically rich and offer high-level database access. Compared to such systems, Berkeley DB is a high-performance, transactional library for record storage. It’s possible to build a relational system on top of Berkeley DB. In fact, the popular MySQL relational system uses Berkeley DB for transaction-protected table management, and takes care of all the SQL parsing and execution. It uses Berkeley DB for the storage level, and provides the semantics and access tools.
Source: Oracle
Jagjeet Singh 