Enterprise improvements in Neo4j graph database update

The Neo4j Team has released version 1.7 of its open source NoSQL graph database. Code-named "Bastuträsk Bänk", the new version of Neo4j introduces a number of improvements and is available as a GPL-licensed Community edition, or as AGPL-licensed Advanced or Enterprise editions – the Advanced version includes monitoring, while the Enterprise edition also adds live backup and high availability.

Neo4j 1.7 includes improvements for dealing with high-volume requests in enterprise deployments such as the new GCR cache in the Enterprise Edition that, according to developer Peter Neubauer, is "10x faster and accommodates 10x more primitives". It "smooths out the rough spots" when processing large graphs with thousands of simultaneous user operations by using thread safe operating to manage a fixed amount of memory. Neubauer says that, while other other cache types are "almost maintenance free" and good for general use, GCR "can achieve more consistent responsiveness when tuned correctly".

Other changes include the addition of new mathematical functions to the Cypher query language in Neo4j, better SSL support, various performance improvements and fixes for a number of bugs found in the previous release. The developers advise all users to upgrade, noting that Neo4j 1.7 is "the preferred stable version for all production deployments".

Further information about this update can be found in the announcement post on the Neo4j Blog, and in the change logs for the community, advanced and enterprise editions. Neo4j 1.7 is available to download from the project's site and updated documentation is provided. Source code for Neo4j is hosted on GitHub.

See also:

• Graph database Neo4J heads to the cloud, a report from The H.
• The H speed guide to NoSQL, a feature from The H.

(crve)