DocumentDB has been around for awhile now in Microsoft Azure. It’s a Document based, NoSQL database in the cloud. There’s been tons of advancements to the service over time, including MongoDB API support so you can use it in place of MongoDB for existing code bases. It’s always been called “DocumentDB” since initial release of the service, but for a time it was labeled as “NoSQL (DocumentDB)” in the Azure Portal. It seems there was some indication that Microsoft wasn’t happy with the name they first chose.

Today, we wake up in the morning to updates that have been made to the Azure Portal where DocumentDB is no longer there. Well, it actually is there, but has undergone renaming / rebranding. From this day forward, DocumentDB will no longer be called DocumentDB. Instead we will call this NoSQL, Document based database service….. Azure Cosmos DB.

From this day forward, DocumentDB will no longer be called DocumentDB. Instead we will call this NoSQL, Document based database service….. Azure Cosmos DB.

This naming change to CosmosDB isn’t the only thing released. There’s the all new “Data Explorer” UI in the Azure Portal that makes it a bit easier to use DocumentDB… ahem… CosmosDB too!

In the sessions and documentation that will come out of Microsoft and from the Microsoft Build 2017 conference which starts today, I’m sure we’ll hear all about these changes coming to our favorite NoSQL, Document store in the Microsoft Azure cloud.

For now, here are some link to additional artifacts I’ve found that show evidence that Microsoft is in fact renaming DocumentDB to CosmosDB:

Here’s the description in the Azure Portal when you search for “CosmosDB” in the Azure Marketplace:

Azure Cosmos DB is a fully managed, globally-distributed, horizontally scalable in storage and throughput, multi-model database service backed up by comprehensive SLAs. Azure Cosmos DB is the next generation of Azure DocumentDB. Cosmos DB was built from the ground up with global distribution and horizontal scale at its core – it offers turn-key global distribution across any number of Azure regions by transparently scaling and replicating your data wherever your users are. You can elastically scale throughput and storage worldwide and pay only for the throughput and storage you need. Cosmos DB guarantees single-digit millisecond latencies at the 99th percentile anywhere in the world, offers multiple well-defined consistency models to fine-tune for performance and guaranteed high availability with multi-homing capabilities – all backed by industry leading service level agreements (SLAs).

Cosmos DB is truly schema-agnostic – it automatically indexes all the data without requiring you to deal with schema and index management. Cosmos DB is multi-model – it natively supports document, key-value, graph and columnar data models. With Cosmos DB, you can access your data using NoSQL APIs of your choice — DocumentDB SQL (document), MongoDB (document), Azure Table Storage (key-value), and Gremlin (graph), are all natively supported. Cosmos DB is a fully managed, enterprise ready and trustworthy service. All your data is fully and transparently encrypted and secure by default. Cosmos DB is ISO, FedRAMP, EU, HIPAA, and PCI compliant as well.

Happy discovering new features!!

About the Author

Chris Pietschmann

Chris Pietschmann is a Microsoft MVP, HashiCorp Ambassador, and Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) with 20+ years of experience designing and building Cloud & Enterprise systems. He has worked with companies of all sizes from startups to large enterprises. He has a passion for technology and sharing what he learns with others to help enable them to learn faster and be more productive.