Graphulo: Linear Algebra Graph Kernels for NoSQL Databases

TL;DR

This paper introduces Graphulo, a framework that implements graph algorithms directly within NoSQL databases using linear algebra kernels from the GraphBLAS community, enabling efficient processing of large-scale graph data.

Contribution

It demonstrates how to recast common graph algorithms into linear algebra operations using GraphBLAS kernels within NoSQL databases, facilitating scalable graph analytics.

Findings

Efficient implementation of graph algorithms in NoSQL databases

Recasting graph algorithms as linear algebra operations

Potential for scalable graph analytics in big data environments

Abstract

Big data and the Internet of Things era continue to challenge computational systems. Several technology solutions such as NoSQL databases have been developed to deal with this challenge. In order to generate meaningful results from large datasets, analysts often use a graph representation which provides an intuitive way to work with the data. Graph vertices can represent users and events, and edges can represent the relationship between vertices. Graph algorithms are used to extract meaningful information from these very large graphs. At MIT, the Graphulo initiative is an effort to perform graph algorithms directly in NoSQL databases such as Apache Accumulo or SciDB, which have an inherently sparse data storage scheme. Sparse matrix operations have a history of efficient implementations and the Graph Basic Linear Algebra Subprogram (GraphBLAS) community has developed a set of key kernels that can be used to develop efficient linear algebra operations. However, in order to use the GraphBLAS kernels, it is important that common graph algorithms be recast using the linear algebra building blocks. In this article, we look at common classes of graph algorithms and recast them into linear algebra operations using the GraphBLAS building blocks.