Looking into a REST-Based Universal API for Database-as-a-Service Systems

As more and more data-centric services are emerging on the Web, the diversity of APIs in this field increases rapidly. In addition to the traditional relational model, the scope of Database-as-a-Service (DaaS) products is broadened by new approaches, such as the more lenient key-value stores. Many DaaS APIs address the same concepts, making them incompatible with each other, yet not fundamentally different. In this paper, we address this issue by drafting a concept for a "universal" API for DaaS systems based on the REST architectural style. The new API is universal in the sense that it is aimed to be suitable for DaaS systems ranging from those that allow storage of schema-less data to systems with the capabilities of a traditional relational database system. After the presentation of the concept, we critically review it, revealing general problems of such a universal API, and point out a more promising path for future work.