Apache Drill

Apache Drill is an open-source, distributed SQL query engine for analyzing data where it already resides. It provides schema-free SQL access to files, Hadoop data, NoSQL databases, and cloud object storage, allowing users to query raw and semi-structured data without first loading it into a warehouse or defining and maintaining a fixed schema.

Drill can query sources such as HDFS, Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage, local and network file systems, HBase, MongoDB, and MapR data stores. A single query can join data across supported sources—for example, combining event logs in a Hadoop directory with user-profile data held in MongoDB. Its optimizer can push work to an underlying data store where supported and use data locality when deployed alongside the source data.

The engine uses a JSON-based data model for nested, complex, and changing data structures. It supports standard SQL along with extensions for working with nested fields and arrays, and it can expose virtual datasets that make non-relational data easier to use in business intelligence tools. JDBC, ODBC, and REST interfaces support connections from tools such as Tableau, Qlik, Microsoft Excel, and custom applications.

Apache Drill can run in embedded mode for local exploration or as a distributed cluster. It is suited to analysts, data engineers, and developers who need interactive SQL access across varied data sources without building a separate ingestion and modeling layer for every source.