2. A Mobile-First, Cloud-First
Stack at Pearson
NoSQL and MongoDB
Aref Matin

3. Contents
1. Introduction to Pearson
– Global Future
2. Move to Open Source, NoSQL, and MongoDB
– Pearson Technology Stack
– Why MongoDB?
3. Pearson Use Cases
– Identity and Access Management
– Adaptive Learning and Analytics
– Pearson Activity Framework
4. The Future of MongoDB at Pearson
– Next Steps and Challenges

4. Introduction
Efficacy

5. Open Source, NoSQL, and MongoDB
Pearson Technology Stack
Closed Source Open Source
What
Wherever possible, choose world-class, commodity
technology as the foundation of our solutions.
Why
We must innovate in the areas that differentiate us as
a learning company. We should not be re-inventing the
wheel in areas where affordable and scalable solutions
exist.
How
Think like a startup. Use open-source where available.
Use vendor solutions where possible. Build proprietary
solutions only when necessary and strategic
When
All new products and services built since January
2013 use this technology stack.
Benefits
● Easier to find and hire talent
● World-class, proven technology stack
● Partner relationships with some of the world’s
premiere technology providers
● We are helping to define Amazon’s backlog
Client SDKs
(iOS & Android)
Nibiru
Rest Express
Thalassa
Nemesis
Pearson
Identity
SubPub
Eventing
EC2 S3 Glacier Redshift
VPC
Seer Activity
Tracking
JSON
NOC Tools
Push
Notifications
Mobile
App Svcs
Calabash/MAF Ziggy eSelenium
REST
Mobile Web
Both

6. Open Source, NoSQL, and MongoDB
Why MongoDB?
• Open Source
• Agility
• Document-Oriented
Data Model
• Scalability
• Fast Reads
• Fast Ad-hoc Queries
• Reduced
Maintenance

7. MongoDB Usage Pearson Use Cases
• Identity
• Access Management
• Learning Management
System
• Assignment Authoring
• Social
• Adaptivity and
Analytics
• Activity Framework
• And more…

8. MongoDB Usage - Example 1a: Identity
Access Management (Local)
• 4 Shards
- 3 replicas for each
shard
• Very Fast
- (800 requests per
sec.)
• Highly Reliable
- (15 min. total avg.
down time per
year)
Elastic Load Balancer
HA Proxy VMs
Service VMs
MongoDB Config
Nodes

9. MongoDB Usage - Example 1b: Identity
Access Management (Multi-Region)
• Goals:
- High
Availability
- High Scalability
- Highly
Persistent
- Performance
- Incident
Mitigation
- Manageable
Cost

10. MongoDB Usage - Example 2: Adaptive
Learning Analytics
Learning App
S3
S3
Oozie
Job Scheduler
Offline Learner Data
Elastic MapReduce
Analytics Data Services
REST Endpoints
Adaptivity,
Recommendations,
Dashboards, and
Visualizations
• Repository
- Avro and JSON Schemas
- Message Validation
• Key component of Big Data ingestion pipeline

11. MongoDB Usage - Example 3: Activity
Framework
• Primary Data Store
- 3 node replica
cluster
• Use Profile
- High read
- Low write
• Leverages fast read
powerful ad hoc
query capability
Authoring
User Agent
Learner
User Agent
Activity
Hub
Activity
Authoring
Activity
Repository
RDBMS
Key /
Value
Learning Platforms Learning Services
Scoring
Engine

12. MongoDB Future at Pearson
Next Steps and Challenges
• Next Steps
– Multi-Region
– Extend Globally
• Challenges
– Need Easier Configurations
– Enterprise Licensing Model
– Developers Need to Embrace
NoSQL Paradigms

13. Thank You