Neo4j Graph Database

Neo4j’s primary product and focus is our graph database that stores data in the form of nodes and relationships. It handles both transactional and/or analytics workloads and is optimized for traversing paths through the data using the relationships in the graph to find connections between entities.

New 4.x features

With each update of Neo4j, the database improves performance and features (plus bug fixes, too!). It can be difficult to locate which features and improvements belong to which releases, as well as the best resources for learning and using them. This guide will provide some insight into the highlights and where to go for more information.

Multi-database

This capability allows you to operate and manage multiple databases within a single installation of the Neo4j DBMS. The data can be segmented by use case, sensitivity, or business applications into different databases.

Neo4j Fabric

Neo4j Fabric provides the ability to shard graph data by allowing users to break a larger graph down into individual, smaller graphs and store them in separate databases. These shards can be accessed individually or aggregated to see all of the data, when required.

Cypher

Cypher is a graph query language that allows you to read and write data to the graph. It is a very visual, yet powerful, way to interact with nodes and relationships. Consistent improvements for built-in functions, syntax, and performance are announced nearly every release.

Some of the significant improvements include:

Data access controls

Securing data is important and complex, especially when dealing with sensitive data and regulations surrounding it. There are many ways to of securing the data - access, user roles, protected environments, system architecture, and more. Neo4j provides these capabilities and regularly improves or adds to them.

Reactive drivers

Neo4j reactive drivers incorporate the principles of the reactive manifesto in passing data between the database and clients using the drivers. Developers can take advantage of the reactive approach to process queries and return results. This means that communication between the driver and the database can be managed and adjusted dynamically according to data needs of the client.

Neo4j Versions

Though there are many versions of Neo4j still in use and available for download, we will focus on the few latest releases here and leave you with some resources for accessing information about each.

Support plans

There are a few terms Neo4j uses to categorize support plans and timelines for each release version. We can cover a brief overview here.

  • Short-term support (STS) - the minimum support length of 18 months after release date. Every version of Neo4j comes with this minimum support time.

  • Long-term support (LTS) - the support length of 36 months after release date. Each last minor release of a major version comes with this minimum support time (example, 3.5).

  • Extended-term support (ETS) - optional support agreement for customers willing to purchase. Provides 36 months of support from release date, rather than the standard 18 months.

The table below shows the latest releases and planned support timelines and extensions for each Neo4j version.

Version

Support category

Support Start

Support End

Extended support end

version 4.1

Short-term support

June 2020

December 2021

June 2023

version 4.0

Short-term support

January 2020

June 2021

December 2022

version 3.5

Long-term support

November 2018

December 2021

N/A

Other Resources