tdb

TDB is an acronym that can refer to several concepts, but in the context of semantic web technologies it most commonly denotes the TDB component of the Apache Jena project. TDB provides a high-performance, persistent store for RDF data, enabling scalable storage and efficient SPARQL querying on commodity hardware. It is designed to handle large RDF graphs by organizing data on disk with multiple indexes and a transactional model.

The architecture centers on storing RDF triples and, in extended configurations, named graphs as part of a dataset. It supports ACID transactions, concurrent queries and updates, and integration with the Jena API, ARQ query engine, and the Fuseki SPARQL server. Users typically load RDF data into a TDB-backed dataset using tooling provided by the project, and then execute SPARQL queries or update operations through standard interfaces.

TDB is used in research, data integration, and publishing of linked data where a reliable, file-based store is sufficient. It is not a distributed database; for very large or geographically dispersed deployments, other systems designed for distribution may be more appropriate. The Jena project continues to evolve TDB alongside newer storage implementations, with ongoing emphasis on performance, reliability, and compatibility with RDF and SPARQL standards.

Other meanings of TDB exist in different domains, but this article refers to the Apache Jena TDB when the acronym is used in a technical context. See also Apache Jena, RDF, SPARQL, Fuseki.