RDF/OWL storage and management in relational database management systems: A comparative study

This paper details RDF/OWL storage and management in two popular Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMSs): Oracle and Virtuoso. Popularity, sustainability, and conformance with the SPARQL language are the main reasons for choosing these systems. This work combines empirical and analytical studies guided by a comparative framework developed and motivated in the paper. Several dimensions are considered, including RDF data type preservation, SPARQL query and update processing, reasoning capabilities, custom inferences, blank node management, and other functional and non-functional features. Furthermore, a review of the performance assessments reported in the literature has been conducted. This study's results identify the advantages and shortcomings of these RDBMSs for storing and managing RDF/OWL. They can help improve these systems or serve as a guide in choosing an appropriate system to use in a project context. Opportunities for further research efforts are also suggested. © 2021 The Authors