HBase是一个分布式的、面向列的开源数据库，该技术来源于 Fay Chang 所撰写的Google论文“Bigtable：一个结构化数据的分布式存储系统”。就像Bigtable利用了Google文件系统（File System）所提供的分布式数据存储一样，HBase在Hadoop之上提供了类似于Bigtable的能力。HBase是Apache的Hadoop项目的子项目。HBase不同于一般的关系数据库，它是一个适合于非结构化数据存储的数据库。另一个不同的是HBase基于列的而不是基于行的模式。(HBase is a distributed and column oriented open source database, which is derived from the Google thesis written by Fay Chang, Bigtable: a distributed storage system for structured data. Just like Bigtable uses the distributed data storage provided by the Google File system (File System), HBase provides Bigtable like capability on Hadoop. HBase is a subproject of the Apache's Hadoop project. HBase is different from the general relational database, which is a database suitable for unstructured data storage. Another difference is that HBase is a column based rather than a row - based pattern.)