Question

You are designing a Cosmos DB data model for an e-commerce platform. Each order contains between 1 and 30 line items. Line items are always read together with the order, are never queried independently, and are never updated after the order is placed. Orders are read frequently and the entire order document averages 8 KB. Which data modeling approach best fits this access pattern?

Accepted Answer

Embed the line items as an array inside the order document.

Answer

Store each line item as a separate document referencing the order by orderId.

Answer

Create a separate container for line items and join it to orders at query time.

Answer

Store line items in a normalized relational-style structure with foreign keys across three containers.