The explosion of cloud computing platforms and adjoining databases can only be equated to the proliferation of a cell – you start with a single cell, then two, the four and before long it’s a mass of millions of cell, you can hardly if at all, pick out the parent cell.
The following article is supposed to be a sort of primer for you to know what is on the market, and how it is different from everything else available. The cloud database services highlighted in the following paragraphs refer to managed DB services rather than DB instances, which users will still have to find managers and administrators for. Also highlighted is the locations in which said databases are running currently.
The list is quite obviously not exhaustive – we would have to write a book to provide the kind of sufficiency required for decision making. However, feel free to contact our Remote DBA Expert team with any specific questions that you may have.
a) Amazon Relational Database Service
This was among the earliest cloud DB services as well as the most complete. Not unlike other AWS services, Amazon RDB ties into the management interface of the AWS. It remains compatible with the vast majority of cloud computing services courtesy of AWS. While it began as a service managed and hosted by AWS alone, it now allows user the option of selecting Oracle or MS SQL Server databases also.
b) Clustrix Database Service
These services are from well-known vendor Clustrix and they run on Rackspace cloud. It allows users to benefit from the stellar performance provided by SSDs (solid state drives) as well as the serenity allowed by a single-tenant deployment system. It can also support scalability on MySQL capabilities. According to the vendor, it is capable of measuring system health using a series of over 2,500 metrics.
c) EnterpriseDBPostgres Plus Cloud Database
Enterprise DB primarily focuses on the commercialization of the PostgreSQL database. It already had a Postgre Plus service offer, and this is the commercialized version of the same. It’s better targeted for developers, with rich features e.g. compatibility with various Oracle environments, high connection counts and clusters with high availability.
d) FathomDB
FathomDB comes with an open-sourced form of the original technology it applied. It claims ability to be able to assist developers build anything, but at present it doed not additionally offer hosted database services.
e) Google Cloud SQL
While it may not be the richest database in terms of features, this service provides its own advantages, such as integration with all other Google cloud services making interaction easier. It also replicates geographically to ensure maximum availability. At the moment, instances can only get storage capacity of up to 10GB, and only Python and Java applications are supported.
f) HerokuPostgres
HerokuPostgres is the public version of the platform-turned-service if the internal HerokuPostgreSQL database. It’s specialized towards data protection and reliability. It attempts to provide the true Heroku experience to developers that are unable to utilize the PaaS service offered by the same company. A specialist feature includes the ability for one user to communicate results returned by an SQL query to somebody else through a URL, called Data Clips.
g) HP Cloud Relational Database for MySQL
Being in private beta, there remains a lot of work yet undone, and features that still need to be included. It is built on a MySQL distribution based on OpenStack, which theoretically is supposed to make transition of a client’s business database from one cloud to another easier if need arises.
h) IBM SmartCloud Application Service
Just like the HP version, this cloud database from IBM is still a work-in-progress, there are sparse details on specific features it has. It is known however, that the service has been built in the DB2Server technology by IBM and forms a part of the SmartCloud Application Services that are still in their pilot implementation phase at the moment.
i) Microsoft SQL database
This service used to be the SQL Azure, and it forms a vital element of Microsoft’s hybrid cloud computing development. It has the ability both to perform on standalone basis ad to support a shared user experience using the Microsoft SQL Server. It also permits data sharing within on-premise SQL Server databases, with the option of syncing across SQL Database deployments in other locations but still forming part of a client’s cloud infrastructure.
j) Oracle Database Cloud Service
This is not a cloud service for every, but current users of the Oracle databases will certainly appreciate the option of cloud hosting, which this service offers. It claims functionality, performance and feature-richness consistent with the second release of the Oracle 1g Database. While it is not clear how much it might cost, there is no option for long-term contracts, and users receive a monthly fee depending on the database size.
k) Rackspace Cloud Databases
The Cloud Databases makes the most recent inclusion in the range of cloud-based offerings from Rackspace. From its initiation, it was built on the OpenStack platform. It still operates only on the early access mode, meaning that users may not be able to enjoy a wide range of features including SLAs, backups, GUI or monitoring. However, the service promises reliability and high performance, owed particularly to the network-based storage are architecture and container-based virtualization implemented in the service.
l) Xeround
Apart from Amazon RDS, this service from Xeround is probably the most popular cloud database system currently on the market. In addition, it is the most flexible service as regards the possible location of deployment – it runs a MySQL service, which can operate on virtually any public cloud currently available: Rackspace, AWS, Heroku, and Joyent among others. Xeround also claims that it has an auto-scaling feature among its principal capabilities. It is also said to have a unique architectural plan – more or less, it is a MySQL frontend running on a groundbase, which in theory has the ability to support a host of different database options.