In this blog, we will discover the key advantages of DBaaS, including scalability, cost savings, and easy management.
What is Database as a Service?
With database as a service, or DBaaS, customers can access and utilise database software without having to buy and configure hardware, install software, or handle system administration themselves.
In DBaaS, the cloud provider handles all of the maintenance, including backups, planned upgrades, and making sure the database system is safe and accessible around-the-clock.
The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industry for cloud databases and DBaaS is one of the fastest-growing, with projections of USD 320 billion by 2025. Along with well-known cloud providers, database and data warehouse vendors are now offering hosted versions of their software, allowing users to take use of the many advantages of cloud computing for the data storage, search, and access requirements of their applications.
Advantages of DBaaS
The following are some major financial, operational, and strategic advantages that DBaaS offers your company over implementing a database management system on-premises:
Cost savings: Setting up database management infrastructure is expensive, and growing it as needed is typically wasteful. With DBaaS, there’s no need to buy extra capacity to have on hand for speculative future need; instead, your company pays a predictable recurring fee based on the resources you use.
Scalability—up and down: If you require additional storage or processing power at runtime, you can quickly and easily provision it. You can also reduce the expense of your database cluster by scaling it down during periods of low demand.
Reduced complexity and expense: An internal administrative staff is required to oversee and maintain an on-premises database. Everything is managed by the cloud provider while using DBaaS, though you are free to take control of some areas if you so desire. DBaaS relieves your current IT personnel of administrative duties, allowing them to focus on innovation and applications.
Faster time to market and rapid development: Development teams usually have to submit access requests through IT for on-premises database systems, which might take days or weeks. Developers can assist themselves with database capabilities and spin up and configure a database that is prepared to interact with their application in a matter of minutes when using DBaaS to contrast.
Data and application security: Enterprise-grade security for data and applications is usually provided by cloud database providers. This includes features like integrated identity and access management controls and default encryption of data in transit and at rest. Certain regulatory compliance standards are also met by certain.
Reduced risk: Service-level agreements (SLAs) that guarantee a specific amount of uptime are commonly included in DBaaS solutions from major cloud providers. If, as is improbable, your provider fails to achieve the SLA’s requirements, you will get compensation for any additional downtime.
Software quality: The vast array of highly flexible DBaaS solutions offered by the major cloud providers are pre-selected for quality, so you don’t have to bother about sifting through hundreds of different databases.
How to choose a DBaaS
A vast range of DBaaS choices are available from major cloud providers, including non-relational or NoSQL databases such document and column stores and relational database management systems (RDBMs).
Determining which database technologies would be most effective for your application and, of course, making sure your provider supports those technologies are vital steps in selecting the best DBaaS provider for your business. The initial phase of the procedure may be complicated because there isn’t a single DBaaS that works well for all of your apps. Every situation has trade-offs, some of which may be subtle. You will need to take into account the following essential elements.
Does my application work better with an auxiliary or primary data store?
Primary data stores, such as relational databases and document-based data stores, are those that provide flexible data models. General-purpose data modelling tools and query languages (such the several versions of SQL) are usually supported by them. The majority were created with the preservation of data integrity in mind. Their versatility makes them a good option for the majority of applications. MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and MySQL are a few examples of primary data stores.
Contrarily, auxiliary data stores aren’t very good general-purpose tools; they usually excel at a few specific tasks. Despite having limited querying capabilities and sometimes restricted data models, they excel in one specific area. This type includes, for example, JanusGraph, Elasticsearch, etcd, and Redis.
If this kind of database is ideal for your application, you can use an auxiliary data store to get great results; if not, use a primary data store.
Do my needs align with the underlying architecture of the database?
Choosing a database engine that can grow to accommodate future demands is just as important as choosing one that fits the needs of your application today. The limitless horizontal scalability of distributed systems may come at the expense of performance or available features, and they are more challenging to develop, administer, and maintain than single-node systems.
Does testing show that the database operates well?
Without actual testing, it’s frequently impossible to predict exactly how a database’s features and capabilities will match the needs of your application. Because it’s so simple (and inexpensive) to start building on a DBaaS solution, developing and testing a prototype should be a major component of the decision process.
This lets you see how quickly your application responds to real queries sent to the database and how well it performs when it encounters the variety of actions and volume of traffic that it will in your production situation.
Does the cloud provider give anything else?
Comparing providers’ holistic offerings which extend beyond the features and functionalities of the database itself is particularly crucial because DBaaS systems usually interact with an entire cloud platform.
Equipment for management
The integrated management tools included in the majority of DBaaS packages make it easier to configure, monitor, and maintain your databases. Among these are tools for activity tracking, key management, and recording. Various database engines can be provisioned and managed using a common set of API methods, which streamlines and standardises the development process.
