Continue reading to grasp the fundamentals of Azure MySQL Database and its primary benefits
Azure is a cloud vendor that provides a wide range of computing services to clients worldwide. One of the main services offered by Azure is the relational database management system (RDBMS). MySQL is a popular RDBMS and is compatible with Azure. Read on to know more about Azure Database with MySQL.
What is MySQL?
- MySQL is one of the most popular and widely used relational database management systems. SQL here refers to ‘Structured Query Language’ used to run commands in the database system.
A relational database utilizes several interconnected tables. As a result, the entire dataset is connected as well. MySQL is open-source software that is free to use and available under various proprietary licenses.
- MySQL is widely known as a highly reliable and secure database management system. It has many popular users, such as WordPress, Joomla, and Twitter. It also offers on-demand scalability, high-performance capabilities, 24/7 uptime, advanced transactional support, low cost of ownership, and several customizable options due to its open-source nature.
What is Azure MySQL?
- Azure Database for MySQL is an open-source, scalable, and fully managed MySQL database. It allows users to direct their efforts toward application development instead of worrying about database management. Azure MySQL enables users to build, deploy, and migrate existing workloads to its database so that no time is wasted in setting things up. There are several database migration benefits to Azure.
Azure promises a 48% lower cost of ownership by offering burstable instances, stop-start capabilities, and charging storage fees only when the database is stopped. Azure MySQL offers regular updates, easy backups, and top-notch security. Azure MySQL supports up to 16TB of data, ten read replicas and 20,000 IOPS. Users have a 99.99% financially backed service level agreement.
- The security features of Azure MySQL include encryption in transit, double encryption at rest, and standard built-in compliance with HIPAA, PCI, DSS, FedRAMP, and Azure Defender. There are several pricing options, such as PAYG (pay as you go) and pay for computing capacity in advance.
Fully Managed Azure Database for MySQL: Single Server
This option offers a fully managed database service built for users having minimal customization requirements. MySQL’s community edition having versions 5.6, 5.7, and 8.0 are supported with this Azure Database service. This option can handle the majority of database management capabilities such as backups, patching, high availability, security, minimal user configuration, and control.
- The single server’s architecture provides 99.99% availability on individual availability zones (AZ) and has high availability as a built-in feature. This feature is available across most Azure Regions.
Cloud-native applications designed for automated patching should preferably run on Single Servers as they do not require granular control for scheduling their patching and customizing MySQL configurations.
Fully Managed Azure Database for MySQL: Flexible Server
- This option offers extended flexibility and granular control over database management configurations based on user requirements. The fully-managed database service feature is a standard for both Single and Flexible Servers.
Users are provided with increased availability across multiple and individual AZs, which is made possible by the architecture of a Flexible Server.
- If the workloads do not require a continuous full load capacity, they should run on a Flexible Server. Flexible Servers can be leveraged for application development workloads that need extended customization, control, managed, and zone redundant high availability windows.
The Flexible Server platform supports MySQL’s community version 5.7 and is in the public preview stage.
Self-Managed Azure Database for MySQL
If you are running your workloads on the cloud in a PaaS (Platform as a Service) or refactoring applications for the cloud, then the fully managed service is the best option for you.
However, if you have enterprise-grade requirements and large deployments, then a self-management service is the right choice. In this service, MySQL runs independently in Azure on a virtual machine (VM).
- To deploy MySQL, you can use a preconfigured image, which can either be your own or get one from the Azure Marketplace. This deployment model is known as IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and is recommended for people who require fine-grained control over the database while customizing the environment.
We, at Henson Group, are one of the most experienced and qualified Managed Service Providers (MSP) of Microsoft’s Azure services. We have a robust global network with thousands of satisfied clients. Contact us today and let us help you get started with Azure.