Cloud Databases

A cloud database is often referred to as “database as a service” or a “cloud database service”. It is built and accessed through a cloud platform. A cloud database enables enterprises to host databases without buying dedicated hardware. Cloud databases support both relational (MySQL, PostgreSQL) and NoSQL (MongoDB, Caching, Apache Cassandra) databases.
While users can directly manage their databases, many cloud providers integrate the database engine into virtual machines or servers, delivering it as a managed service. This service from cloud providers gives developers the freedom to build without the burden of managing the software or underlying infrastructure. Cloud providers handle service installations, updates, and maintenance, providing extra benefits such as scalability, high availability, backup, and security. This significantly reduces the burden of complex and time-consuming database administration tasks, previously handled by a database administrator (or DBA). Users can access the database via web interface or vendor-provided API.

OVHcloud Professional Services can assist you in setting up your DBaaS, or resolving technical issues. Our Data Infrastructure experts offer support packages: one-day options (Basic, Advanced, Custom) and longer-term packages. Dive deep into the OVHcloud product ecosystem; get expert advice on architecture, implementation, performance tuning, and more—plus personalised support to optimise your service usage.

Managing and operating databases often demand time and expertise. This is partly because of the number of database engines available on the market: relational, non-relational, time-series, caching, indexing, key-value, etc. As a result, developers usually take on the responsibility of managing a range of database-related tasks. The lack of database administrator support makes it challenging to fully focus on coding. By removing this burden, Database as a Service lets engineering and development teams prioritise core tasks—delivering software for business applications.

Cloud computing’s financial benefits, such as shifting infrastructure costs from CAPEX to OPEX, are a major factor in its expanding use, particularly for databases. Organisations migrating to the cloud sidestep infrastructure capacity planning and lengthy contracts. Businesses save money by outsourcing their IT tasks to cloud experts. Because applications rely on databases, organisations prioritise cost savings and improved database management. Cloud-based databases help businesses cut IT infrastructure costs and focus on building innovative applications quickly.

Learn more about the resilience of deployment modes in our dedicated guide.
A 1-AZ region uses a single availability zone, connected to one or more datacentres. Although it offers protection against server and driver failures, it could be vulnerable to outages, which potentially impacts access if the hosting datacentre fails. 
In comparison, a 3-AZ region consists of 3 independent availability zones, each isolated in terms of power, cooling, and network systems, providing complete fault isolation. This setup ensures service uptime even if an entire availability zone goes down.
You can enjoy peace of mind with 99.99% availability SLAs.

An application’s data model is defined by its databases. Open-source engines offer greater flexibility compared to proprietary database management systems, as developers can avoid being tied to a single vendor’s technology which might become outdated over time. Open-source databases can help avoid hefty costs and minimise risks by eliminating licensing fees and vendor lock-in.

Like all cloud products, a cloud-based database isn’t just one offering. There are several cloud databases with different cloud capabilities. The cloud database that works for you will depend entirely on your specific needs. MongoDB is a great option if you need a database that is versatile, scalable, fast, reliable, and easy to manage.  However, if staying within budget is a priority and you need a cloud-based database, MySQL could be a more suitable option. We’ll soon expand our database offerings to include MySQL and PostgreSQL (relational) and Valkey (in-memory).