Cloud-Watch - Azure Databases

by: Simon Hughes
date: Wednesday, May 29, 2019
category: cloud-watch cloud azure database

Within the Azure platform it is possible to run almost any database platform available. But what if you want to embrace serverless on the Azure platform, and let Microsoft run everything for you. Lets explore the options that are available.

Using the latest managed platforms on Azure leaves you and your team free to spend more time delivering business value, and spend less time administering servers, databases, and performing trivial duties. Less really is more. Within Microsoft Azure there are a growing number of database platforms that are available as a fully managed service, in no particular order they are:

Azure Cosmos DB

Azure Cosmos DB is a fully managed database service which supports true global scale. It supports automatic and elastic scaling worldwide, and has an amazing 99.999% availability. As a database platform is supports a number of existing APIs including SQL, MongoDB, Cassandra, Gremlin, and Apache Spark. If you have an application that is using any of these technologies and you are managing it yourself, then you are truly missing out.

Azure SQL Database

Azure has a number of solutions based on the Microsoft SQL Server platform. The basic option is a single managed SQL Database, which allows you to migrate an application using a single database without any application changes required. If you have a multi-tenant solution which requires multiple databases, then an Azure Elastic SQL Pool is one appealing solution. And if you want a data warehouse scale solution, then Azure Data Warehouse is the right technology to explore.

Azure Databases

If you need some more of the open source options, then again MS has you covered. We have an Azure Database for MySQL and an Azure Database for PostgreSQL. Plenty of applications written on the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL & PHP) use MySQL and PostgreSQL, so the managed solution is a great option.

Azure Cache for Redis

Redis is a very high throughput, low latency solution which is regularly used across web applications where data needs to be cached. Typically building a Redis cluster is hard to do, and yet another piece of infrastructure to support and maintain. A fully managed option using Azure Cache is well worth considering.

Azure Table Storage

NoSQL databases are the latest evolution of databases. They are typically used to store semi-structured data that needs to be highly available. They typically are used to stored objects (JSON) and therefore have a very flexible schema. Azure table storage is highly available, and allows storage of petabytes of data, this truly is a global scale solution.

This is just a brief run through of all the options that are available within the Azure ecosystem. As with all things it might seem there is an obvious solution to your needs, but it really is worth spending the time to fully evaluate the options as there will always be a couple of the solutions which will meet your needs, and its worth exploring them all, as they have unique features, and costs associated with them.

I ensure I look across the businesses I work with to ensure they deliver on the right technology platforms, that includes software and cloud hosting where appropriate. To find out how I can help you, feel free to contact me, pick up the phone or drop me an email.