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Tag: DBaaS

  • Couchbase Adds Columnar Database to DBaaS Environment

    Couchbase Adds Columnar Database to DBaaS Environment

    At the AWS re:Invent 2023 conference today, Couchbase, Inc. announced it added a columnar database based on the JSON file format to its database-as-a-service (DBaaS) portfolio to enable organizations to build real-time analytics applications.

    Scott Anderson, senior vice president for product management and business operations at Couchbase, said the Capella columnar database is designed to be integrated with the company’s JSON-based document database via a database change protocol (DCP) that Couchbase has embedded within its DBaaS environment.

    Deployed on cloud services from Amazon Web Services (AWS), the overall goal is to reduce the level of friction that IT teams would otherwise encounter when integrating a document database with a columnar database optimized to process analytics using columns rather than the rows typically associated with a relational database.

    That approach gives IT teams the ability to use a schemaless database architecture that provides an alternative to employing disparate databases that would need to be deployed and then integrated using extract, transform and load (ETL) processes to move data from one database to the other, noted Anderson.

    Capella columnar also uses the same SQL++ language as the company’s document database to streamline queries in addition to supporting Capella iQ, a copilot based on generative artificial intelligence (AI) that enables queries to be crafted in natural language.

    In addition, Capella columnar provides connectors to move data from Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon DocumentDB, Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) and other data sources deployed on the AWS cloud.

    In the longer term, Couchbase is also planning to add vector capabilities to its DBaaS environment to make it simpler to securely extend generative AI models, said Anderson.

    In general, document databases have been widely adopted because they provide developers with an alternative to legacy database platforms that they can download and deploy themselves. The Capella DBaaS platform further simplifies that process via a managed service through which Couchbase assumes operational responsibility for managing databases. The columnar database extends that capability using a columnar database that can drive analytics capabilities to deliver a more personalized application experience, noted Anderson.

    It’s not clear to what degree organizations will ultimately wind up relying on as-a-service platforms, but since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift to this approach to consuming IT resources has increased significantly. As a result, the way internal IT teams are organized is shifting as lower-level tasks are either automated or handled by an external IT team that works for a vendor.

    Regardless of how databases are managed, however, there remains a need to integrate the data operations (DataOps) processes used to manage them with the DevOps workflows used to build modern applications. Each organization will need to determine how much economic sense it makes for them to manage that data versus relying on an external services provider. The challenge when relying on an external service provider is, as always, integrating that service into an existing IT environment.

  • Couchbase Revamps DBaaS Based on Document Database

    Couchbase Revamps DBaaS Based on Document Database

    Couchbase Inc. has unfurled a revamped database-as-a-service (DBaaS) platform dubbed Couchbase Capella hosted on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud.

    Scott Anderson, senior vice president for product management for Couchbase, said that as application development continues to evolve, it’s becoming apparent more organizations prefer to have providers of databases manage those platforms on their behalf. That approach frees up database administrators (DBAs) to spend more of their time building and deploying applications, he noted.

    Couchbase Capella is based on Couchbase Server 7, which added multi-statement SQL transactions capabilities to the document database, based on a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format, to make it possible to also run in microseconds transaction processing applications that previously would have required a relational database to process SQL ACID transactions.

    That release of Couchbase Server 7 also added schema and table-like organizing structures, called “scopes and collections,” within the schemaless database to make it possible to add a table while transactions are running.

    As a document database Couchbase has gained traction mainly thanks to developers who have opted to employ a database they could download and deploy themselves to build applications instead of requiring a DBA to set up a relational database. However, as the number of instances of a document database proliferates, a need to manage them across fleets of servers and cloud services has emerged.

    The challenge then becomes determining whether to hire a dedicated administer or employ a DBaaS managed by a vendor. Many organizations are opting for the DBaaS approach because it eliminates the need to hire a full-time administrator. Once an organization opts for the DBaaS approach, however, it next needs to integrate that service within its DevOps workflow to build those applications.

    There is, of course, no shortage of options when it comes to DBaaS platforms. The global cloud database and DBaaS market size is expected to reach $26 billion by 2025, according to a report from Adroit Market Research. Overall, the as-a-service market reached a record $13.4 billion in the third quarter, up 55% from prior year, according to a report published by Information Services Group (ISG).

    It’s not clear to what degree organizations will ultimately wind up relying on as-a-service platforms, but since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift to this approach to consuming IT resources has increased significantly. As a result, the way internal IT teams are organized is shifting as lower-level tasks are either automated or handled by an external IT team that works for a vendor.

    Regardless of approach, the amount of data being created and analyzed within organizations is only going to grow. Organizations will need to determine to what degree it makes sense for them to manage that data versus relying on an external services provider. The challenge, of course, when relying on an external service provider isn’t just technical; it introduces a new cultural dynamic that takes some time for many IT teams to appreciate fully.

  • MongoDB’s Atlas Turns Five

    MongoDB’s Atlas Turns Five

    In June 2021, Andrew Davidson, VP of cloud products at MongoDB, talked with Alan Shimel about MongoDB and the fifth anniversary of launching Atlas, the company’s database-as-a-service offering. The video is below, followed by a transcript of the conversation.

    Announcer: This is Digital Anarchist.

    Alan Shimel: Hi, everyone. Welcome to another segment here on TechStrong TV. Our guest for this segment is Andrew Davidson. Andrew, welcome to TechStrong TV.

    Andrew Davidson: Thanks, Alan. Good to be here.

    Shimel: It’s great to have you on. Andrew, I purposely didn’t say a lot about – I just said Andrew Davidson. I didn’t give your company, your title, or anything. I’m gonna let you do that, if you don’t mind.

    Davidson: Well, thank you very much. Yeah, so I’m Andrew Davidson. I’m VP of cloud products here at MongoDB. I’ve been here nearly nine years. I’m a Silicon Valley native originally, but I moved to New York City and found this amazing opportunity here. MongoDB, for those who don’t know, is actually headquartered in New York City. And it’s been an amazing journey since that time, just seeing this incredible explosive growth out there over this time.

    Shimel: Absolutely. Y’know, if you couldn’t tell from my funny French accent, I’m from New York originally. So I got into tech around 1995, 1996. And at the time, I think the mayor of New York was Mayor David Dinkins, and he had started a project that they were calling Silicon Alley. Right?

    Davidson: There you go.

    Shimel: It was downtown. And I actually had an office – first company I sold – on John Street, 55 John Street. But it was shortly after that – eh, shortly; it was probably seven or eight years after that at least, I bet, that Mongo started in that Silicon Alley, New York kind of cauldron of tech stuff.

    Davidson: That’s exactly right.

    Shimel: Yeah. Oh, I remember. I was in New York then. And it was a point of pride, actually, right? I mean, it wasn’t Oracle. We didn’t wanna be Oracle, right? It was the new guys, the new sequel guys, and they made a name for themselves and did well, right? And so I’m glad to hear you made that move from Silicon Valley –

    Davidson: Totally.

    Shimel: – to New York, and it’s a pretty cool thing. Of course that, as I said, was 15, 17 years ago, right? We’re here to celebrate a birthday/anniversary today, too, and that’s the – If I’m wrong, Andrew, correct me. It’s the fifth anniversary of Atlas from MongoDB, right?

    Davidson: That’s exactly right. We launched MongoDB Atlas, which is our global cloud database service, five years ago this month, and we’re just so excited. We’ve come so far. We’ve reached the psychological milestone this same month of 51 percent of our company revenue growing more than 70 percent year over year. We all know that this is the future of the platform. This is the foundation on which we can deliver really the world’s preeminent application data platform. And the value –

    Compared to where we were, y’know, when you mentioned when MongoDB was coming out of Silicon Alley so many years ago, it’s just a completely different universe today. At that time when MondoDB was first created, I think it was largely about timing. There was this combination of factors, giving developers this document model that was totally native for them, and also democratizing a distributed system right at the time in which cloud was democratizing commodity hardware.

    That combination led MongoDB to explode. But this idea of self-managing databases that we realized six, seven years ago, that was gonna go away. People are gonna move up a whole level of abstraction. It’s gonna be all declarative. An end-point in the cloud you can read and write from, and build wonderful applications – that’s what MongoDB Atlas was all about. And five years in, over 25,000 customers, over 100,000 developers signing up every month, it’s just unbelievable.

    Shimel: It really is. Y’know, I mean, look. Again, having been there, the original attraction with MongoDB was “no SQL,” right? It was a no sequel database. Everybody was using SQL scripts, and whether you were using MySQL or MS SQL, it was – And then the idea of no SQL was really huge. But why was it huge? I think you hit it, Andrew. Number one, it was easier for developers to do what they wanted to do, how they wanted to do it. Number two, it was just lighter and easier and more fungible, if you will, especially as we were moving to cloud in 2005 and 2006, right?

    Cloud burst on the scene. And it lent itself. It lent itself to multi-nodes and all of these things much better than relational SQL database.

    Davidson: Totally.

    Shimel: But of course Atlas comes in as a service.

    Davidson: Absolutely.

    Shimel: And I think that – it’s more than just a service. A database is a service, or data is a service. But fundamentally I think that is the next leap forward, right? We went from like 2001: An Odyssey, right? Someone _____ to throw a rock, and that was a big leap forward. But it was the next leap forward with fire, that defined it.

    Davidson: That’s right. The obelisk, I suppose you could say.

    Shimel: Right, the obelisk, no, totally.

    Davidson: ‘Cause I mean, like you were saying a second ago, why is it so important for developers to have a data model that’s so native for them? Well, it’s because every company today has that incredible sense of urgency that they must be come software companies. In every vertical, every part of the world, everyone’s either fighting to keep what they’ve got or being challenged by upstarts. And you can’t buy this off the shelf any longer.

    You have to bring that DNA in house and really reflect your company’s unique value propositions and users and internal logistics and all of the above for software, and data is the heart and soul of software. It’s always been the hardest part of, frankly, building software. We change how we build software. We layer in microservice as next-gen frameworks, et cetera. But if the data model hasn’t kept up, and if the data model continues to be this sort of tabular model that goes back to the ’70s, a time in which storage was the key bottleneck in computing because it was expensive to have storage then –

    We flash forward to today. The bottleneck is actually our technical people’s ability to understand and build that software. And so MongoDB flips this whole thing on its head and allows those people to be kind of these artisans of the business today, unlocking their ability to really make those businesses competitive. And that’s why I think the strategic value of this is rising. And then when you deliver it in a service, you get so far away from this kind of plumbing of dealing with infrastructure management, operating systems –

    Who wants to be talking about that stuff? It’s non-differentiating, right? You have to move to your custom software, and you have to be able to utilize the best-in-class capabilities. Best in class database as a service globally on the Big Three public cloud, like MongoDB Atlas. Use that with best-in-class other capabilities, and really weave together your unique business, your unique company. That’s what’s happening out there.

    Shimel: Agreed. You said something earlier, too, that wasn’t lost on me, and I wanna make sure it wasn’t lost on the audience. Here on the first anniversary of MongoDB Atlas, it now accounts for more than 50 percent of revenue for the company, which means it’s the dominant revenue-maker for the company. And how long are you working on the Atlas project now, Andrew?

    Davidson: Since the beginning. I mean, really five, six years on Atlas, but at MongoDB almost nine.

    Shimel: Yep. So I guess the question is, and be honest –

    Davidson: Yeah.

    Shimel: – don’t fudge it – did you imagine five years ago that this would be the dominant revenue source for Mongo? Or did you always think it was?

    Davidson: That’s a great question. I think part of me thought, “Y’know, it’s gonna be so hard to get to the point where you can be trusted to power the back end of these mission-critical applications all over the world. This is gonna be such a massive mountain to climb!” I think I had doubts at times, but on the flip side I knew: this is the future of databases. The only way we’re really gonna get to that next level, the only way we truly can disrupt this massive database market, is if we nail it with this service.

    So we knew, and I think we had pretty solid buy-in at every level of the company, that we had to make Atlas successful. In the early days, y’know, as is always difficult, we were kind of a start-up in the company, a whole new go-to-market model, largely self-service led, credit card customers coming in, long tail. We weren’t ready yet to go out to the enterprises on year one. And kind of earning that right, getting battle tested, getting all the security controls, the regulatory capabilities, the sort of the reference wins.

    Y’know, those early customers like 7-11, and Liberty Mutual, and NBCUniversal. Doing great big things on the platform, really showing that you could do it at scale, you could do it safely and securely. And just validating the value prop that we always knew was gonna be there – it just got easier and easier. The flywheel starts moving, and you started feeling like, “Y’know, we really have a shot, here.” And we started doing more and more deals – SMB, corporate, kind of mid-market segment.

    And then probably year three, we started really going big in the enterprise, and you just kinda knew, “It’s gonna happen. We’re gonna do this.” The growth rate was so high. And now, boom. Yeah, you get to that point. The 50 percent chasm is crossed, growing twice as fast as the traditional software, and it’s like, “What a feeling!” I talked to so many customers, even, who are transitioning from kind of being open-source software companies to SAS companies.

    It is a very hard DNA shift to go through. You go from really just writing software that other people run on their own, to being responsible for the business of your customer. And it’s a whole different trust dynamic that’s really important.

    Shimel: Absolutely. Look, congratulations to you and to the whole team with that. It’s an accomplishment, for sure, right? ‘Cause it’s easy to go from zero to one; it’s easy to go from one to two. Two to four is harder. Four to eight is harder. Eight to 16 is yet harder. When you’re talking about 50 percent of the revenue of a company like Mongo, it’s not a zero to one, right? Five years ago, Mongo was already – I guess it was public. Was it public five – ? I don’t know. How long – ?

    Davidson: I think we went public more – no, I think it was more like three and a half years ago, if I’m not mistaken.

    Shimel: It was still a sizeable amount of revenue, right? It wasn’t just _____, y’know –

    [Crosstalk]

    Davidson: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah, yeah.

    Shimel: So that is a mountain to climb. All right. I’m gonna ask you – We’re running low on time. I got a few other things. I’m gonna ask you to put on your visionary goggles now.

    Davidson: Sure.

    Shimel: Here we are, Andrew, talking to Alan five years from now. I hope not. I hope I’m somewhere in Maui or something. But five years from now we’re talking, celebrating the tenth year of Atlas. It’s now 80 percent of Mongo’s revenue, unless something new came up to disrupt it – who knows?

    Davidson: Totally.

    Shimel: But what does Atlas look like five years from now?

    Davidson: Yeah, look. I mean, the whole philosophy of our platform in many ways is it’s fundamentally about user experience. It’s about making it possible for these application developers and operators and enterprises and start-ups, everyone in between – make it easier for them to build modern applications on a modern application data platform. And what we think makes us really unique is, it all starts with this document data model. The document data model is very much the superset data model.

    You can express key value inside a document. That’s just, y’know, a document with a single index. You can express relational inside a document; it’s essentially a flat document. Y’know, spatial, graph – it’s all expressible in this unified interface. So you can do all these data models and all these use cases, which makes it very widely applicable, very multimodal. But then the important step beyond that is to drive multiple workloads behind the scenes.

    The workloads are kind of how you store the data behind the scenes, the algorithms you use to analyze it. Our philosophy is, behind that same unified, elegant interface, you should be able to express all of the wide array of workloads that power modern applications – operational, transactional, the most mission-critical applications; search, which is about human-powered experiences; mobile experiences on iOS and Android devices, synchronizing data back up and down from the cloud to the mobile device –

    real-time analytics; data-like use cases, with object storage economics. All of that should be accessible at your fingertips through this superset data model. And when we think about kind of wrapping all of that up, continuing to deliver it at scale, secure, highly available, highly scalable, multi-cloud service on the Big Three public cloud, we’re just gonna keep taking this vision to the next level. Be laser focused on the user and on delivering what they need to build the next-generation applications of tomorrow.

    Shimel: I love it, man. Good stuff. Andrew, we’re about out of time. For people who wanna get more information on MongoDB Atlas, where do they go?

    Davidson: Well, you can absolutely go to mongodb.com, but you should also check out our upcoming developer conference, mongodb.live, on July 13. Look forward to seeing you there.

    Shimel: Is that virtual only?

    Davidson: Virtual. Absolutely. Virtual conference this year. Next year I’m hopeful, very hopeful, we’ll be back with the real deal, what we used to call MongoDB World, in New York City.

    Shimel: Absolutely. I’ve been there, been there more than a few times.

    Davidson: There you go.

    Shimel: I’m looking forward to it.

    Davidson: Absolutely.

    Shimel: Y’know, I’m gonna be in New York that week of July 13th. I wish you guys were doing it in person. But –

    Davidson: Well –

    Shimel: Next year. We’ll wait.

    Davidson: Yeah, yeah. Look forward to seeing you _____.

    [Crosstalk]

    Shimel: Andrew, congrat – Absolutely. Andrew, congratulations on your fifth anniversary with Atlas, and great work. It’s something to be proud of, man.

    Davidson: Thank you, Alan.

    Shimel: It’s good stuff. Big stuff.

    Davidson: My final comment is, this community’s growing like crazy. Like I said, 100,000 people sign up for Atlas every month. You should sign up today if you haven’t experienced a free forever sandbox cluster, build your Hello World application. We’ve got courses for you to learn from, documentation up the wazoo, because this is big tent community. Thank you, Alan.

    Shimel: Absolutely. Talk to you soon, Andrew. A pleasure. Andrew Davidson, MongoDB. Fifth year anniversary of Atlas – check it out. We’re gonna take a break here on TechStrong TV, and we’re gonna be right back with another guest.

    [End of Audio]

  • The SolarWinds Query Report 2021: Database Priorities and Pitfalls

    The SolarWinds Query Report 2021: Database Priorities and Pitfalls

    The rise of hybrid IT and the accelerated adoption of cloud-native apps have evolved traditional database design, management and monitoring. Workloads are rapidly shifting to the cloud and application performance is heavily dependent on the performance of the underlying database. Meanwhile, the global COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to make significant changes in the last year. Although it was and is a necessity, the transition to remote work and many organizations’ rapid pivots in strategy posed significant challenges for the technology professionals tasked with supporting new employee demands and shifting business priorities.

    As a result, organizations are increasingly acknowledging the importance of database performance management and strategy to ensure their most valuable asset: Data. SolarWinds recently revealed the findings of The SolarWinds Query Report 2021: Database Priorities and Pitfalls, which examines the current state of database management, evaluates the primary challenges database professionals face today and outlines how database professionals can best overcome these challenges.

    The North American results are based on responses to an online survey fielded in February 2021, which included participation from 331 technology professionals responsible for database performance management in the U.S. and Canada from public and private sector small, mid-size and enterprise organizations.

    Among many other key findings, this year’s report revealed the following:

    Increasing Complexity

    Database design and management are evolving in tandem with increased complexity, and IT professionals are on the verge of a significant shift in strategy that embraces cloud database-as-a-service (DBaaS) platforms as critical database performance success factors.

    • Though nearly 80% of the respondents said Microsoft SQL Server is the most critical platform in use today, there’s a relatively even split between the second, third, and fourth most-used platforms: cloud DBaaS (54%), Oracle (47%) and MySQL (43%).
    • As tech pros keep pace with advances in database platforms and indicate an intended shift toward cloud DBaaS adoption (33% of the respondents ranked cloud DBaaS as the number-one priority database platform to adopt over the next three years), the new mix of traditional/cloud DBaaS platforms will also require new skills.
    • Complexity increased in response to COVID-19 and the transition to remote work over the past year, according to 31% of respondents, who cited increased data demands from users, increased volume of data and security/compliance issues (such as GDPR) as the top three drivers of added complexity.

    The industry’s acknowledgment of cloud DBaaS platforms as critical success factors for database performance is now underway. When it comes to cloud migration (especially amidst a pandemic dramatically accelerating planning and execution of cloud computing and digital transformation), database professionals should start with a basic data and code cleanse and ensure only what’s truly needed is being migrated to reduce complexity and overall cost (we know cloud computing costs can add up). A comprehensive, successful migration strategy should also include a detailed assessment of the data estate—what dependencies or complex coding features exist? Remember, everything interconnected with a database has to go with it to the cloud, so taking these preliminary steps will help organizations avoid surprises down the road.

    Database Security/Compliance Influence Priorities

    The cloud and security/compliance are key factors influencing priorities and resource allocation in 2021 and beyond.

    • Nearly 60% of tech pros surveyed stated that of the data/systems currently managed within their organization, less than 25% are in the cloud. But this is expected to change, as 36% of respondents reported integrating cloud DBaaS is one of their organization’s top priorities in 2021.
    • Two-fifths of the respondents anticipated bigger budget allocations in 2021 (compared to 2020) for cloud services and security/compliance (42% and 39%, respectively).

    Managing database platforms is a big undertaking—a balancing act between proactive and reactive responses. But tech pros must make sure they’re covering all their bases, especially when it comes to security and compliance (and, on occasion, cost and licensing). Time and time again, we see these four big-ticket items pushed to the bottom of the priority list, and falling at one of these hurdles can do a great deal of damage. The new generation of legal compliance has real teeth if you fail to comply with the law. A simple cost-benefit analysis can be the proof point you need to highlight the potential impact of not upskilling in one of these areas and can give you a reason to move it back to the top of the priority list.

    Maintenance Constraints

    Database professionals devote more than a third of their day to database maintenance. This constrains both time and opportunity for activities such as innovation and upskilling in response to increased complexity and data-driven initiatives.

    • Maintenance work accounts for a greater portion of database professionals’ time when compared to other tasks. One-third of the tech pros surveyed stated one of the top areas where they spend the most time as a database/data/tech pro is maintenance (33%) and database development (22%).

    Daily database maintenance consumes time tech pros could otherwise be spending on things like upskilling or innovating new ways of working. For example, nearly half of those polled stated performance/query tuning was one of the top three skills/tools they believed they could develop/improve to better manage increasing database complexities, followed by security management and data engineering (45% and 41%, respectively). One of the best ways to work smarter, not harder: Mitigate downtime spent on maintenance and enable efficiency is to implement appropriate automation and monitoring tools. When implemented properly, automation and monitoring solutions can improve overall performance and eventually lead to reduced costs. Additionally, they can free up tech pros’ time, allowing them to focus on more proactive database performance management.

    The report reveals just how quickly the database architecture and operations tech pros are managing in today’s organizations are changing—and the web of management complexity accompanying this change. With application availability and performance as critical business drivers, the database has long been the linchpin of today’s IT environments. However, against the headwinds of increasingly diversified platforms and reduced resources, tech pros must be equipped to do more than reactive maintenance in environments that keep adding more databases with each passing day.

    Tech pros must capitalize on the opportunity ahead to maximize the performance potential of cloud-hosted databases and ensure the successful optimization of their organizations’ data.

  • Should Your Company Use DBaaS?

    Should Your Company Use DBaaS?

    From SaaS to IaaS, companies are rapidly moving to the cloud to gain huge agility and cost benefits. So, is it time for your company to take advantage of database as a service (DBaaS)? Here’s a high-level discussion to help you along your decision path.

    First, it’s important to distinguish DBaaS from simply running a database on a cloud-based server, such as Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure. While you can certainly gain some cost and agility benefits from running your database on a virtual machine, you’ll still need to provision and maintain the database, that is, you will need server operations expertise.

    With DBaaS, the cloud provider also provisions and maintains the database, eliminating the need for your organization to maintain server operations expertise in-house. DBaaS manages the entire environment—physical and virtual hardware, operating system, networking, replication configuration, etc.—so you can stay focused on software development. With the click of a button you can set up the database and then connect your application with a simple API call. And you’re ready to go.

    The speed and cost advantages of this approach can be huge, but there are also some limitations, so it’s important to assess whether your company’s resources and your project’s requirements align with the current capabilities of the various DBaaS offerings.

    Reasons to Use DBaaS

    Lack of Expertise: As suggested above, if your technical team is mainly composed of software developers who won’t be able to manage the complexity of provisioning a database, you should consider DBaaS. In addition to handling the management of the database, the DBaaS provider will offer additional services, such as automatic backups of your data. In this worry-free environment, you can focus on optimizing your software instead of constantly worrying if the database is functioning properly.

    Short-Lived Databases: If you need databases to serve as back ends for continuous integration testing, DBaaS will allow you to rapidly provision the databases, populate them with test data and then delete them when they are no longer needed. Having the database provisioned for you makes it far faster and simpler to build the required automation for the testing environment.

    A Microservices Design: DBaaS can be particularly helpful, even in a production environment, if you are using a microservices design composed of a very large number of databases. Even if you have the internal expertise, you may not want to invest the time and effort in deploying all those databases. DBaaS can get you into production significantly faster.

    Reasons Not to Use DBaaS

    While the above benefits are appealing, you likely won’t want to use DBaaS in the following scenarios.

    Database-Centric Applications with Complex Topologies: To ensure ease of deployment, DBaaS providers limit the ability to deploy complex environment topologies. This reduces the flexibility DBaaS customers have. For example, let’s say that for disaster recovery, you have a primary synchronous replication cluster in one region and a secondary synchronous replication cluster in a different region, with an asynchronous relationship between them. This relatively complex topology is outside the scope of most DBaaS offerings.

    IO-Bound Workloads: If your database has IO-bound workloads, you may need very powerful hardware, including high-end CPUs, terabytes of memory and very fast storage. In this case, you may not find a DBaaS provider that offers a configuration that will meet your needs.

    Understand Your Options

    If your database requirements align with the capabilities of DBaaS, you now have the ability to eliminate significant operational complexity and develop, test and deliver your applications faster and at a lower total cost. However, make sure you spend time carefully investigating today’s DBaaS offerings, including Amazon RDS, Google Cloud SQL and Azure SQL Database, which all have different features and focus, including deployment models, performance trade-offs, instance types and more.

    If your needs don’t fit current DBaaS offerings, you’ll need to provision your databases yourself. If you don’t have the expertise in-house and can’t afford new hires, a database consultant may be a cost-effective strategy for getting the support you need.

    — Tyler Duzan

  • 7 Best Practices New MongoDB Users Should Know

    7 Best Practices New MongoDB Users Should Know

    Being a developer in today’s technology landscape is tricky. While the proliferation of different cloud services makes it faster and simpler than ever to turn ideas into reality, this rapid development comes at a price. Developer responsibilities have grown to include not only product/feature development, but also other application-critical tasks such as configuring and managing a database deployment, in this case, MongoDB.

    While this guide looks at MongoDB databases specifically, the broader (and proverbial) fork in the road for developers is this: Manage a production database deployment yourself or go the database-as-a-service (DBaaS) route. A DBaaS manages the database on a developer’s behalf, so the developer can focus more on feature and product development operations instead of database ops. However, sometimes this isn’t an option. If you’re embarking on a MongoDB journey and don’t use a DBaaS, consider this checklist to ensure you have the best practices down before getting started.

    Host Your Application in the Same Data Center as Your Database

    Your application infrastructure and your database should be located in the same local network (i.e., data center/cloud region), as it will be the most secure method of deployment and will minimize latency between your application and database. For example, if you are hosting your application in Azure West US, you should also host your database in Azure West US.

    When you connect to your database from within the same data center/region, you communicate through your cloud hosting provider’s internal network. All major cloud hosting providers provide a good deal of network security infrastructure to isolate tenants. The hypervisors they use do not allow VMs to read network traffic addressed to other VMs; thus, no other tenant can “sniff” your traffic.

    Use a Replica Set for High Availability and Review Deployment Best Practices

    MongoDB Replica Sets synchronize data over multiple redundant servers and protect your application from downtime in the face of node failure. Should your primary node fail or become unreachable, your application will automatically fail over to a secondary node, ensuring the availability of your database.

    AWS users should take special care to deploy their replica set nodes across separate Availability Zones to protect against zone failures.

    Not all workloads have the same requirements, so there are multiple strategies for deploying a replica set. You can find a list of considerations in the MongoDB documentation here.

    Host Different Environments on Separate Hardware/VMs

    In addition to the production environment, you may be responsible for setting up environments for development and staging applications. Create a separate database deployment for each of your application environments, with each deployment running on its own VM or hardware to protect against resource contention (CPU, RAM, etc.) across your multiple environments.

    Enable Database Access Control

    MongoDB does not require authentication by default. Protect your database against unauthorized access by enabling database access control. Enabling access control also allows you to limit actions that particular users can perform on the database.

    Use an Application Driver Maintained by the MongoDB team

    MongoDB is a very popular database technology with a large community behind it. As a result, many third-party drivers have been created. However, third-party drivers may become abandoned or outdated over time. It’s critical to find a driver that is well-maintained and stays up to date with the latest MongoDB features.

    If possible, use an official driver by the MongoDB team. You can find a list of drivers that are maintained by the MongoDB team here.

    Index Early and Often

    Without question, the most common database performance issue is due to improper indexing (or a complete lack thereof). Proper indexing is critical because even one unindexed query is enough to prompt significant performance degradation.

    If you’re unsure about indexing best practices, we’ve created a list of indexing tips for improving your MongoDB performance.

    Schedule Regular Backups

    While replica sets can offer redundancy to protect against system failure, they will not protect you from accidents caused by human error such as dropping a collection or even your database. Backups are crucial for ensuring you do not lose valuable data.

    Two common backup strategies are to take filesystem snapshots or to use the mongodump utility. Schedule frequent, recurring backups to keep your data safe!

    About the Author / Chris Chang

    chris-changChris Chang is a developer advocate at mLab. At mLab, Chris has provided database support to thousands of developers. Previously, Chris has held IT roles at VMware and NetApp. He is interested in developer tools, fitness, and house music. Chris holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

     

  • IBM to Acquire Cloudant: Open, Cloud Database Service Helps Organizations Simplify Mobile, Web App and Big Data Development

    ARMONK, N.Y. – 24 Feb 2014: IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Boston, MA-based Cloudant, Inc., a privately held database-as-a-service (DBaaS) provider that enables developers to easily and quickly create next generation mobile and web apps.  

    Cloudant will extend IBM’s Big Data and Analytics, Cloud Computing and Mobile offerings by further helping clients take advantage of these key growth initiatives. Financial terms were not disclosed.

    Clients across a variety of industries, including gaming, financial services, mobile device manufacturers, online learning, retail and healthcare are already using Cloudant technology.

    “IBM is leading the charge in helping its clients take advantage of big data, cloud and mobile,” said Sean Poulley, vice president, Databases & Data Warehousing, IBM. “Cloudant sits squarely at the nexus of these three key transformational areas and enables clients to rapidly deliver an entirely new level of innovative, engaging and data-rich apps to the marketplace.”

    Organizations are being challenged to quickly create engaging and data-rich mobile and web apps. Mobile device usage is proliferating rapidly worldwide, creating a surging demand for apps and an increased volume of structured and unstructured geographically encoded and globally distributed data.  Five petabytes of data are created every day by mobile phone subscribers around the world. To meet this growing demand, data must be always available and easily accessed by massive volumes and networks of users and devices.

    Cloudant, an active participant and contributor to the open source database community Apache CouchDBTM, delivers high availability, elastic scalability and innovative mobile device synchronization. Cloudant’s JSON cloud-based data service allows mobile and web developers to quickly and easily store and access the explosion of mobile data using an application programming interface (API) that is significantly easier to use than alternatives. Increasingly, developers have embraced NoSQL databases because of their flexibility, and JSON has become the predominant NoSQL database technology for mobile and web app developers.

    “IBM has a rich history in the field of data management, and one that will truly differentiate Cloudant’s technology in the marketplace,” said Cloudant CTO and Co-Founder Adam Kocoloski. “Joining IBM allows Cloudant to innovate faster than ever before, and IBM’s track record in open source software gives us complete confidence in our ongoing collaboration with the Apache CouchDB project. Cloudant could not have found a better home than IBM.”

    Cloudant complements IBM’s Big Data and Analytics portfolio beyond traditional data management by providing a database–as–a–service that enables clients to simplify and accelerate the development of engaging and scalable mobile and web apps. Cloudant also is integral to IBM’s MobileFirstsolutions. It enables developers who use Worklight, IBM’s mobile app development software, to quickly create flexible, reliable and scalable apps that include a variety of structured and unstructured data.

    Delivered as a managed cloud service, Cloudant technology ensures that app developers no longer need to be experts in database management, while database administrators (DBA) can focus on higher value tasks beyond day-to-day administration.

    The acquisition of Cloudant will also strengthen IBM’s cloud solutions by providing developers with the tools and resources to build, test, deploy and scale cloud apps on a variety of hosting layers. Cloudant runs on the IBM SoftLayer platform today and extends IBM’s recent investment in the SoftLayer cloud infrastructure. As a global service sold in 140 countries, SoftLayer provides an easy cloud “on-ramp” to help clients quickly deploy mobile capabilities with the security, privacy and reliability of private clouds and the economy, flexibility and speed of a public cloud.

    “Cloudant’s decision to join IBM highlights that the next wave of enterprise technology innovation has moved beyond infrastructure and is now happening at the data layer,” said Cloudant CEO Derek Schoettle. “Our relationship with IBM and SoftLayer has evolved significantly in recent years, with more connected devices generating data at an unprecedented rate. Cloudant’s NoSQL expertise, combined with IBM’s enterprise reliability and resources, adds data layer services to the IBM portfolio that others can’t match.”

    Cloudant’s DBaaS extensively leverages the availability, elasticity and reach of the cloud to create a global data delivery network enabling applications to scale larger and remain available to users wherever they are located.  In addition, the Cloudant managed cloud service:

    ·         Stores data of any structure as self-describing JSON documents

    ·         Leverages a multi-master replication system and advanced distributed design principles to achieve elastic database clusters that can span multiple racks, data centers, or cloud providers

    ·         Enables global data distribution and geo-load balancing to provide high availability and enhanced performance for applications that require data to be located close to users

    ·         Provides full-text search, advanced geo-spatial and temporal querying, and flexible, real-time indexing

    ·         Integrates via a RESTful application programming interface (API)

    ·         Enables easy data replication and sync for mobile applications, with open source, device-native software libraries

    ·         Offers 24×7 monitoring and management by its Big Data experts

    The acquisition of Cloudant is expected to close in 1Q14. Following the close, Cloudant will join IBM’s newly formed Information and Analytics Group led by Senior Vice President Bob Picciano, a business unit within the IBM Software & Systems Group.

    About Cloudant

    Cloudant provides the world’s first globally distributed database-as-a-service (DBaaS) for loading, storing, analyzing, and distributing operational application data for developers of large and/or fast-growing web and mobile applications. Delivered as a managed cloud service, Cloudant technology accelerates time-to-market and time-to-innovation because it frees developers from the mechanics of data management so they can focus exclusively on creating great applications. It also offers high availability, elastic scalability, and innovative mobile device synchronization. For more information, visit https://cloudant.com/

    For more information about IBM Big Data and Analytics, visit http://ibm.co/bigdataanalytics

    For more information on IBM Cloud, visit http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/us/en/

    For more information on IBM MobileFirst, visit http://www.ibm.com/mobilefirst/us/en/

    “Apache,” “Apache CouchDB,” and “CouchDB” are registered trademarks or trademarks of theApache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries. All other brands and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.