Open-Source Databases in Azure
While SQL Server is a very popular relational database offering, there are several organizations that rely on open-source database platforms to store their relational data. Open-source database platforms can be deployed quickly at very little cost, enabling organizations to stand up a storage platform for their applications with little overhead. However, on-premises open-source database deployments still require organizations to manage hardware, OS, and database engine maintenance. For this reason, Azure offers three PaaS options for hosting open-source databases. These include Azure Database for MySQL, Azure Database for MariaDB, and Azure Database for PostgreSQL. Just like Azure SQL Database, these offerings come with native high availability, automatic patching, automatic backups, and automatic threat protection.
Each of these offerings use the vCore-based purchasing model and includes the following three service tiers:
- Basic—Workloads that require light compute and I/O performance, such as development and test environments
- General Purpose—Most business workloads that require a balance of compute and memory, with scalable I/O performance
- Memory Optimized—Workloads that require high performance and in-memory capabilities
Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL include two deployment options: Single Server and Flexible Server.
- Single Server is a fully managed database service that manages the database engine, handling database and OS patches, automatic backup schedules, and high availability. This option is best suited for modern applications that use cloud native design practices.
- Flexible Server gives users more granular control over the management of the database engine. It allows users to configure high availability within one availability zone or across multiple availability zones. Users can also stop and start the server and set a burstable compute tier for workloads that do not always need a fixed compute capacity.
The following sections will only cover Single Server as Flexible Server is still in preview and is not a focus of the DP-900 exam.