How SkySQL delivers stability even during times of uncertainty

Global IT professionals see cloud adoption as part of their response to the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis, according to respondents to a May 2020 poll conducted on behalf of MariaDB. Cloud database solutions such as MariaDB SkySQL DBaaS provides an easy, flexible and cost-effective solution to move to the cloud and addresses respondents’ primary concern – security.

MariaDB database is available on every major cloud and is among the top 5 of databases used worldwide and 75% of Fortune 500 companies run it. This position in the marketplace gives us a global perspective on how IT professionals are responding to the COVID-19 crisis. In May 2020, in partnership with Propeller Insights, we polled 559 enterprise engineering and IT professionals at the manager level and above in the U.S., U.K., France and Germany to explore how they are responding to the COVID-19 crisis – particularly looking at cloud adoption statistics.

IT professionals are looking to the cloud to decrease business risk and provide service stability for vital IT infrastructure. Key findings include that 40% of respondents are accelerating cloud adoption in response to the current situation and in preparation for possible future shutdowns. Top choices on related decisions include (when asked to select all that apply):

  • 51% are planning to move more applications to the cloud
  • 39% expect to be 100% in the cloud
  • 32% are starting a move to the cloud

Accelerated adoption is not the universal response to the crisis. Our survey also revealed that 24% of respondents are slowing their move to the cloud because of  COVID-19’s impact.

MariaDB SkySQL Provides Solution to Cloud Adoption

Until this year, companies that were looking for MariaDB in the cloud had to settle for third-party providers. In April of this year, MariaDB introduced MariaDB SkySQL – a DBaaS built and supported directly by the creators of MariaDB. As companies work to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, they can now get MariaDB from the source with MariaDB experts supporting their database instances. SkySQL extends powerful enterprise features with unrivaled ease of use and best-in-class innovation. Instances can be stood up in a few clicks. And as you expect from the cloud, you only pay for what you use.

Based on the MariaDB Platform, SkySQL delivers the robust modern SQL capabilities of MariaDB Enterprise Server and provides transactional and analytical capabilities as well as a hybrid of both. SkySQL provides a wide range of solutions to enable IT professionals to quickly respond and adapt to the changing needs of the current times.

The production-ready Primary/Replica replication topology leverages MariaDB MaxScale for transactional data, provides transparent read/write splitting, multiple read replicas, and automated failover for high availability. SkySQL is built on Kubernetes, so robust self-healing capabilities further enhance service availability and resiliency. Both Primary/Replica and Standalone transactional configurations use the reliable and performant InnoDB storage engines with persistent block storage.

Analytical instances of SkySQL use MariaDB ColumnStore columnar storage engine paired with economical object storage. This configuration provides the high-performance analytical benefits of columnar storage and eliminates the need to pre-allocate storage for growth. MariaDB Platform for analytics allows you to perform real-time ad hoc queries on extremely large data sets, on inexpensive pay-as-you-go object storage. With easy single-node provisioning, it’s simple and cost-effective to stand up columnar data storage for testing and periodic business analysis tasks.

SkySQL can also be configured for both transactional and analytical capabilities on one instance. SkySQL for Smart Transactions stores data in both row and columnar formats with data being replicated from InnoDB tables to the MariaDB ColumnStore tables, enabling an application to perform analytical processing on current data. With a simple cloud deployment, you have hybrid database capabilities with familiar MariaDB SQL syntax and connectors and without the need for expensive and time consuming ETL (extract, transform, load) into a separate data store for running analytical workloads.

Strong DR and BCP with SkySQL and SkyDBA

It comes as no surprise that security is a primary concern among respondents – 73% cited security as a concern that could prevent them from making a commitment to a full cloud database solution. There is cause for concern.

According to the global association ISACA’s COVID-19 study, only 51%of technology professionals and leaders are highly confident that their cybersecurity teams are ready to detect and respond to the rising cybersecurity attacks during COVID-19. Additionally, only 59% say their cybersecurity team has the necessary tools and resources at home to perform their job effectively.

SkySQL is a robust cloud solution and security is a primary design consideration. Security features that are part of every SkySQL instance include:

  • Monitoring by MariaDB SREs
  • Access gated through IP address whitelists
  • Security of Google Cloud infrastructure
  • Kubernetes auto-healing
  • HA through automated failover (Primary/Replica topologies)
  • Automated nightly backups
  • SkySQL Support Engineers

For customers who require a greater degree of support, SkyDBA can extend the capabilities of your in-house DBAs with the backing from a global team of expert MariaDB database administrators, available 24/7 for the most severe (S1) issues. In addition to day-to-day operational help, SkyDBAs can provide consultative support such as quarterly business audits, and assistance resolving performance problems.

The SkyDBA team functions as virtual members of your team – intimately familiar with your application, data, and environment. SkyDBA can be a cost-effective extension to your in-house team – valuable at any time but perhaps especially during the current uncertain times, and an excellent addition to your Business Continuity Plan (BCP).

Cloud with Confidence

With a wide range of flexible solutions, the expertise that comes with decades of database development experience, and the security provided by a robust architecture and a global team of DBAs, SkySQL provides a DBaaS solution to help businesses keep up with changing times.

Dive into the MariaDB cloud adoption statistics.