What is a Cloud Native Database?
A cloud native database is a database that is designed and architected to operate on the cloud. A cloud native database uses the full functionality of the cloud, unlike a traditional database which is maintained at a local data center. With a cloud native database, you do not own or maintain the hardware and infrastructure that supports the database. Instead, you gain access to a cloud native database over the internet as part of a service agreement with a cloud database service provider.
A cloud native database can be deployed across any cloud platform or environment. Similar to a cloud deployment model, a cloud native database can be thought of as a cloud-platform-as-a-service.
There are two main types of a cloud-native database: a relational database and a noSQL database. Data is sequentially organized in neat rows and columns in a relational database. SQL is a type of coding program used to mine the data from a relational database to extract useful insights. Some examples include Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server. In a noSQL database, on the other hand, the data is not structured in a tabular format and cannot be retrieved using SQL.
To get the full functionality of a cloud-native database, you can build and develop an application exclusively on a cloud platform. This type of application is called a cloud-native application. A cloud-native application is typically broken up into smaller components that can be executed independently of each other. These smaller application components are called containers. In this way, upgrades and changes can be made to a certain portion of a cloud-native application, without affecting the operation and end user experience of the entire application itself. Containers offer greater flexibility than virtual machines, which is a cloud computing instance.
Managing multiple containers can present a challenge though. Container management service providers offer cost-effective options to deploy application containers onto cloud-native technologies. That way, you continue to benefit from the full functionality of the cloud.
Cloud Native Database FAQs
What is the difference between cloud-native and cloud-based?
Cloud-native refers to databases, applications and other cloud technologies that are initially developed and optimized exclusively on the cloud. Cloud-based refers to databases and applications that are first developed on traditional databases and then migrated to the cloud.
If my workload isn’t cloud native, can it still live on the cloud?
Absolutely! You’ve already invested tons of time and resources into optimizing your existing databases, building your applications and other software that your customers already love. Now, you’re ready to take advantage of the scalability and flexibility of the cloud and provide even more value to your customers. Migrating to the cloud will be challenging though. You will have to refactor or rewrite your application code to make it compatible with the cloud. This is time consuming and has a high risk of failure. However, with the right tools in place in your software stack, you can successfully house your mission-critical workloads in the cloud while getting the performance you need at a reasonable price point.
Silk optimizes your cloud experience
Silk is perfectly poised to help simplify your migration to the cloud. The Silk Cloud DB Virtualization Platform is a virtualized layer that sits between your data and the cloud. From here, Silk accelerates your cloud computing experience with up to 10x faster performance compared to native cloud alone. All without the need to refactor.
Relational and noSQL databases process frequent transactions from multiple users at the same time. Data requests, queries and other frequent transactions when executed in the cloud can suffer from extended delays known as latency. Silk reduces the latency associated with using the cloud by providing scalable high-performance options via the Silk Data Pod. The Silk Data Pod allows the user to increase performance in real-time without the need to provision additional cloud infrastructure.
Backing up your data consumes even more cloud resources that ultimately adds to your cloud bill. Silk uses a patented snapshot process to create instant copies of your database that have zero footprint. This way, you don’t end up over-provisioning your cloud resources.
Silk is also always on with no single point of failure, giving you the confidence that your databases are always readily available.
So why underperform when you can Silk instead? Learn more about Silk visiting us at www.silk.us.
