Create and manage database clusters

This guide walks you through creating ​Akamai​ Managed Databases powered by Aiven through Cloud Manager.

Create a new database cluster

  1. Log in to Cloud Manager and from the main menu, select Databases.

  2. Click Create Database Cluster.

  3. In the Cluster Label field, enter a label allowing you to easily identify the cluster on your account. The label must be alphanumeric and between 3 and 32 characters.

  4. Select the Database Engine for your new database. This setting determines the underlying database management system (DBMS) that your cluster uses. Each database engine is significantly different and you should choose the one that is required by the application you intend to use it with. For instance, WordPress requires MySQL. If you are building a custom application, work with your developers to determine the best selection. To learn more on available database engines, see Database engines and plans.

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    It's recommended to select the latest database version available, unless your application requires an older version.

  5. Select the Region where the database cluster will reside. Regions correspond with individual data centers, each located in a different geographical area. If you will access this database from a compute instance or LKE cluster, you should select the same region as those services. Otherwise, select the region closest to you and/or your customers. This helps reduce latency and can make a significant impact in connection speeds and quality. To learn more on available regions, check these resources:

  6. Every node of a database cluster is built on its own compute instance. In the Choose a Plan section, select the compute instance type and plan that the nodes will use. You can choose from either Dedicated CPU or Shared CPU plans. In general, Dedicated CPU plans are recommended for high-performance production databases. To learn more about types and plans, see Choose a Compute Instance Instance plan.

  7. Determine the number of nodes the cluster will use:

    1. For Dedicated CPU, you can choose:
      • 1 node standalone database: This option is designed for development purposes or production databases where a lower cost is more beneficial than redundancy and failover.
      • 2 and 3 node high availability database cluster: These options are designed for product databases. High availability database clusters have built-in data redundancy and automatic failover. Your data is replicated across every other node in the cluster. If one goes down, any traffic is redirected to the other available nodes.
    2. For Shared CPU, you can choose:
      • 1 node standalone database: This option is designed for development purposes or production databases where a lower cost is more beneficial than redundancy and failover.
      • 3 node high availability database cluster: This option is designed for product databases. High availability database clusters have built-in data redundancy and automatic failover. Your data is replicated across every other node in the cluster. If one goes down, any traffic is redirected to the other available nodes.
  8. Optional: In the Add Access Controls section, specify which IP addresses and ranges are permitted to access your new database cluster. Each Managed Database cluster has its own access control list, which grants specific IP addresses or ranges access to the database. By default, all connections both public and private are blocked unless they appear on this list. See Access Control for more information.
    If you are testing the connection from your local machine, you may also wish to enter the IP address that your ISP has assigned to your machine. One way you can find this out is by typing "What's my IP" into Google.

  9. Click Create Database Cluster. It takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes to fully provision the cluster. You can track the status by reviewing the Status column in the Database Clusters list.


Suspend a cluster

If you don't use a database cluster, you can suspend it so that you won't be billed for it. If you won't use the cluster any more, you can delete it.

To suspend a cluster:

  1. Log in to Cloud Manager and from the main menu, select Databases.
  2. Select a cluster from the list.
  3. Go to the Settings tab. In the Suspend Cluster section, click Suspend Cluster. Confirm your decision in the pop-up.

What to do next: You can resume the clusters work within 180 days from its suspension. After this time, it will be deleted automatically.

Resume a cluster's work

You can resume a cluster's work within 180 days from its suspension.

To resume:

  1. Log in to Cloud Manager and from the main menu, select Databases.
  2. Select a cluster from the list.
  3. Go to the Settings tab. In the Suspend Cluster section, click Resume Cluster. Confirm your decision in the pop-up.

Access control

Each Managed Database cluster has its own access control list, which allows specific IPv4 addresses or ranges to connect to the database. By default, all connections both public and private are blocked unless they appear on this list.

There are four types of access:

  • No access. If you don't provide any IP addresses, the database won't allow any connections.

  • Open access. Enter the 0.0.0.0/0 IP address to allow connections from any IP address.

  • Individual access. Enter a specific IP address to grant an individual system access. The /32 is added automatically if no prefix size is provided, which means only this single IPv4 address is included within this rule.

  • Range access. Enter a range to allow connections from an entire range of IP addresses by specifying the prefix and the prefix length. For example, entering 192.0.2.0/24 as an access control allows connections from 192.0.2.0 - 192.0.2.255.

IPv6 support

Use an IPV6 address (AAAA record) for a hostname to avoid network transfer charges when connecting to your database from compute instances within the same region.

To avoid connection timeouts:

  1. Use one of the popular websites like whatismyip.com to check if your ISP supports an IPv6 public address.
    1. If the website returns no IPv6, it means that you're connecting from an ISP that doesn't support IPv6 and there are no further actions for you to do.
      IPv6 not supported
    2. If you're connecting from an ISP that does support IPv6, copy the IPv6 address and add it to your access control settings.
    3. If you're connecting from compute instances, check IPv6 address of your instance and add it to your access control settings.

Edit access control settings

To edit access control settings:

  1. Log in to Cloud Manager and from the main menu, select Databases.

  2. Select a cluster from the list.

  3. Go to the Settings tab and in the Manage Access section, click Manage Access.

  4. Depending on the action you want to perform, follow the corresponding procedure:

  • To add an IP or a range, click Add an IP. Enter a value and click Update Access Controls.
  • To edit an entry, click the field with the value you want to edit and make necessary changes. Click Update Access Controls.
  • To remove an entry, click x next to the value you want to remove and click Update Access Controls. You can also remove entries directly in the Settings tab, in the Access Controls section, by clicking Remove next to the entry of interest and confirming the decision.

Automatic updates and maintenance window

With the Managed Databases service, the database cluster is updated regularly. This includes security updates and patches for the underlying operating system. These updates occur on a maintenance window that you can configure. By default, the maintenance window is set to start every week on Sunday at 20:00 UTC and lasts for 3 hours.

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If your database cluster is configured with a single node, the cluster will experience downtime during this maintenance window when any updates occur.

  • Adjust this window to match a time that's the least disruptive for your application and users.
  • Consider upgrading to a high availability plan, which provides additional nodes and enables automatic failover between them.

While the cluster may still experience a momentary loss of connectivity when a failover occurs, downtime is greatly reduced.

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The database software is not updated automatically. To upgrade to a new version (such as from MySQL 5.7.30 or 8.0.25 to 8.0.26), consider deploying a new Managed Database with the version you want to use. Then, you can migrate your databases from the original Managed Database cluster to the new one.

View and modify the maintenance window

  1. Log in to Cloud Manager and from the main menu, select Databases.

  2. Select a cluster from the list.

  3. Go to the Settings tab. In the Set a Weekly Maintenance Window section, you can see how often the maintenance happens and when.

  4. To edit the maintenance window, edit the settings and click Save Changes.


Reset the root password

If someone should no longer have access to the linroot user or if you believe your password may have been compromised, you can reset the root password to assign a new randomly generated password to the linroot user.

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Resetting the root password will prevent you from restoring all previously taken backups. Ensure that you have offsite backups available if needed.

  1. Log in to Cloud Manager and from the main menu, select Databases.

  2. Select a cluster from the list you want to reset the password for.

  3. Go to the Settings tab.

  4. In the Reset the Root Password section, click Reset Root Password and confirm your decision. A new password gets generated automatically within a few minutes. To view the new password, go to the Summary tab and in the Connection Details section, click Show next to the password.


Manage backups

Each Managed Database includes daily backups of your data, taken on a 24 hour cadence. Up to 14 days backups are stored for each database cluster, which provides you with a restore point for each day in the last week.

Restore managed backups

  1. Log in to Cloud Manager and from the main menu, select Databases.

  2. Select a cluster from the list.

  3. Go to the Backups tab.

  4. In the Restore a Backup section, select either:

    • Newest full backup plus incremental
    • Or Specific date & time and from the calendar below select the specific point in time.
  5. Click Restore.

  6. To confirm, click Restore. A forked cluster is getting provisioned.


What to do next:

To prevent additional billing for the increased number of clusters running, delete the original cluster.


Resize a Managed Database cluster

You can upscale database clusters to adapt them to your needs. Clusters cannot be resized to smaller plans.

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This operation causes downtime for the resized node clusters.

  1. Log in to Cloud Manager and from the main menu, select Databases.

  2. Select a cluster from the list.

  3. Go to the Resize tab.

  4. In the Choose a plan or Set Number of Nodes sections, implement your changes to resize the cluster.

  5. In the Summary section, verify the changes. Click Resize Database Cluster.

  6. Follow the on-screen instructions and click Resize Cluster to confirm. The cluster will be upscaled within two hours.

Delete a Managed Database cluster

To prevent additional costs for clusters you're no longer using, you need to delete them.

To delete a cluster:

  1. Log in to Cloud Manager and from the main menu, select Databases.

  2. Select a cluster from the list.

  3. Go to the Settings tab.

  4. In the Delete the Cluster section, click Delete cluster.

  5. Follow the on-screen instructions and click Delete.