Managed Databases combine performance, reliability, and high availability into a fully managed database solution. Databases are used by most organizations to store their business and operational data, including customer information, financial details, application content, e-commerce transactions, and much more. Managing the database infrastructure to store and safeguard this data can put additional stress on the resources you have available. Managed Databases take care of managing this critical infrastructure for you, providing you with an easy to use DBaaS (database-as-a-service) solution built on top of Akamai cloud computing's trusted and reliable platform.

High availability

Managed Databases can be configured with either 1 or 3 underlying machines, also called nodes. Using 3 nodes provides you with a highly available database cluster, complete with 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.

Database engines

MySQL

MySQL is an industry standard relational database management system (RDMBS) that uses the SQL query language. Compared to other databases, it's relatively easy to use and its large community means there are lots of online resources available. MySQL values performance and accessibility over pure SQL compliance, so its syntax can slightly differ from strict SQL. Many popular applications (including WordPress) require MySQL or a MySQL compatible database.

Best for general-purpose websites and applications, e-commerce sites, applications employing LAMP or LEMP stacks, and for beginner database developers looking for robust online resources

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is an object-relational database management system (ORDBMS) that can use SQL. It's generally more flexible and feature-rich than MySQL, though it's not a drop-in replacement and applications need to have built-in support for it. It also has support for more data types, including JSON, and adopts some features of NoSQL databases. While PostgreSQL is generally more challenging to implement, it can support more advanced queries and is a popular choice for enterprise applications.

Best for experienced SQL developers, applications that perform complex queries, using PostgreSQL-specific features, and for business users looking for dedicated commercial support.

Database plans

Each Managed Database can be deployed with a specific set of resources. This collection of resources is called the plan. Akamai offers two plan types for Managed Databases: Shared CPU and Dedicated CPU.

Shared CPU Compute Instances

1 GB - 192 GB Memory, 1 - 32 Shared vCPU Cores, 25 GB - 3840 GB Storage

Shared CPU Compute Instances offer a balanced array of resources coupled with shared CPUs that can burst up to 100% for short intervals. This keeps costs down while still supporting a wide variety of cloud applications. Your processes are scheduled on the same CPU cores as processes from other Compute Instances and Managed Databases. This shared scheduling is done in a secure and performant manner and Akamai works to minimize competition for CPU resources between your server and other servers.

Best for development servers, staging servers, low traffic websites, personal blogs, and production applications that may not be affected by resource contention.

Dedicated CPU Compute Instances

4 GB - 512 GB Memory, 2 - 64 Dedicated vCPUs, 80 GB - 7200 GB Storage

Dedicated CPU Compute Instances reserve physical CPU cores that you can utilize at 100% load 24/7 for as long as you need. This provides competition free guaranteed CPU resources and ensures your software can run at peak speed and efficiency. With Dedicated CPU Compute Instances, you can run your software for prolonged periods of maximum CPU usage, and you can ensure the lowest latency possible for latency-sensitive operations. These Compute Instances offer a perfectly balanced set of resources for most production applications.

Best for production websites, enterprise applications, high traffic databases, and any application that requires 100% sustained CPU usage or may be impacted by resource contention.

Recommended workloads

Any production application that uses a database, especially one with high-traffic or one that stores critical data.
Medium to high traffic websites using WordPress, CraftCMS, Drupal, or other database-enabled application.
E-commerce sites
Organizations that don't want to commit IT resources towards managing a database cluster.

Additional technical specifications

In addition to the resources allocated to each available plan, Managed Databases have the following specifications:

Fully-managed, including automated deployment and maintenance
Multiple database engines and versions
Customize access controls to allow connections from trusted sources
Automatic backups are taken daily and retained for 7 days
Administrative access with elevated user permissions
Access the database using command-line or desktop applications
100% SSD (Solid State Disk) storage
40 Gbps inbound network bandwidth
Free inbound network transfer
Provisioning and management through Cloud Manager, Linode CLI, or programmatically through the Linode API.

Limits and considerations

The default user can't be changed or removed, though the password can be reset at any time.
You are not able to access the underlying operating system of a database cluster. Configuration files (such as my.cnf ) cannot be directly edited and configuration changes done through the SET PERSIST command do not persist when the cluster is rebooted.
Live replicas or standby nodes for a high availability Managed Database cluster can't be created or hosted outside of the Managed Database service.

Connect to your database

Once a Managed Database has been provisioned, you can connect to it from any compatible system or applications. Before you do so, the system's IP address needs to be added to the database cluster's access control list.

Migrate an existing database

If you're replacing an existing database with our Managed Database service, you need to migrate that data after the database cluster has fully provisioned. The guides Migrate a MySQL or MariaDB Database to a Managed Database and Migrate a PostgreSQL Database to a Managed Database walk you through migrating databases.

Integrate the database into an application

While its possible to add data directly to a database using CLI or GUI tools, it's much more common to integrate the database into an existing application. For instance, you can use the database with any web stack that uses your chosen database engine (DBMS) such as LEMP / LAMP for MySQL and MERN / MEAN for MongoDB. When using a Managed Database, you can forgo installing the database locally on the system and instead use the credentials and connection details for your Managed Database. The instructions for connecting to a remote database vary by application. For example, here's a guide for WordPress: Configure WordPress to use a Remote Database.