Issue link: https://resources.awscloud.com/i/1496544
The report does not cover arguments for or against moving to the cloud, because there are other resources to support this decision and because the decision is tied in so tightly with the particular traits of your databases and how you use them. Furthermore, we don't review or recommend particular cloud offerings, although we refer to the offerings of the currently dominant cloud vendors: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. This chapter includes the following: • A brief recap of the differences between on-premises computing and cloud computing, with an eye toward what is relevant to DBAs • Definition of a managed database • Types of managed databases offered by cloud providers • Overview of a DBA's role in the cloud Cloud offerings often mirror the software available for traditional, on-premises deployment. This means that you can move data from your own equipment to a comparable database offered by a cloud vendor. For instance, you can run MySQL or Oracle in the cloud instead of in your own datacenter, or you can use a database native to the cloud such as Amazon Aurora. You should also be able to keep a foot in each territory (on-premises and cloud), moving data into the cloud at a pace that's comfortable for your organization. You can also maintain two deployments for‐ ever, one on-premises and the other in the cloud. The cloud is often a good place to try something totally new, such as a big data project that you've never created before. Although we expect most readers to be familiar with the cloud, its benefits, and various reasons to use or avoid it, the next section summarizes traits of the cloud that underlie the ideas in this report. After that, we can focus on databases. High-Level Effects of Moving to the Cloud As you move data to the cloud, you will encounter differences from on-premises deployments that affect your decisions. Following are the key changes of interest to a DBA: 2 | Chapter 1: Database Options in the Cloud