On NuoDB. Q&A with Ariff Kassam
Q1. What are the technical challenges when using a database based on the cloud and on microservices-based architectures?
Generally, the most difficult technical challenge with databases in the cloud or in microservices based architectures (assuming that the microservice applications are deployed in some container management platform) is maintaining performance and availability SLAs. To meet SLAs, traditional databases are generally deployed on dedicated systems with very specific hardware requirements. In cloud and container environments, access and control of those resources are abstracted. Also, since most cloud or container systems generally leverage commodity servers, the failure rates are increased.
This ends up affecting the customer’s ability to meet performance and availability SLAs.
With NuoDB, since we are a distributed database with in-memory data access, customers can deploy NuoDB in the cloud or in a container platform and still maintain performance and availability SLAs.
Q2. How do you measure the overall “health” of such distributed database domain?
Health can be measure by maintaining overall database service availability within specific performance SLAs.
The database access must always be available. With NuoDB’s distributed and replicated data management capabilities, the loss of any one node in the database does not impact database access. Depending on the level of redundancy specified, NuoDB can tolerate multiple node failures and still maintain database access.
Q3. NuoDB runs in both containers and virtual machines, as well as across on-premises, public, or hybrid cloud environments. How easy is for customers to understand database system performance and resources usage?
Monitoring and understanding the health of distributed systems is hard. With NuoDB Insights, customers can understand availability, performance and resource usage across all database nodes in any location or platform.
Q4. You have introduced NuoDB Insights. What is it? and what is it useful for?
NuoDB Insights provides an easy to use dashboard to understand performance and status of NuoDB’s distributed database. It allows customers to easily identify issues across any node and location where the database maybe be running. It collects and aggregates system and NuoDB metrics in a single view across all systems and locations.
Resources
NuoDB Insights is included in both NuoDB 3.1 and NuoDB Community Edition. Learn more about this new monitoring capability and how to enable it with NuoDB 3.1 by visiting this link.
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Ariff Kassam, Vice President, products, NuoDB.