There are many challenges enterprise databases, and DBAs need to face nowadays. The objective of databases and data-centric enterprise management systems is taking a fundamental shift. Databases are not just meant to store data, but instead, these are essential analytical tools that provide insightful information for enterprise decision-making. So, today’s databases are facing some unprecedented challenges.
Enterprise DBs now need to work with a huge volume of a separate set of data and return the results of queries in the blink of an eye. In order to meet these challenges, DBAs should come up with highly complex technologies while still remaining so easy to work with and ensure high availability. In order to meet these challenges, the modern-day database platforms should possess some key characteristics, as we discuss below. When you are planning to set up an enterprise database, these may be the primary considerations to make.
- Optimum performance
The database applications need to respond in less than milliseconds in order to avoid any performance bottleneck for the high-featured applications. Databases which run on conventional spinning disks may not be able to keep up with this growing requirement. Caching on the RAM may help speed up the performance up to some extent, but as the requests grow higher, it may add more complexity and not keep up with the rush. More and more enterprises are now trying to convert their datastores to in-memory databases, which may respond better with no separate need for caching.
- Better scalability
Modern-day enterprise applications work with huge datasets, which come from various sources. First off, the organizations should have a plan for cost-effective ways to scale up their data platforms in order to meet the overall growth in business and analytical data. They should also be able to cope up with the seasonal surges during peak demands. It is also critical to make linear scaling possible without the need for any additional investment for add-on infrastructure.
- High availability
One major difficulty enterprise database administrators face now is their inability to recover data quickly from the database due to some failures. These failures also result in loss of data and the users getting frustrated with the devices being unavailable. This is totally an acceptable problem in terms of enterprise database administration, especially in e-commerce online orders or financial transactions, etc. This is why it is important to choose the device that offers high data availability, at least 99.99% of uptime.
- Multi-tier memory support
Database architects and designers are now opting for multi-tier data storage schemes, which are putting the most important data on-premises. The hot data resides on the persistent memory like solid state-disks or flash storage etc. These storages are faster than the conventional spinning disks and also come cheaper than DRM. So, you are getting 60% or 70% of the DRAM performance at a much lower cost with this approach. Multi-tier memory support will also ensure maximum uptime and quick turnaround for the hottest data and excellent availability of other data types. For setting up a multi-tier storage model for the database, you can consult with RemoteDBA.com.
- Extensibility and simplicity
There is no such model which will work well with all types of data. With this diversity, you may end up deploying various databases inside the same organization. Sometimes, it is like different databases being used for the same application itself. As a solution to this, you have to try out a multi-model database that offers different data structures in the same database itself. This will also help to cut complexity and the overhead of adopting various databases. Multi-model databases will also help reduce the need to maintain different databases for each data model required for enterprise applications.
- Developer tools for advanced database development
This is a basic requirement for modern-day databases. DBS should be versatile and simple and also should be very easy for the developers to handle. When the command-line interfaces or CLIs remain the most obvious way to work with database platforms, there is also an increasing demand for the GUI, making it easier for the developers. Graphical user interface also support the analysts you need to explore the data and interact with it visually.
- Cloud-native databases
There is a rise in cloud computing in terms, which reflects on enterprise database management too. It means you do not have to manage the internal working of the databases by yourself. However, this is not just about getting a database as a service. Still, in order to maximize the benefits from the cloud, your technology stack needs to work with various resources too delivered through clouds. So, your databases should play well with the third-party microservices architectures and the container systems like Docker or Kubernetes. This approach may work across hybrid cloud solutions and multi-cloud environments as well.
- Open-source solutions
Even though the conservative enterprises realize that there is no such reason to rely on open-source database solutions for virtual device use cases, it is advisable to have an open-source approach. As of now, this is the most admirable way to ensure that technology is made as extensible as possible and receives updates as quickly based on the quick market changes. Also, a database rooted in open-source technology means that the developers will be able to better address what the community around it really needs, rather than what the vendors may do or want to do.
- Serving the NoSQL future
As the nature of the data is changing from structured to semi-structured and unstructured, it will be very difficult to organize the data in the conventional table, row, and columnar structure. So, relational database structure may not work with these types of data. For this, NoSQL databases are there in the picture, which can put unstructured and semi-structured documents and user key-value stores to search for these capabilities. SQL databases are here to stay, but NoSQL also has the same market share, which is expected to grow in the future in order to handle the wide varieties of data in various standard use cases.
Now you know the essentials of database applications, so you may have to use it to manage enterprise data well. There are plenty of database platforms available by offering both on-premises and cloud-based DBMS services. You can compare them and identify the best one matching your specific needs.
