☁ [Q&A] GaussDB(for MySQL)

Mert Goktas
Huawei Developers
Published in
6 min readOct 23, 2023
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Introduction

Greetings everyone, in this article, we will be talking about GaussDB (for MySQL), a database service serving in Huawei Cloud. Frequently asked questions and answers about GaussDB, which you can use effectively, especially in your Big Data studies, will form the main structure of this article. Prepare your coffee or tea, a pleasant reading awaits you. ☕

What Is GaussDB(for MySQL)?

Huawei Technologies offers GaussDB, a cloud-based relational database management system. In addition to supporting MySQL-compatible protocols, it can be applied to a number of common use cases, like read/write splitting to lessen the read burden. In addition, GaussDB offers an array of log formats and features for database auditing and analysis, along with risk management via cloud-based services and automated backups for fault correction.

What are the Advantages of GaussDB(for MySQL)?

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Performance:

  • With its “log as database” architecture and decoupling of compute and storage, GaussDB (for MySQL) offers seven times the performance of open-source databases.
  • To overcome the I/O performance bottleneck, database communication uses the RDMA protocol.
  • To enhance user experience, GaussDB (for MySQL) offers kernel features including online DDL, query plan cache, and query result cache.

Scalability:

  • Horizontal scaling: To handle high-concurrent queries, an instance can have up to 15 read replicas added to it in addition to a primary node.
  • Vertical scaling: An instance’s RAM and virtual CPUs can be scaled up or down as needed.

Reliability:

  • For enhanced DR capabilities, you can spread out an instance across AZs or regions. Data security is guaranteed by three copies of the storage layer.
  • Distributed storage is shared by GaussDB (for MySQL). A read replica with zero RPO is automatically promoted to primary in the event that the original node is compromised.
  • A database instance’s read replicas and primary node have a delay of a few milliseconds, which guarantees high availability.

Security:

  • GaussDB (for MySQL) can achieve near-zero data loss and service recovery in a matter of seconds with shared distributed storage.
  • Access security is tightly managed through the use of VPCs, security groups, SSL connections, and data encryption.
  • More than fifteen security certifications, such as ISO 27001, CSA, Trusted Cloud, and China’s level-3 accreditation for information security protection, have been successfully attained by GaussDB (for MySQL). It is the first in China to be certified to the highest NIST CSF level.

Compatibility:

  • MySQL and GaussDB (for MySQL) are completely compatible. GaussDB (for MySQL) is an easy way to migrate your MySQL databases without having to rebuild your current applications.

Backup:

  • Data can be swiftly restored using snapshots, which can be made in a matter of seconds.
  • Data may be restored to any point in time without replaying incremental logs because of the underlying storage system’s multi-time-point functionality.

Storage:

  • Without sharding, an instance of DFV distributed storage can have up to 128 TB of storage.
  • Storage is automatically expanded by GaussDB (for MySQL) as needed.

What Are Application Scenarios?

For trading 💹

For highly concurrent online transactions involving massive volumes of data from government, banking, e-commerce, O2O, telecom customer relationship management, and billing, GaussDB’s distributed, highly scalable design is perfect. GaussDB is compatible with several distribution models.

CDR question 💻

Petabytes of data can be processed by GaussDB, and as the data is written to databases, it can query massive amounts of data using memory analysis technologies. As a result, it is appropriate for Call Detail Record (CDR) inquiry services in the IoT, telecom, security, and financial industries.

Which Regions Can It Be Used?

Dedicated

  • CN North-Beijing4
  • CN East-Shanghai1
  • CN South-Guangzhou and CN South-GuangzhouInvitationOnly
  • CN Southwest-Guiyang1
  • CN North-Ulanqab1
  • AP-Singapore and AP-Jakarta
  • TR-Istanbul
  • LA-Sao Paulo1

General Purpose

  • CN North-Beijing4
  • CN East-Shanghai1
  • CN South-Guangzhou
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Related and integrable services to GaussDB

ECS

Allows you to lower application response times and public network traffic costs by gaining access to database instances via an ECS.

VPC

Limits access to your database instances and isolates your network.

OBS

Retains both manual and automatic backups of your database instances.

Cloud Eye

Serves as a public monitoring platform for real-time resource monitoring. It makes sure you are informed right away if there are any problems with your services by rapidly reporting alarms and issuing warnings.

Cloud Trace Service(CTS)

Gives you access to records of cloud service resource operations, allowing you to query, audit, and revert actions.

Data Admin Service (DAS)

Gives you a graphical user interface (GUI) to connect to and administer cloud databases.

What Are The Migration Solutions on GaussDB(for MySQL)?

Data can be moved between GaussDB(for MySQL) instances and from one GaussDB(for MySQL) instance to another. The data can come from on-premises Oracle databases, Huawei Cloud RDS for MySQL databases, and MySQL databases established on other clouds.

Tools for data migration include mysql-dump and DRS. DRS is recommended since it is user-friendly and can finish a migration process quickly. By facilitating data movement between databases, DRS can lower hardware and human expenses associated with DBA work.

DRS provides real-time migration and synchronization;

Real-time data migration: DRS enables real-time data movement from sources to destinations. To connect to the source and destination and set up the objects to be migrated, all you have to do is start a replication instance. In order to minimize service outages when switching to the destination, DRS will assist you in comparing measurements and data between the source and destination.

Real-time synchronization: The process of moving workload data in real-time from sources to destinations while maintaining data consistency using a synchronization instance. It’s not the same as migration. Migration is the process of transferring all database contents to another. The constant transfer of data between various apps is referred to as synchronization.

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What are the Billing Modes Of GaussDB(for MySQL)?

There are yearly/monthly, pay-per-use, and serverless billing modes. Each one has different advantages and disadvantages.

  • Yearly/Monthly: You pay upfront for the amount of time you expect to use the DB instance. You will need to make sure you have a top-up account with a sufficient balance or have a valid payment method configured first.
  • Pay-per-use: You can start using the DB instance first and then pay as you go.
  • Serverless: The instance capacities automatically change based on application requirements. Currently, serverless billing is in the open beta test (OBT) phase and is free.

Conclusion

In this article, we have shown that it is a cloud service that you can use in your systems, in line with the general information we have given about GaussDB. I hope it answers the questions in your mind. Using this cloud architecture, where you can store and process data in MySQL data type, will be an innovation for your projects.

References

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