Unprecedented possibilities
The Internet in general and cloud providers in particular promise golden mountains. Much isazure-sql-database.-nice-and-simple-and-fast-… easy and quick to download, spin up or order. Database-as-a-Service models, open source databases and all kinds of tooling. You can tie all sorts of things together to make the wildest combinations. In reality, we encounter a lot of these exotic combinations. Many organizations get caught up in the web of these unprecedented possibilities and can’t see the forest for the trees.
IKEA
I sometimes compare it to a cabinet from Ikea. You buy a small nightstand and you manage to put it together without any problems. Nice! Now you also dare a larger cabinet. Then a large closet with sliding doors and modular layout, and… yes! That too works. Then you decide to tackle the entire kitchen yourself. And suddenly you’re standing there struggling to get the doors in line, they don’t close properly, the drawers are stiff and with the best will in the world you can’t get it right. Despair sets in: perhaps you should have hired a kitchen specialist in the first place?
Back to basics
It seems like an open door. Make an informed choice that assumes the best solution for your application. Do not let yourself be forced by peripheral factors. The simple fact that you now only have servers running on Windows does not mean that everything should always run on Windows. Do not start tinkering with configurations and links yourself if you do not know exactly what the consequences are. Of course, in a test environment you can experiment as much as you want. But beware that the database may react very differently once your demand and your data start to grow.
Prevent outages
Of course, we fully understand that decision-making processes can be unruly. Of course, you can’t always go with your first choice or your favorite combination. Don’t just start twisting all kinds of knobs to achieve performance improvement. Once you get tangled up, it can even lead to serious delays or unrecoverable backups. We’ve had to reverse engineer quite a few times to figure out exactly where it went wrong. That takes a lot of time and money.
Our advice
- Look carefully at what the market is doing in terms of type and type of database. For example, check www.db-engines.com. There are good reasons why many companies use platform X,Y or Z. If you choose a less popular database (from the bottom of the database top 100), the chance of finding experts is also immediately a lot smaller.
- Think big, and let your choices be guided by long-term vision. Start a cluster in time, think about the data model, et cetera.
- Choose the operating system that is recommended. Stop yes-marching.
- Do a benchmark in a test environment.
- Make the chain as short and clear as possible.
- Pay attention to supported versions of the database, as well as the operating system and tooling to be linked.
- Start monitoring as soon as possible.
- Arrange and test your backup and recovery plan as soon as possible.
- Log all configuration changes (including infrastructure changes).
- Engage an expert early on to set things up or at least to be advised.
Think you need help?
We like to take an early look in this selection process. Has the choice already been made and do you need help because it doesn’t work quite as you expected? We are happy to help you on your way! And don’t worry, it’s never really too late, we have seen or unraveled almost all (im)possible combinations. Download the leaflet with a short and concise overview of our services. Or feel free to contact us!