Cloud Tools: Creating Efficient Cloud Storage with FathomDB

by Sergey Bushik and Katherine VasilegaOctober 14, 2010

The blog post focuses on FathomDB—the solution that automates low-level database administration (DBA) tasks for MySQL owners.

Table of Contents

FathomDB pros, cons, and recommended use

FathomDB is a relational database-as-a-service provided under the utility/service model. FathomDB administers a relational database in the cloud and absorbs the responsibility of maintaining a database server. Below, there is an overview of FathomDB’s features, possible drawbacks, and its typical use.

Pros

FathomDB leverages MySQL’s scaling capabilities across multiple machines, and an automated backup can make it a reliable cloud storage. Since a standard MySQL is offered as an engine, you do not have to change your application at all, and there is no lock-in or a new API to learn.
There also should be mentioned the FathomDB’s risk reduction, high quality level, and time-to-market improvement when it comes to putting a database in the cloud with an ability to scale.
The database’s performance analysis tools can facilitate the high-level DBA tasks and make them easier.
FathomDB allows complex database operations to happen according to user-configurable maintenance schedules. Furthermore, a disk storage space is unlimited on all plans, and higher memory and CPU shares give you a better performing database.
Finally, the tool enables companies to store their database on Amazon or Rackspace servers.

Cons

However, there are possible challenges that a company may face when starting database implementation in the cloud. In particular, it is the changing of a database instance’s size, which may sometimes involve restarting MySQL and even moving to a new server.

Recommended use

FathomDB can help a web-based companies to automate MySQL setup, administration, backup, maintenance, and monitoring.
The solution can suit the needs of small-scale projects that want to mature quickly. FathomDB can be particularly useful for startups that experience a high rate of growth and even become a foundation for large-scale systems with vast schemas and persisted data.

Sergey Bushik is an accomplished software engineer with 12+ years of experience in designing and building secure, scalable, and highly performant solutions. He has vast experience in creating multi-tier and multi-layered applications. In addition, Sergey can boast of a solid background in web development. He is a Sun Certified Enterprise Architect, a frequent speaker and participant of international conferences dedicated to big data, as well as an author of several NoSQL\NewSQL benchmarks.