Azure Databases

Azure Database

Before diving into what type of databases Azure provides, I want to talk to you about the different types of databases.

The database is nothing but a systematic collection of data. The whole purpose of maintaining a database is to ensure that data can be easily accessed and managed. In the case of large organizations, databases become a critical aspect, considering the amount of data involved. Also, to run Ansys' system efficiently, it is essential to have a record of past and present instances and data that comes in and goes out of the system – and this is where a database comes in extremely handy.

Databases are broadly classified into two main categories – Relational Databases and Non-Relational Databases. Depending on your requirement, you can choose either of these database types or opt for a combination of both. Before that, it is essential to understand what these two categories are about.

Relational Databases

Relational Databases are the most commonly used database management system. It uses schema, which is a template used to dictate the structure of data that will be stored within the database. This gives different organizations the flexibility to store data as per the format they find convenient. These databases also come with keys associated with the tables in a relational database. They help in providing quick access to a particular row or column, as well as a quick database summary.

Relational databases follow a strict schema and are well-structured to ensure no space for error. This ensures the accuracy of data stored, which is an essential aspect for every business.

Non-relational Databases

These databases are more lenient when structuring than their rigid counterparts – the relational database. Instead of a fixed format of rows, columns, and tables, the non-relational databases have collections of different categories, each illustrated by documents. There can be multiple documents on the collection, and they need not necessarily follow any particular pattern or schema.

The different types of non-relational databases are?

1. Key-value Stores?- These non-relational databases only store data and provide quick and straightforward knowledge about key-value pairs. Key-value stores are the easiest way to store and access data.
2. Wide Column Stores - Alternatively known as multidimensional key-value stores, these databases can manage humongous amounts of data in tables and multiple columns. Each column acts as a record in wide column stores.
3. Document Stores – There's no fixed format for the records in this type. This flexible database can have a wide array of types and values. Data is stored in JSON documents, which resemble the documents of key-value and wide column databases mentioned above.
4. Graph Databases – These show the connections between different data points. The whole idea of graph databases is to help compare data and analyze their relationship.

Azure provides the following databases.?

Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Database is an intelligent, scalable, relational database service built for the cloud. Optimize for performance and durability with automated, AI-driven features that are always up to date. Do not worry about storage size or resource management with serverless compute and the Hyperscale storage options that automatically scale resources on demand.

Azure SQL Managed Instance

SQL Managed Instance confidently modernizes your existing apps at scale while still using known tools and skills.

Azure SQL Managed Instances can provide hybrid flexibility for your SQL Server with the link feature in SQL Managed Instance. With an approach that uses near real-time data replication to the cloud, you can shift workloads to read-only secondaries on Azure to take advantage of cloud-only features, performance, and scale. You can also choose to migrate one or more applications simultaneously, at your own pace, with minimum downtime.

Azure Arc–enabled SQL Managed Instance brings Azure innovation and cloud benefits on-premises. Run this service on-premises on any infrastructure with Azure cloud benefits like elastic scale, unified management.

SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines

Migrate your SQL Server workloads to the cloud to get the performance and security of SQL Server combined with the flexibility and hybrid connectivity of Azure. Get free, built-in security and automated management when you register your virtual machines (VMs) with the SQL Server IaaS Agent extension. SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines is part of the Azure SQL family of databases.

Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Focus on application innovation, not database management, with a fully managed and intelligent Azure Database for PostgreSQL. Scale workloads quickly with ease and confidence. Azure Database for PostgreSQL provides high availability with a service-level agreement (SLA) up to 99.99 percent, AI-powered performance optimization, and advanced security.

Azure Database for MySQL

Focus on application development, not database management. Azure Database for MySQL is easy to set up, operate and scale. Azure Database for MySQL provides advanced security, same-zone or zone-redundant high availability, and a service-level agreement (SLA) of up to 99.99 percent.

Azure Database for MariaDB

Combine MariaDB Community edition with the benefits of a fully managed service provider to free developers from complex infrastructure and database management so they can focus on building exceptional apps.

Azure Cosmos DB

Azure Cosmos DB is a fully managed NoSQL database service for modern app development. Get guaranteed single-digit millisecond response times and 99.999-percent availability, backed by SLAs, automatic and instant scalability, and open-source APIs for MongoDB and Cassandra. Enjoy fast writes and reads anywhere in the world with turnkey data replication and multi-region writes.?

Azure Cache for Redis

As traffic and demands on your app increase, scale performance simply and cost-effectively. Azure Cache for Redis provides a quick caching layer to the application architecture to handle thousands of simultaneous users with near-instant speed—all with the benefits of a fully managed service.

Azure Managed Instance for Apache Cassandra

Cost-effectively run mission-critical workloads at scale with Azure Managed Instance for Apache Cassandra. Easily manage changing demands with multiple resources and data replication options. Ensure business continuity with zero downtime scalability for hybrid and cloud deployments. Develop applications faster using familiar and fully compatible Cassandra tools and languages.

Summing Up

Both relational and non-relational databases come with their advantages and drawbacks. Depending on your organization's requirement and the data you deal with, you can pick the database best suited for you.

Extras

A link i want to include in this article are that are not databases but are related to this article.