Let’s start this Google Cloud SQL tutorial by understanding how database services impact businesses. One of the top reasons why more and more businesses are moving to the cloud is to take advantage of cloud database services. Moving their workloads to the cloud database has been proven to be one of the smartest and most beneficial decisions for their businesses as it reduces the management expenses overhead.
Google Cloud is one of the leading Cloud Providers and has its very own cloud-based MySQL database engine. Google Cloud SQL is just a cloud version of a good old MySQL relational database management System that has all the bells and whistles of MySQL DBMS along with some added features. It is also integrated with Google APP Engine.
In this Google Cloud SQL tutorial, we will learn all about it and cover the following topics in the given order.
So without any further delay, let’s get started.
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What is Google Cloud SQL?
Google Cloud SQL is a MySQL database that lives in Google Cloud and doesn’t require any software installation and maintenance since it is provided as a service by Google Cloud so it’s maintained, managed, and administered by Google Cloud itself. Just like a regular MySQL database, Google Cloud SQL also lets you create, modify, configure, and utilize a relational database.
Now it’s no secret that Google keeps updating and adding new features to its services to meet and satisfy the on-demand requirements of its users and for a better experience. So it came as no surprise when Google made several updates to the Cloud SQL as well a few years back. Following listed are some of the most important improvements that were introduced in the latest GCP SQL.
- The Storage space was increased from 10 gigabytes to 100s of gigabytes
- It was modified so that it now allows the instances up to 16 gigabytes of RAM
- With more RAM, users can now enjoy up to four times more caching than before.
- Asynchronous replication was added as a feature that combines the benefits of replicated and non-replicated databases.
There are various other features that make Google Cloud a perfect solution for small to medium-sized database workloads. Let’s now have a look at these features.
Moving on with this Google Cloud SQL tutorial, lets now understand the features of GCP SQL.
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Features of Google Cloud SQL
Google Cloud SQL easily lets you move your MySQL databases on the cloud and gives you a similar interface to work with. Some other features of Google Cloud SQL are:
- Easy to Use: Google Cloud SQL has an intuitive and graphical user interface that lets you go about building your database instances with just a click of a mouse, sparing you from having to remember a series of complicated commands. In case you are more used to using commands to handle your database, well you can do that too on Google Cloud. Google Cloud offers you a fair degree of control over how you would like to use GCP Cloud SQL.
- Maintained by Google: Google Cloud SQL is fully managed by Google so, you get your data management tasks such as patch management, replication, and other similar tasks handled by Google.
- Highly Available: Google stands true to the promise to make your data available to you no matter what happens to a data center.
- Compatibility with other Google Cloud Services: You can use GCP SQL with just about any other service offered by Google cloud as well as with your favorite Google products such as Google sheet without having to worry about the configurations and installations.
- Security: Google manages the updated and automated backups of your data along with providing the top-notch security advancements for your databases. So even if there is a major failure or data breaching threat, your data is always secure and your database is always available.
Some added features:
- Billing: As Google Cloud SQL is provided as a service you also get a pay-per-you payment option just as any other service of Google Cloud. There is also a payment option termed packages for data that you access most frequently which might be more cost-effective in these situations.
- Faster: The added storage space and RAM results in larger databases, more data, and faster data access.
- Compatibility with languages: Google Cloud SQL is designed to be compatible with Python and Java
Limitations of Google Cloud SQL
Google Cloud SQL comes with added features, no doubt about that but there are also some features of MySQL that GCP Cloud SQL doesn’t support. Let’s have a look at a few of them:
- Google Cloud SQL does not support user-defined functions.
- There is also no support for a few MySQL statements such as:
- CREATE FUNCTION
- INSTALL/UNINSTALL PLUGIN
- LOAD_FILE()
- SHA2()
- SELECT—INTO OUTFILE
- It doesn’t support super privilege as well.
Conclusion
It’s well known that Google Cloud is taking off and has no plans to slow down its rising growth. That being said, GCP SQL is definitely worth a try especially because you are bound to find yourself working on projects where the benefits will outweigh the limitations. Or maybe the Google Cloud SQL just might be the database solution you need because the limitation falls insignificant for your project or operations. So this brings us to the end of this GCP Cloud SQL tutorial. If you are looking to take your Google Cloud skills further, check out our GCP Course Training.
I hope you found this Google Cloud SQL tutorial informative, keep visiting to quench your thirst for more Google Cloud blogs!