Database Administration for a Cloud

Clouds will dominate the design of enterprise infrastructure. One of the key components of the clouds cloud infrastructure will be in the center of all systems will concern the integrity and operations of databases. Therefore the organization of Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) warrants special attention as a separate software discipline.

Software is now available that simplifies how databases are     managed, updated and virtualized. This enables oversight of the total environment of hundreds of disk files. Customers can then access a pool of disk drives without intervention by ingermediary personnel. The objective is to assure a high level of security, flexibility, control and assurance that the data will comply with policy guidelines.

DBaaS automates common database operations by presenting to developers and to operators comprehensive displays, which significantly reduce the management overhead as well as increases the efficiency of memory management. DBaaS manages database provisioning, back up of records and the fail-over cloning for development and testing.

The primary objective of DBaaS is to reduce database sprawl through virtualized pooling of disk capacity while providing for sufficient redundancy to assure the continuity of operations. DBaaS installs automated methods for protecting operations and for providing adequate buffer space that assures low latency response time.

DBaaS will reduce database operating and capital expenses by extending virtualization to all data storage components so that capacity is readily scalable. It provides a central view of potential problems while monitoring performance that assures high transaction processing availability.

A major concern for moving databases to the cloud is the potential interference caused by multiple databases sharing the same pool of resources, the so-called “noisy neighbor” problem. DBaaS offers isolation at the individual user level, thus eliminating “noisy neighbor” situations.

DBaaS restricts data base access to authorized users. Assigned privileges enable IT administrators to control which users can take what actions.

SUMMARY
The ultimate purpose of all information security is the protection of data assets. A creeping degradation of storage can invalidate all of the layers of security that are in place. The protection and management of data resources by means of a highly automated DBaaS is therefore of critical importance.