A database is the heart of most modern web applications, mobile applications, and services. Whether it’s a traditional SQL database like MySQL or PostgreSQL or a NoSQL database like MongoDB, the server that hosts your database will determine its reliability, availability, and performance. In this article, we will explore the factors that you should keep in mind when choosing a database server and take a look at three types of server – hybrid, cloud, and dedicated — and their suitability for hosting databases of various types and sizes.
Which Factors Affect Database Performance?
Your choice of server hardware will have a significant impact on the performance and scalability of your database and the applications that use it.
Storage
We offer three types of database storage: SATA drives, SSD drives, and NVMe drives, in order of slowest to fastest and least to most expensive.
Storage affects database performance in two main ways: query speed and the amount of data that can be stored. When choosing a storage medium, it is important to balance requirements and costs. To do that, you need to understand how your database is to be used.
For example, you could store a multi-terabyte database that is queried infrequently on SSD or NVMe drives, but it would be expensive and you would be unlikely to see much benefit from the additional performance boost provided by the faster drives.
On the other hand, a database with high-IO requirements, one that will process a large number of concurrent queries or that is required to move a lot of data quickly, will benefit from faster drives.
Processor
Processor performance for databases depends on two factors: the speed of each core and the number of cores. Which you choose depends on the performance characteristics you need, whether your database can take advantage of multiple cores, the number of users who will access the database concurrently, and the types of queries the database will carry out.
Memory
Memory has a significant impact on database server performance. Even the fastest SSD is slower than RAM, which means that if the database can read the data required for a query into memory, it can run as fast as possible without swapping and paging.
A common rule of thumb is to choose enough RAM to ensure that you can keep the database’s indexes in RAM.
Network
It doesn’t matter how fast your database is if the network through which it feeds data to your web and application servers is slow. Zumiv provides a 100% network uptime guarantee with connection speeds of 1Gbps up to 10Gbps, which is suitable for large databases with multiple concurrent users.
Server Types
There are several types of server available for hosting databases, each of which has different performance and scalability characteristics.
Cloud VDSServers
A Cloud VDSServer is a high-performance virtual private server. Each physical server hosts a small number of virtual servers, minimizing resource contention issues.
Cloud VDSservers are suitable for smaller databases with less intensive IO requirements. Cloud VDSservers cannot be scaled without a server migration, so they may not be the best choice for databases that are expected to grow rapidly.
Cloud VPS Servers
Cloud VPS servers offer excellent reliability and scalability. Each cloud vps server runs on Zumiv’s multiply redundant cloud platform and has a 100% uptime guarantee.
If you expect your database to grow rapidly or have varying utilization patterns, cloud vps servers are the best option, as their resources can be scaled on demand.
Dedicated Servers
Dedicated servers offer the best performance characteristics of all the server types. At Zumiv, we offer dedicated servers in a wide range of configurations, including our brand new Intel Xeon W range. For unbeatable IO performance, we also offer a range of powerful NVMe servers.
To learn more about choosing the fastest and most reliable database server for your business, visit our Database Server Hosting page or get in touch for a free consultation.
