Managed MySQL
Assistance-operated MySQL and MariaDB for production, commerce, CMS, and legacy application workloads
Managed MySQL is built for teams running web platforms, commerce systems, CMS workloads, internal business applications, and existing MySQL/MariaDB estates that need stronger operations without a disruptive platform rewrite.
Best-fit use cases#
| Use case | Why Managed MySQL fits |
|---|---|
| Existing MySQL application | Keep the database engine your application expects while improving operations and reliability |
| CMS and commerce platforms | Familiar ecosystem for WordPress, Drupal, Magento, custom commerce, and LAMP-style systems |
| Business applications | Predictable relational storage for ERP, CRM, inventory, and order-processing workloads |
| Legacy modernization | Stabilize operations before broader application modernization |
| Development and staging | Cost-effective managed databases on Assistance-operated physical servers |
What Assistance operates#
| Area | Included managed service responsibility |
|---|---|
| Provisioning | MySQL or MariaDB setup, topology selection, storage sizing, network placement, and secure baseline configuration |
| Reliability | Replication, HA/failover design where required, backup policies, restore procedures, and operational runbooks |
| Maintenance | Patch planning, minor version updates, lifecycle guidance, maintenance windows, and rollback plans |
| Performance | Slow-query visibility, InnoDB tuning review, connection management, read replica guidance, and capacity review |
| Security | TLS, encryption options, user/role recommendations, audit logging options, and credential rotation support |
| Observability | Dashboards and alerts for availability, replication lag, storage, connections, locks, and backup health |
| Support | Severity-based support and escalation for managed database platform incidents |
We operate the database platform, not your application behavior
Your team owns application releases, schema migrations, query patterns, and business data rules. Assistance can review and advise, but application-level correctness and release compatibility remain customer responsibilities unless a broader service is scoped.
Ownership boundary#
| Responsibility | Assistance owns | Customer owns |
|---|---|---|
| Runtime operations | Configure, monitor, patch, back up, restore, and operate MySQL/MariaDB | Application use of the database and client compatibility |
| Schema changes | Risk review and rollout advice when scoped | Migration scripts, data validation, rollback logic, ORM changes |
| Availability | Replication/failover mechanics inside agreed topology | Application retry behavior, transaction handling, and deployment timing |
| Data retention | Implement agreed backup and retention policy | Legal/business retention rules and data classification |
| Access | Service accounts, least-privilege guidance, rotation procedure | User approval, identity source, application secret usage |
Deployment options#
| Option | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Assistance physical servers | Development, staging, CI dependencies, and predictable internal workloads with flat-rate economics |
| Customer cloud account | Production systems that must live near application services or inside existing compliance controls |
| Managed cloud service operations | Assistance operates RDS, Azure Database for MySQL, Cloud SQL, or equivalent service in your account where appropriate |
| Migration engagement | Move from self-hosted, hosted, or cloud-native MySQL into the agreed managed operating model |
Reliability and support model#
| Topic | Managed MySQL approach |
|---|---|
| Availability | Target and measurement window defined by deployment tier, topology, and support plan |
| Backups | Automated backups with retention and point-in-time recovery targets defined during onboarding |
| Failover | Documented replica promotion and routing behavior for HA deployments |
| Recovery | Restore testing or evidence checks included when recovery assurance is required |
| Response | P1 response targets are scoped in the support agreement; 24/7 critical response is available for covered production services |
Onboarding#
1. Workload review#
We inspect current database version, size, write/read patterns, slow-query history, replication status, backup posture, downtime tolerance, compliance requirements, and target environment.
2. Managed design#
Assistance proposes topology, sizing, replication, backup retention, recovery objectives, maintenance windows, access model, monitoring, and migration path.
3. Build or migrate#
We provision the managed MySQL environment and support migration through dump/restore, replication-based cutover, or staged environment promotion depending on risk and downtime tolerance.
4. Operate#
After handover, we monitor service health, replication, storage, backups, and performance indicators. Support paths and runbooks are kept aligned with the live environment.
Supported capabilities#
- MySQL 8.0 and supported lifecycle versions by agreement
- MariaDB for compatible workloads where it is the better operational fit
- Replication and read replicas
- ProxySQL or connection-pooling/routing patterns where appropriate
- Slow-query logging and performance schema review
- Backup retention and PITR targets scoped by plan
Not included by default#
- Rewriting application SQL or business logic
- Guaranteeing compatibility with unreviewed schema migrations
- Owning CMS/plugin code or third-party application behavior
- Unlimited retention, replica count, or cross-region topology outside the plan
- Compliance certification work that requires a separate audit engagement
Related products#
- Managed PostgreSQL — Relational database option with advanced SQL and extension support
- Managed Redis — Cache, sessions, and rate limiting for MySQL-backed applications
- Managed Prometheus — Metrics and alerting for application and database health
- Managed Artifact Repositories — Package governance for application build dependencies
Getting started#
Start with a MySQL assessment. We will review workload, migration risk, backup needs, ownership boundaries, and the support tier required for production.
Request database assessment →Frequently asked questions#
Can you manage MariaDB as well as MySQL? Yes. We support MariaDB where it is compatible with the workload and a better fit for licensing, features, or existing application expectations.
Can you migrate from RDS or Cloud SQL? Yes. We assess source configuration, data size, replication options, downtime tolerance, and rollback requirements before choosing the migration method.
Do you provide 99.99% uptime by default? No generic uptime promise is applied by default. Availability targets are scoped to topology, provider dependencies, customer responsibilities, and the selected support plan.
Do you tune application queries? We include database-level performance visibility and recommendations. Deeper application query rewrites or schema refactors are scoped as project work.
Can MySQL run on Assistance physical servers? Yes. This is often useful for development, staging, CI dependencies, and predictable internal workloads where flat-rate economics matter.