Google Cloud Platform (GCP) offers a variety of database services that cater to different needs, ranging from relational databases to NoSQL options. This article will explore the various database options available within GCP and their ideal use cases.
Relational Databases
Relational databases store information in tables, rows, and columns, which typically works best for structured data. They offer ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) consistency mode for the data. Here are the relational database options in GCP:
Cloud SQL
Cloud SQL is a fully managed relational database service that provides managed MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server databases on Google Cloud. It automates database provisioning, storage capacity management, backups, and offers out-of-the-box high availability and disaster recovery/failover. It is best suited for general-purpose web frameworks, CRM, ERP, SaaS, and e-commerce applications.
AlloyDB
AlloyDB is a fully managed PostgreSQL-compatible database service designed for demanding enterprise database workloads. It combines the best of Google with PostgreSQL for superior performance, scale, and availability. AlloyDB is up to 100x faster for analytical queries and 4x faster than standard PostgreSQL for transactional workloads.
Cloud Spanner
Cloud Spanner is an enterprise-grade, globally-distributed, and strongly-consistent database. It offers up to 99.999% availability and is built specifically to combine the benefits of relational database structure with non-relational horizontal scale.
NoSQL Databases
NoSQL databases are ideal for handling large amounts of data that may not be structured. GCP provides several NoSQL database options:
Firestore
Firestore is a serverless, scalable, and fully managed NoSQL document database. It is optimized for small documents and is easy to use with mobile applications.
Cloud Datastore
Cloud Datastore is a document database built for automatic scaling, high performance, and ease of use.
Cloud Bigtable
Cloud Bigtable is a fully managed, scalable NoSQL database service. It is an alternative to HBase, a columnar database system running on HDFS.
Conclusion
Choosing the right database for your application is not easy. The choice depends heavily on your use case — transactional processing, analytical processing, in-memory database, and so on — but it also depends on other factors. GCP provides both relational and NoSQL database options to cater to a wide range of needs. Understanding the strengths and ideal use cases for each can help you make an informed decision.