Considering a host environment for your MySQL server is an important step in setting up an ecommerce or other database reliant website. Your RDBMS can support your application by maintaining a persistent view of enterprise relevant information that is easily queried with SQL, a standard and easy to understand query language. Examples of the type of relational information your RDBMS can support are customer records, order information, inventory information, medical records, scientific data and climate information.
Both local and remote RDBMS connections can be accessed by your application
Remote and local relational databases can be accessed by your application and you can connect to other databases if you have permission. External databases can also provide valuable context for your data. One that is often used belongs to the US Census. PHP is a common language used for data manipulation. This includes reading, writing, updating and deletion of records. PHP, Python, Java and Javascript are popular programming languages used for accessing and working with data but there are many, many more. W3schoolsis a free online resource for learning PHP and Python. They also offer a vast number of other programming language, scripting, network tutorials and SQL.
What to consider when hosting your RDBMS
Here are some essential criteria to consider when hosting your relational database. Not only database characteristics, application resources and ability to support your site’s traffic must be considered. Reliability and responsiveness are also essential.
Databases: Hosts supporting MySQL should have an option for you to increase the number of database instances you can create. The ability to set security roles is important with multi-user access. CPanel can be used for administrative functions in MySQL. Choose a host that will allow you to set your own user security privileges.
Backups: As you might imagine, backups are essential. Responsible hosts back up MySQL servers daily and retain the data for 5 days, but maintaining your own copy at an offsite location is highly advisable. You can use the backup your account feature on your control panel to make things easy. For smaller databases of up to 10 MB, you can use phpmyadmin.
CRON support: In some instances you may want to set up scripted administrative tasks to run at fixed time periods. An appropriate MySQL hosting provider will allow you to initiate and manage these tasks from your admin control panel. These scripts are often valuable in implementing business functions or other administrative tasks applicable to multiple data records.
Preparation is the key to success
Using MySQL to provide your relational database needs is an intelligent decision as you will be using the same RDBMS as Twitter, Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube, WordPress and Flickr. You may have developers who will support new efforts and modifications using PHP, Javascript, Java, Joomla, Python and other development tools and languages. If you don’t, you can educate yourself at W3schools.com.
Once you have a firm idea about what your application will do, decide upon the databases, datastructures and security issues you will need to support your project.
It’s very frustrating to design, code, upload to a host and run an application only to discover that your database administration tools are inadequate or that the host you selected for its low cost does not provide the bandwidth you need; so do your homework and you will be pleased with the results.
Action Item: Your RDBMS can support your application by maintaining a persistent view of enterprise relevant information that is easily queried with SQL. Using MySQL to provide your relational database needs is an intelligent decision. You will need developers who can support new efforts and modifications using PHP, Javascript, Java, Joomla, Python and other development tools and languages
Footnotes: