Managed Databases on Managed Server

While VSHN believes that standard services should ideally be self-serviced (e.g., using Servala or AppCat) and that custom software belongs in containers, tested and deployed to Kubernetes via a CI/CD or GitOps flow, there are scenarios where a dedicated server is the better fit.

This is often due to operational requirements such as special network configurations, advanced or large-scale data handling, or the need to run software that does not integrate well with Kubernetes or is not supported on Kubernetes by the vendor. For these situations, VSHN can build a (partly) Managed Service for most open source and third-party Linux standard software based on the VSHN Managed Server.

VSHN provides databases as a Managed Service on Managed Servers, supporting single instances, replication setups, and clusters.

Building Block Type

This is a Service Building Block that builds on the VSHN Managed Server.

Type

🟦 Managed Standard Software

Level

🛠 Service

Based on

VSHN Managed Server

Primary Managed Software (one of)

Primary Management Framework

VSHN Puppet Profile

Supported Features

Where supported by the database, VSHN enables the following features:

Feature Availability

Multiple logical databases per instance

✅

Multiple users per server

✅

TLS encryption

✅

Custom database parameter tuning

✅

Daily, usually dump based backups

✅

Volume snapshot based versioning / backup

➕

Master-Slave Replication

➕

Disk Encryption

➕

Active-Active / Clustering

➕

✅ = Included by default, ➕ = optional

Included VSHN Services

Services included in the monthly fee, in addition to the Base Managed Server.

Software Security and Minor Updates

  • Periodic unattended package updates for vendor packages of the database

  • Short-notice workaround or fixes to mitigate severe and urgent security issues.

Configuration Management

  • Managed database server configuration based on VSHN best practices for:

    • Cluster configuration, for example Galera Cluster with 3+ Nodes

    • Single Server

    • Master-Slave Replications

  • Support for parameter tuning and cluster setup

Backup & Disaster Recovery

  • Daily backup: Databases are dumped to compressed (for example SQL) files before base server backup runs

  • Optional: LVM snapshots for quick manual restore

Monitoring and Incident Resolution

Service Level Indicators & Objectives

Please refer to Service Levels for further information about service levels. Also, check out "What does SLI / SLA / SLO mean?" for more information about these terms.

Service Level Indicator VSHN Internal Objective (SLO) Customer Objective (SLO)
Database is available

The database responds to a local SQL probe within 1 second, initiated by the VSHN monitoring agent.

99.99%

Database Specific SLIs

Database Variant Service Level Indicator VSHN Internal Objective (SLO) Customer Objective (SLO)

MariaDB as Cluster
Galera Cluster state

All nodes are in the “Synced” state, and the majority of nodes are reachable and part of the cluster.

99.99%

99.99%
Optional with Guaranteed Availability

MariaDB with Replication
Replication status

Replication slave reports both Slave_IO_Running and Slave_SQL_Running as Yes. Monitored via local SQL query.

99.99%

99.99%
Optional with Guaranteed Availability

PostgreSQL with Replication
Replication status

Replication master reports that replication is running. Monitored via local query.

99.99%

99.99%
Optional with Guaranteed Availability

Pricing

Prices are in addition to the Base Managed Server monthly costs. The final pricing is defined in the scope of the full Solution; volume discounts or surcharges may apply in more complex solutions.

Per Managed Server (Single Server)

Best-Effort Guaranteed Availability

CHF 66.- / month

CHF 350.- / month

Per Node (Clusters)

Best-Effort Guaranteed Availability

CHF 110.- / month

CHF 300.- / month

Optional: Per Replication Target Node

Additional per replication target node.

Best-Effort Guaranteed Availability

CHF 100.- / month

CHF 200.- / month

Setup and Operations Effort

The Setup of a new instance is free (included in the monthly fee). Any custom configuration, integration work or similar is billed by the hour.

See Setup and Engineering and Changes and Support of the Managed Server Base for more details.

Supported Software

  • VSHN supports the Open Source / community versions of the database software.

  • Systems installed with latest stable version. Exceptions possible.

  • End of support as defined by upstream maintainer / vendor, means end-of-support by VSHN.

Under the Hood

Managed Configuration

  • Puppet-managed using VSHN Puppet profiles and usually an upstream puppet base module to install, configure and manage the database.

  • All server configuration is managed and state ensured

Backup

  • Pre-backup scripts dump databases to files (as supported by the database) which are included in base server daily file backups

  • Optional: Local LVM snapshots for shorter recovery times

Major Upgrade Policy

  • In-place upgrade preferred

  • Customer is responsible to test database integrity and database performance after upgrades.

  • Optionally via new VM and data migration

  • Major upgrades are always billable by the hour; effort is estimated and offered first.

Requirements

In addition to the requirements of the Base Managed Server, the following must be fulfilled:

  • Network connectivity for clusters or replication setups must be ensured, with low latency between nodes.

  • The database is used in a way that is supported by the database vendor (according to their documentation).

Constraints & Limitations

In addition to the constraints of the Base Managed Server, the following apply:

  • As part of this service, VSHN does not provide database-level support, such as analyzing queries or performing performance tuning. This is the responsibility of the database user.

  • Incidents caused by the customer or third parties (e.g., overloading the DB server) are outside the availability guarantee, and any support or restore effort is billed by the hour.

  • VSHN does not support the use of the database in ways not supported by the software vendor / project.