Cloud runs the server. We run your MySQL database.

Yes, and they are complementary rather than alternatives — most of our clients run on RDS or Aurora and use us on top. RDS manages the infrastructure layer: OS patching, database software patching, backups, standby instances, failover and scaling. AWS's own shared-responsibility documentation states that "you are responsible for query tuning" and lists "application optimization" as a customer responsibility on RDS, EC2 and on-premises alike. A managed DBA service covers that remaining layer — query and index tuning, schema design, upgrade planning, capacity right-sizing, cost optimisation, incident root-cause analysis and 24×7 human escalation. The RDS SLA also excludes downtime caused by user actions, non-compliance with operational guidelines and insufficient IO capacity, which is where most real production incidents originate.

We respond to S1 (critical) incidents in under 15 minutes under a formal SLA, with war-room escalation and a 30-minute update cadence until resolution. S2 is one hour, S3 four hours, S4 eight hours. Severity definitions are agreed with your team during onboarding, and every critical incident is followed by a written root-cause analysis.

The full ecosystem: Oracle MySQL Community and Enterprise, Percona Server for MySQL, and MariaDB — from legacy 5.x through 8.0, 8.4 LTS and 9.7 LTS, plus the calendar-versioned 26.x Innovation series. Across Amazon RDS and Aurora (which offer 5.7, 8.0 and 8.4 in production), Google Cloud SQL, Azure Database for MySQL, on-premises data centres and hybrid deployments.

RDS for MySQL 8.0 left standard support on 31 July 2026, and instances still on 8.0 are auto-enrolled in paid Extended Support at $0.10 per vCPU-hour (rising to $0.20 in August 2028, hard stop July 2029), charged per standby and per read replica. Model your exposure with our RDS Extended Support calculator, or see our MySQL 8.0 EOL upgrade service for how the migration runs.

There is no single right answer — it depends on your estate and your constraints. The three practical options are a cloud DBaaS (Amazon RDS, Aurora, Cloud SQL, Azure Database for MySQL), which manages infrastructure but explicitly leaves query tuning, index strategy and cost optimisation to you; an in-house DBA, which gives you dedicated attention during business hours but no cover for leave, illness or resignation; and a specialist managed provider such as Mydbops, Percona or Pythian, which gives you a team, 24×7 coverage and a contractual response time. Evaluate providers on four things: bench depth, a stated S1 response time in the contract, named references you can call, and a documented exit path. Mydbops runs 6,000+ database servers for 300+ clients with a 15-minute S1 response and ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and PCI DSS certification.

Yes — this is the most common way engagements start. The first two weeks are discovery: we map replication topology, inventory instances and versions, review the slow query log and index usage, audit backup and restore posture, and check security configuration against CIS benchmarks. You get a written findings report before any changes are made. We do not need existing documentation; we produce it, and everything we learn goes into runbooks that stay with you.

Yes. We design, deploy and drill HA and DR across the ecosystem: InnoDB Cluster and Group Replication on Oracle MySQL, Percona XtraDB Cluster (Galera) on Percona Server, MariaDB Galera Cluster on MariaDB, plus asynchronous and semi-synchronous read replicas. Traffic is routed through ProxySQL, MaxScale, MySQL Router or RDS Proxy, and failover is tested on a schedule rather than discovered during an incident.

Initial assessment and onboarding do not require direct production access - an anonymised slow query log extract, a Performance Insights export, or SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES and SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS output is enough to start. For an ongoing engagement, access is least-privilege and scoped to what the work requires — no shared credentials, no blanket superuser. All access is logged and reviewable by your team, and you can revoke it at any time. File and report exchange runs over a secure transfer channel. Mydbops holds ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and PCI DSS certification and completes client security questionnaires, penetration-test reviews and vendor audits as standard. Clients in banking, fintech and payments run on this model.