How to choose a database product-Alibaba Gov Cloud-阿里云帮助中心

Alibaba Gov Cloud offers various database products, including relational databases such as the RDS series and DRDS, and NoSQL databases such as Redis and MongoDB. This topic explains the differences between these database products to help you select the one that best suits your business needs. Choosing the right product helps you avoid future issues with usage, purchasing, or budget control.

Comparison of database products

Alibaba Gov Cloud provides both relational and NoSQL databases. Each database type is available in Basic, High-availability, and Cluster editions to suit different government scenarios. The following table uses RDS as an example to compare these editions and lists their applicable government scenarios.

Database series	Description	Applicable government scenarios
Basic Edition	A single-node instance that uses a compute-storage decoupled architecture. It offers excellent value for money. For more information, see Basic Edition.	Government database service testing Backend databases for small government websites Government development environments
High-availability Edition	Uses a classic high-availability architecture with one primary node and one secondary node. It is suitable for over 80% of user scenarios.	Internal databases for large and medium-sized governments Core databases for public-facing services with high traffic
Cluster Edition	Available for SQL Server 2017 Enterprise Edition. It is based on AlwaysOn technology. It supports a high-availability architecture with one primary node and one secondary node, and up to seven read-only instances. It also supports horizontal scaling of the cluster's read capability. Note Currently, only SQL Server 2017 Enterprise Edition supports the Cluster Edition. The Cluster Edition uses native SQL Server AlwaysOn technology to achieve a compute-storage decoupled architecture. You can also implement read/write splitting by purchasing separate read-only instances. All read-only instances in the Cluster Edition can request independent read-only connections to implement business read/write splitting. Each read-only instance also has a separate internal network connection by default. This allows for query isolation for your business. For more information, see Cluster Edition.	High-frequency database reads and writes in the government sector.

The following table compares mainstream relational and NoSQL databases based on price and applicable scenarios.

Database type	Database name	Price	Scenarios
Relational database	RDS for MySQL	Low	Basic Edition: Learning and small websites High-availability Edition: Medium-sized database scenarios with moderate business pressure Cluster Edition: Business-critical applications with high access pressure that cannot be interrupted
	RDS for SQL Server	High	Basic Edition: Testing and small commercial websites High-availability Edition: Enterprise-level commercial websites Cluster Edition: Business-critical enterprise applications with high access pressure that cannot be interrupted
	RDS for PostgreSQL	Lowest	Basic Edition: Learning and small websites High-availability Edition: Medium-sized database scenarios with moderate business pressure Cluster Edition: Business-critical applications with high access pressure that cannot be interrupted. It offers higher performance than a typical MySQL database.
	RDS for PPAS	High	General-purpose: Compatible with Oracle services where business pressure is moderate and virtualization can meet the requirements. Dedicated: For services that require dedicated physical machines, typically high-concurrency Oracle-like services.
	DRDS	Medium	Starter Edition: 4 cores, 8 GB. Affordable and suitable for small and medium-sized online businesses. Enterprise Edition: 16 cores, 32 GB. Provides good response times for complex SQL queries. Suitable for online businesses with ultra-high concurrency. Ultimate Edition: 32 cores, 64 GB. Provides the best response times for complex SQL execution. Offers extra-large instance specifications.
NoSQL database	Redis	Medium	Active-active Redis: Typically used as a persistent database to improve service availability. Cluster Edition Redis: Typically used as a cache layer to accelerate application access and handle read pressure that a normal database cannot.
NoSQL database	MongoDB Edition	Medium	Standalone instance: Suitable for development, testing, and other scenarios that do not involve storing core enterprise data. Replica set instance: Suitable for business scenarios that require high read performance, such as read-heavy websites, order query systems, or services with sudden traffic bursts from promotional events. Sharded cluster instance: A sharded cluster instance composed of multiple replica sets (each using a triplicate mode). It provides higher read performance for real-time online services.

Customer use case

A government agency frequently experienced database freezes when handling a growing number of online government services. After analysis, they identified several reasons for the freezes:

Excessive data volume, which caused poor database performance.
High query concurrency, which the original database could not handle.

To solve this problem, the agency divided its MySQL servers into two groups based on their purpose: application and mobile. They then used DRDS to deploy these two groups in a distributed architecture. The database architecture is shown in the following figure.

This architecture, along with an upgrade to the latest MySQL version, significantly improved the database's concurrency capabilities and resolved the issue.