Managed MySQL

Assistance-operated MySQL and MariaDB for production, commerce, CMS, and legacy application workloads

Managed MySQL is a supporting infrastructure add-on for teams running web platforms, commerce systems, CMS workloads, internal business applications, and existing MySQL/MariaDB estates that need stronger operations without a disruptive platform rewrite.

Best-fit use cases#

Use case	Why Managed MySQL fits
Existing MySQL application	Keep the database engine your application expects while improving operations and reliability
CMS and commerce platforms	Familiar ecosystem for WordPress, Drupal, Magento, custom commerce, and LAMP-style systems
Business applications	Predictable relational storage for ERP, CRM, inventory, and order-processing workloads
Legacy modernization	Stabilize operations before broader application modernization
Development and staging	Cost-effective managed databases on Assistance-operated physical servers

What Assistance operates#

Area	Included managed service responsibility
Provisioning	MySQL or MariaDB setup, topology selection, storage sizing, network placement, and secure baseline configuration
Reliability	Replication, HA/failover design where required, backup policies, restore procedures, and operational runbooks
Maintenance	Patch planning, minor version updates, lifecycle guidance, maintenance windows, and rollback plans
Performance	Slow-query visibility, InnoDB tuning review, connection management, read replica guidance, and capacity review
Security	TLS, encryption options, user/role recommendations, audit logging options, and credential rotation support
Observability	Dashboards and alerts for availability, replication lag, storage, connections, locks, and backup health
Support	Severity-based support and escalation for managed database platform incidents

We operate the database platform, not your application behavior

Your team owns application releases, schema migrations, query patterns, and business data rules. Assistance can review and advise, but application-level correctness and release compatibility remain customer responsibilities unless a broader service is scoped.

Ownership boundary#

Responsibility	Assistance owns	Customer owns
Runtime operations	Configure, monitor, patch, back up, restore, and operate MySQL/MariaDB	Application use of the database and client compatibility
Schema changes	Risk review and rollout advice when scoped	Migration scripts, data validation, rollback logic, ORM changes
Availability	Replication/failover mechanics inside agreed topology	Application retry behavior, transaction handling, and deployment timing
Data retention	Implement agreed backup and retention policy	Legal/business retention rules and data classification
Access	Service accounts, least-privilege guidance, rotation procedure	User approval, identity source, application secret usage

Deployment options#

Option	When to use it
Assistance physical servers	Development, staging, CI dependencies, and predictable internal workloads with flat-rate economics
Customer cloud account	Production systems that must live near application services or inside existing compliance controls
Managed cloud service operations	Assistance operates RDS, Azure Database for MySQL, Cloud SQL, or equivalent service in your account where appropriate
Migration engagement	Move from self-hosted, hosted, or cloud-native MySQL into the agreed managed operating model

Reliability and support model#

Topic	Managed MySQL approach
Availability	Target and measurement window defined by deployment tier, topology, and support plan
Backups	Automated backups with retention and point-in-time recovery targets defined during onboarding
Failover	Documented replica promotion and routing behavior for HA deployments
Recovery	Restore testing or evidence checks included when recovery assurance is required
Response	P1 response targets are scoped in the support agreement; critical response is available for covered production services

Onboarding#

1. Workload review#

We inspect current database version, size, write/read patterns, slow-query history, replication status, backup posture, downtime tolerance, compliance requirements, and target environment.

2. Managed design#

Assistance proposes topology, sizing, replication, backup retention, recovery objectives, maintenance windows, access model, monitoring, and migration path.

3. Build or migrate#

We provision the managed MySQL environment and support migration through dump/restore, replication-based cutover, or staged environment promotion depending on risk and downtime tolerance.

4. Operate#

After handover, we monitor service health, replication, storage, backups, and performance indicators. Support paths and runbooks are kept aligned with the live environment.

Supported capabilities#

MySQL 8.0 and supported lifecycle versions by agreement
MariaDB for compatible workloads where it is the better operational fit
Replication and read replicas
ProxySQL or connection-pooling/routing patterns where appropriate
Slow-query logging and performance schema review
Backup retention and PITR targets scoped by plan

Not included by default#

Rewriting application SQL or business logic
Guaranteeing compatibility with unreviewed schema migrations
Owning CMS/plugin code or third-party application behavior
Unlimited retention, replica count, or cross-region topology outside the plan
Compliance certification work that requires a separate audit engagement

Managed PostgreSQL — Relational database option with advanced SQL and extension support
Managed Prometheus — Metrics and alerting for application and database health
Managed OpenSearch — Search and log analytics around MySQL-backed applications
Managed Certificates — TLS and certificate hygiene for database connections

Getting started#

Start with a MySQL assessment. We will review workload, migration risk, backup needs, ownership boundaries, and the support tier required for production.

Request database assessment →

Frequently asked questions#

Can you manage MariaDB as well as MySQL? Yes. We support MariaDB where it is compatible with the workload and a better fit for licensing, features, or existing application expectations.

Can you migrate from RDS or Cloud SQL? Yes. We assess source configuration, data size, replication options, downtime tolerance, and rollback requirements before choosing the migration method.

Do you provide 99.99% uptime by default? No generic uptime promise is applied by default. Availability targets are scoped to topology, provider dependencies, customer responsibilities, and the selected support plan.

Do you tune application queries? We include database-level performance visibility and recommendations. Deeper application query rewrites or schema refactors are scoped as project work.

Can MySQL run on Assistance physical servers? Yes. This is often useful for development, staging, CI dependencies, and predictable internal workloads where flat-rate economics matter.