Tungsten Clustering vs. Microsoft Azure Database for MySQL

Learn why Tungsten Clustering is a better (complete, proven) and more cost-effective (software, 24/7 support and consulting all included) MySQL High Availability (HA), Disaster Recovery (DR) and Geographically-Distributed (Geo-Scale) solution compared to Microsoft Azure Database for MySQL.

For any MySQL clustering to be a complete high-availability and disaster recovery solution, it requires three core components working in sync: connectivity (proxy), management (orchestration) and replication (local/global).

Tungsten Clustering

Tungsten Clustering includes three highly integrated and fully tested components Tungsten Proxy, Tungsten Manager and Tungsten Replicator working together to provide both local (individual clusters) and global (multiple clusters working together) data service for continuous 24/7 MySQL operations.

Connectivity

Complete and Integrated
(Tungsten Proxy)

Orchestration

Integrated Business Rules
(Tungsten Manager)

Replication

Advanced Local and Global
(Tungsten Replicator)

Microsoft Azure Database for MySQL

Azure Database for MySQL comes in two varieties: “Single Server” with no failover replica, or “Flexible Server” with a failover replica. Flexible Server was just released as GA in November 2021. Read replicas can be used on either version and a 3rd-party proxy would be needed to fully utilize the read replicas without application changes.

Connectivity

Direct (might benefit from 3rd party solution)

Orchestration

Limited

Replication

Synchronous for failover replica, asynchronous for local read replicas, N/A for global needs

	Tungsten Cluster	Microsoft Azure Database for MySQL
Connectivity	Complete and Integrated (Tungsten Proxy)	Direct (might benefit from 3rd party solution)
Orchestration	Integrated Business Rules (Tungsten Manager)	Limited
Replication	Advanced Local and Global (Tungsten Replicator)	Synchronous for failover replica, asynchronous for local read replicas, N/A for global needs

Microsoft Azure Database for MySQL Comparison

Use Cases Supported

MySQL HA

Supported

MySQL DR

Supported

Not Supported

MySQL Zero Downtime Maintenance

Supported

Not Supported

MySQL Continuous Operations

Supported

MySQL Multi-Primary

Supported

Not Supported

MySQL Active/Passive Clusters

Supported

Not Supported

MySQL Active/Active Clusters

Supported

Not Supported

MySQL Geo-Scale Clusters

Supported

Not Supported

Features & Benefits

Continuous Operations

4.67

2.67

Zero Downtime Maintenance

Both database, operating system and hardware changes & upgrades

Requires maintenance window and downtime

High Availability

Automatic failover of primary

60-120 seconds downtime with DNS change

DR with Active/Passive Cluster

Automated site level switch with one failover command

No automation, stop master (2 minutes to complete), repoint apps to replica

DR with Active/Active Cluster

Only requires repointing the apps

Active/Active not supported

DR Failback

Single command, fast

Requires reprovision, time consuming

Backup & Data Recovery

Flexible backups using existing external tools

Managed, 35 day max retention

Scalability/Read replicas

4.40

3.60

Scalability/Read replicas

Supported

Scalability/Physical location

Deploy anywhere, on-prem and in the cloud (also hybrid- and multi-cloud)

Azure only

Scalability/Instance size

Choose the instance size, minimal requirements

Choose instance size, minimal requirements

DB Node Auto-Scale

No auto-scale. Requires manual steps

No auto-scale. Requires manual steps.

DB Cluster Scaling

Ideal for the SaaS apps (Pod Architecture)

Add read replicas

Geographic Scaling

5.00

0.67

Scalability/Read replicas

Across regions, availability zones, and clouds

Just simple replication to another region

Active/Active Geo-Clusters

Multi-site active/active supported and widely deployed

Not supported

Active/Passive Geo-Clusters

Supported and widely deployed in cross-regions and cross-clouds, also on-premises

Just simple replication to another region

Performance

4.75

2.75

Smart-Scale

Tungsten Proxy with automatic read/write split, no application changes

Just basic gateway

Load Balancing

Highly configurable with automatic read/write splitting

Requires app changes or 3rd party proxy

Up to Date Read Replicas

Using asynchronous replication

Robust Database Performance

Tune your favorite database, asynchronous replication adds almost no performance penalty

Tune database using standard MySQL concepts

Transparency

5.00

2.67

No Application Changes

Works out of box without app changes

Though a limited number of SQL constructs not supported, no failover awareness

All MySQL Versions

Native MySQL: Community, MySQL Enterprise, MariaDB, Percona Server, all versions

5.6, 5.7, 8.0 GA, or just 5.7 (flexible service preview)

Compatibility With All Database Engines

All MySQL engines

InnoDB only

Security

4.33

5.00

Security/Encryption at rest

Can leverage existing cloud or filesystem encryption technologies

Supported

Security/Encryption in flight

Supported for all traffic

Supported

Compliance (PCI, HIPAA)

Can be used in security/privacy standards

Management and Monitoring

4.80

4.00

Deployment

Easy to deploy

Cluster Management

Easy management via web-based GUI

UI, region specific - can only view a single region at a time

Monitoring - GUI

Full GUI based cluster monitoring. Performance monitoring with Prometheus

Monitoring is very basic

Alerts / Notifications

Integration with notifications systems

Alerting system in place, though metrics are basic

OS/DB Patching

Assistance with scripts, no downtime

Automatic, however will cause interruption

Real-time Data (Analytics, Data Lake, Reporting)

5.00

1.00

Replication Into Analytics

Real-time to the data analytics engines (AWS Redshift, Hadoop, Vertica, many others)

Basic MySQL replication only, manual setup

Filtering

Complex filtering at schema and data level

Only basic MySQL replication

Cluster Aware

Replication stream not interupted by loss of a single cluster node

External tools need to be made aware

Support Services

24/7 Support

5.00

2.00

24/7 Support

24/7 support with high, near 100% customer satisfaction

Basic support has no SLA, business-critical Premier support extremely expensive

Fast Support Reponse Time

The fastest in the industry, averaging less than 3 minutes for Urgent support request.

Unless paying very high Premier support fee

Support Team Experience

Each member has 20+ years experience on DBA and Site Reliability

Unknown who will be providing support, often lower-level call center member with limited or no DBA experience

Intangibles

MySQL Version Support

5.00

1.00

MySQL Community

Fully supported, all versions up to 8.0

MySQL 5.6, 5.7, 8.0

MySQL Enterprise

Fully supported, all versions up to 8.0

Not supported

MariaDB

Fully supported, all versions up to 10.5

Not supported

Percona Server

Fully supported

Not supported

Infrastructure and Platform

5.00

0.75

On-premises Deployment

Fully supported

Not supported

Cloud Deployment

All cloud environments (AWS, Google Cloud, MS Azure) are supported

Microsoft Azure only

Multi-Cloud

Fully supported

Not supported

Hybrid-Cloud

Fully supported

Not supported

Product Maturity

5.00

2.00

Complete

One solution for HA, DR & Geo-Scale

Basic HA available as of Nov 2021

Integrated

Comes with Manager, Proxy & Replicator

Comes with components but each are lacking functionality, some components newly available

Fully Tested

Proven in business-critical customer environments

Not mature

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

4.33

3.33

Low Subscription Cost, High Value

Instance size does not matter, non-linear pricing (additional clusters are at increasingly lower cost), no cost TrueUps

Instance size based pricing, Linear pricing

24/7 Support

Included

Enterprise-level support available at a very high cost

Few DBA Resource Needed

Large number of clusters can be managed with small number of DBAs

Although, the 'managed' DBaaS still needs DBAs

Tungsten Clustering

Tungsten Clustering comes at an equal or often lower total cost of ownership (TCO) versus alternative solutions and provides access to the best MySQL database engineers at a moments notice via 24/7 human-only enterprise support.

The Tungsten Clustering family of products is the only complete, fully-integrated, fully-tested MySQL HA, DR and geo-clustering solution running on-premises and in the cloud combined with industry-best and fastest, 24/7 support for business-critical MySQL, MariaDB, & Percona Server applications.

Continuous Operations

High Availability

Disaster Recovery

Global Scaling

Read the Comparison Blog

MS Azure MySQL - High Noon with Tungsten Clustering MySQL High Availability (HA), Disaster Recovery (DR) and Geographic Distribution

This is the next in our ‘High Noon’ comparison series in which we look at the main solutions for MySQL high availability, disaster recovery and geographic distribution. Here we focus on highly available, geo-scale, multi-region MySQL for mission-critical sites and apps with Microsoft Azure Database for MySQL as compared to native MySQL, MariaDB clusters with Continuent Tungsten in the cloud, hybrid-cloud, multi-cloud or on-premises.

Matthew Lang

Mar 02, 2021

MySQL Clustering Competitor Comparisons, Disaster Recovery, MySQL High Availability, Tungsten Clustering

Watch the Comparison Presentation

MySQL HA/DR/Geo-Scale - High Noon #4: MS Azure Database MySQL

Upgrade From the Following Solutions

Amazon Aurora

Galera Cluster
(aka XtraDB Cluster and MariaDB Cluster)

MySQL InnoDB Cluster

Google CloudSQL

Microsoft Azure Database for MySQL

ClusterControl

Do It Yourself Solution
(such as with ProxySQL and Orchestrator)

Experience Our Industry-Best Continuent MySQL Support

Highly qualified 24/7 MySQL support

Our support engineers have 15 or more years of MySQL DBA and Site Reliability experience

24/7 support comes with 1-hour SLA, with response times for urgent requests averaging less than 3 minutes

MySQL uptime measured in months or years

Why Continuent?

Our customers are leading SaaS, e-commerce, financial services, gaming and telco companies who rely on MySQL and Continuent to cost-effectively safeguard billions of dollars annual revenue.

Learn More About Why Our Customers Chose Us

Tungsten Clustering vs. Microsoft Azure Database for MySQL

Microsoft Azure Database for MySQL Comparison

Use Cases Supported

Features & Benefits

Support Services

Intangibles

Tungsten Clustering

Read the Comparison Blog

MS Azure MySQL - High Noon with Tungsten Clustering MySQL High Availability (HA), Disaster Recovery (DR) and Geographic Distribution

Watch the Comparison Presentation

MySQL HA/DR/Geo-Scale - High Noon #4: MS Azure Database MySQL

Upgrade From the Following Solutions

Experience Our Industry-Best Continuent MySQL Support

Why Continuent?

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