Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step ...

42 Chapter 3 Defining the Clouds for the Enterprise
think about a new database at 8:00 AM and have it running by noon, without
buying hardware or software and without even leaving your office. This
makes it incredibly easy to provision a database as needed.
Database services include everything that you can do with a local database,
such as setting up the tables and the relations among them, adding
data, extracting data, and deleting data. Database-as-a-service providers provide
not only basic database functions but also brand-specific services such
as Oracle, Sybase, and Microsoft, so you can leverage proprietary features if
you need them.
An effective database-as-a-service provider should be able to offer database
services that appear local in terms of performance and functionality.
However, as with the storage-as-a-service offerings, there are always trade-offs.
The benefits of database-as-a-service include, first, the ability to avoid
hardware and software costs by leveraging a remote database that you use as
you need it and just what you need to use. As many IT professionals already
know, database licensing costs are a major part of the software budget, and
avoiding those costs will go right to the bottom line.
Second, database maintenance, including backing up and restoring the
database and managing users, can be avoided through the use of databaseas-a-service.
You do not have to focus on the maintenance activities required
for a database; you can focus instead on its design and use.
Finally, you can avoid the task of doing upgrades and bug fixes to the database.
Many a DBA (database administer) has spent a great deal of time applying
patches and fixes to enterprise databases. Using database-as-a-service
providers, that activity is handled for you and is transparent to you. You
should always have the most current bug-free version of the database engine,
since it is centrally updated on the cloud computing site and nothing needs
to be distributed.
Database-as-a-service has a few drawbacks as well. First, there are legal,
compliancy, and privacy issues around data, and in some instances, leveraging
remote databases is illegal and/or not within compliance for some types
of data. You must check before hosting data remotely, but in most cases, remote
hosting is just fine and should meet your security requirements.
Second, security can be an issue when using database-as-a-service. When
you require complete security, the use of remote databases that you do not
control or secure may be contraindicated, depending on the type of data you
place in those databases. However, there is no reason you cannot have your
data exist securely on a database-as-a-service cloud offering if you leverage