Database Speed: What is it, and why should you care?

Information Technology (IT) organizations are always chasing better performance, as database performance is key to business value optimization. Optimization of this performance involves monitoring, tuning, and improving all aspects of the IT infrastructure, encompassing servers, networks, applications, desktops, and databases. What is the latest development in database technology? Should you worry about the design and maintenance of your database, or should you adopt a managed one?

This post discusses the importance of database performance in business, what determines database speed, its impact on business, and the latest development in database technology.

Why is database speed important?

Database speed is the key to computing more data faster and making data-based decisions quickly. Faster decision-making drives business value. Database speed translates into resource efficiency.

As a developer, it seems clear that database performance matters. Any piece of the tech stack that works quickly makes a developer’s job easier. At the very least, a fast database that gives you out-of-the-box speed saves time and nerves during development.

In a nutshell, database speed should be considered in the following ways:

• Make faster decisions: Database speed is the key to computing more data faster and making data-based decisions quickly. Faster decision-making drives business value.
• Save resources & costs: Database speed translates into resource efficiency. Saving resources (like battery and memory) saves money and reduces waste.
• Better UX & response rates: Database speed significantly affects end user response rates: smooth and fast user experiences keep people happy and more productive.

What determines the speed of a database?

Database performance can be defined as the optimization of resource use to increase throughput and minimize contention, enabling the largest possible workload to be processed.

The five following factors influence database performance.

Workload
This is a combination of online transactions, batch jobs, business intelligence queries and analysis, utilities, and system commands directed through the database management system (DBMS) at any given time.

Throughput
This defines the overall capability of the computer to process data. It is a composite of Input/Output (I/O) speed, central processing unit (CPU) speed, parallel capabilities of the machine, and the efficiency of the operating system and system software.

Resources
Resources of the system are known as the hardware and software tools at the disposal of the system. Examples include memory (such as that allocated to buffer pools or address spaces), disk, cache controllers, and microcode.

Optimization
All types of systems can be optimized, but relational database systems are unique in that query optimization is primarily accomplished internal to the DBMS. Ensuring that you have provided up-to-date and accurate database statistics for the query optimizer is of the utmost importance in achieving optimal Structured Query Language (SQL) queries.

Contention
The contention is the condition in which two or more components of the workload attempt to use a single resource in a conflicting way — for example, dual updates to the same piece of data.

The impact of database performance on businesses

Today, databases are vital tools for business operations. Databases are computer systems that collect, analyze, and store extensive information. This information allows businesses to streamline processes such as inventory tracking.

Furthermore, databases can help the growth of your business in several ways. From improving HR information management to time-saving, managing customer data, and more, SQL databases and well-thought-out MySQL database management can help improve your business performance in several ways.

Here are a few ways database performance has an impact on business:

• Time-saving tools: This allows businesses to manage all the company’s essential information in one place. It saves you a great deal of time looking for vital information about your business progress as you can access it all in one place.
• Improves the management of HR information: Databases go a long way in making human resources management easier. Human resources information is readily available using an SQL database, such as PostgreSQL Services, saving time and money. This allows HR departments to streamline and optimize tasks to boost an organization’s operations.
• Improves inventory tracking: Databases can help improve business performance by simplifying your inventory management and tracking. Managing your inventory properly is often a challenge when business is multiplying. Having too much or too little on the list is a risk. When you have a database, you can effectively track the inventory, ensuring it’s always at the right level to minimize losses and maximize sales.
• Boosts growth: One of the uses of databases by business organizations is encouraging growth. A high-quality database provides reporting features like data analysis to predict future trends.
• Manages customer data: For businesses to flourish, good customer relationship management process has to be established. A database stores information like contact details, buying preferences, and more. With this data, companies stand a better chance to build good customer relationships.

On-premises or managed database?

On-premise database refers to local hardware, meaning data is stored on local servers, computers, or other devices. For example, a company may purchase a server to store data. After buying the server, the company sets it up at its headquarters and uploads its data. Because the server is locally operated, it's considered on-premises data storage.

Many organizations are reluctant to choose on-premises data storage because of its high cost. Buying a server and the necessary software alone can be very expensive. Furthermore, you may need to hire a professional IT company to set it up, which can add to other expenses.

A managed database is a database with storage, data, and compute services that is managed and maintained by a third-party provider instead of by an organization's IT staff. The service provider sells usage — storage space, bandwidth, and sometimes data access requests — to organizations.

As you would expect, cloud data storage is almost always cheaper than on-premises solutions. You can buy a specific amount of storage space using the cloud based on your organization's needs. If you only need 14 TB of disk space, you can buy precisely 14 TB of space on the cloud. You may have to buy an entire 20 TB drive when setting up an on-premises storage solution.

Cloud data storage can also scale to your organization's needs. Most reputable cloud service providers allow customers to add storage space to their plans.

Why should you use Appwrite?

Appwrite is a new and secure open-source platform that helps developers create core application programming interfaces (APIs) for the web and mobile. It allows programmers to create quick applications. It is self-hosted, free to use, and easy to set up. However, you can pay for the cloud version if necessary.

Appwrite is an excellent Backend-as-a-Service platforms for web and mobile developers, decreasing the complexity and repetitiveness required to design an application. Developers can also create safe and speedier applications with the support of including user authentication and third-party technologies in their applications. Appwrite is fully secured and flexible to get started.

Appwrite provides you with a set of APIs, tools, and a management console UI to help you build your apps much faster and more securely. Between Appwrite's different services, you can find user authentication and account management, user preferences, database and storage persistence, cloud functions, localization, image manipulation, and more.

Appwrite allows developers to query, save, and manage access to their app data or document in real time using a robust and flexible database. You can also create numerous databases. Other agencies offer comparable solutions to Appwrite; however, here are some reasons why Appwrite is ideal:

• It is free and easy to set up
• It is fast and secure, with a built-in file scanner and encryption
• It has a simple learning curve and other good resources to get you started
• Appwrite includes end-to-end encryption for your backend API
• You have complete access control to your data and files, and the community is large and supportive

Conclusion

This article discussed the benefits of considering database performance for businesses and developers. Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) was introduced in this article, and the role and features of Appwrite were also looked at in detail.

Resources

Here are some helpful resources to get you started with Appwrite:

• Appwrite Github repositories
• Join the Discord community to ask questions and also learn more about the tool
• Appwrite documentation for quick guides on how to integrate Appwrite into your application
• Getting started with Appwrite for web