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Ask HN: Are managed DB so important?

3 points by juanse ↗ HN
In the past I've been deploying everything (application + DB) in the same server for small projects. I didn't have the need to split the DB into another server, but I think it wouldn't be a big issue.

The think is that I will start something that I hope it will become a SME -I know for sure it won't be Internet Scale-, but people tell that using a managed database is a must.

My question is:

Given that I am already proficient with Linux, and my cloud service makes automatic snapshots (besides other rsync backup I do), Is it really such a big deal?

2 comments

[ 2.3 ms ] story [ 12.8 ms ] thread
leros
Your servers can crash, go offline, etc and you can recover you business.

If you lose your database, corrupt it, etc you can't recover and it could destroy your business.

I don't want to deal with that worry so I used managed databases.

dsgrillo
It depends on how much you can invest (time and money) vs the risk for your business.

I have 2 projects running a similar setup as yours: everything on a single machine. So far, running since 2014 without any large issues with both of them.

Once, I got locked out of the provider (due to my fault, but it doesn't matter). They've kept the server running, even though I couldn't ssh to the machines. I was ready to redeploy everything on another provider in less than 1 hour, with a DB backup of the day prior of the incident.

If my DB crashes, get corrupts, etc. I have a couple of backup for the last day, week and month, all saved in a different provider.

Thus, in short, I don't think the managed DB really worth for me. I also don't have HA, but I can cope with that. I'd rather get beefier machines for the extra price.