GCE with LAMP VS GCE with Cloud SQL

Question

What are the advantages for choosing the GCE instance linked with a Google Cloud SQL compared to a GCE with LAMP installed on it?

I am sure that the GCE are scalable, but what about the scalability of the mysql database installed on it?

What about the availablity of the backups for the mysql database on the GCE instance with LAMP?

Thanks...

Traylor

Answer 1

If you use GCE on LAMP, you're basically assigning yourself the sysadmin role. This is great if you want the most customizability out of your instance, but it's on you to take backups and ensure the database stays up-to-date with security patches and such. You can scale out MySQL however you wish.

If you go with Cloud SQL, we take the sysadmin role for you, but this means we can't let you flip various options to ensure you don't prevent us taking backups. We do all the database upgrades for you.

Before I worked at Google, I would generally use SQL providers versus running my own. If I decided I needed more control, I could always dump the database and self-host later. But the headache of self-hosting, particularly for small traffic sites, was always more painful than just getting an SQL instance from an IaaS provider.

Goff

One last clarification: small business would better go with LAMP on GCE & big business on Cloud SQL? – Traylor

Personally I'd say the other way around, because Big Business can afford a DBA and sysadmin team, and small can't. – Goff

Even big companies can see substantial benefits from using Cloud SQL if they decide to use lots of small MySQL servers. Cloud SQL instances are really cheap if they are not utilized much. Having lots small servers can also improve the isolation between users, availability (smaller failure domains) and, if ACLs are used appropriately, the security. – Homegrown