Google has launched a limited preview of Google Cloud SQL, a cloud database for Google App Engine developers looking to build database-driven cloud applications.
The addition of Google Cloud SQL gives developers access to a cloud-based database server, meaning they won't have handle all of the heavy lifting of relational databases.
"You can now choose to power your App Engine applications with a familiar relational database in a fully-managed cloud environment," wrote Google Cloud SQL Product Manager Navneet Joneja in a post on the Google App Engine blog. "This allows you to focus on developing your applications and services, free from the chores of managing, maintaining and administering relational databases."
According to Google, Cloud SQL frees App Engine developers from maintaining and administering databases, as Google manages the database for them. Google Cloud SQL adds high reliability and availability, Joneja wrote, because data is replicated synchronously to multiple data centers, and machine, rack and data center failures are handled automatically to minimize end-user impact.
Joneja added that Google Cloud SQL is a familiar MySQL database environment with JDBC support for Java-based App Engine applications and DB-API support for Python-based App Engine applications. Google Cloud SQL offers a comprehensive user interface for administering databases and simple integration with App Engine, he added.
The service includes import and export functionality, so developers can move existing MySQL databases to the cloud and leverage them via App Engine.
Google said Cloud SQL is available in a limited free beta for now, and pricing will be announced roughly 30 days before it becomes a pay service.
Google's launch of a cloud-based database comes on the heels of Oracle's massive move into the public cloud space, which was announced at Oracle Open World and includes a cloud database service that lets users move their existing Oracle databases to the cloud. Salesforce.com, too, has made a major cloud database push with the launch of Database.com, its multi-tenant cloud database service, which Salesforce made generally available in August.
