Applies toAmazon RDS for MySQL, Amazon Aurora MySQL, Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server, OCI HeatWave MySQL, Google Cloud SQL for MySQL
Comparison points
| Area | What to check |
|---|---|
| Storage | Instance-attached volumes (RDS, Azure, Cloud SQL) vs shared distributed storage (Aurora) |
| HA | Standby in another zone; failover time; synchronous or not |
| Read replicas | Count, lag, cross-region replicas |
| Versions | 8.0 vs 8.4 LTS availability; end-of-support dates and paid extended support |
| Upgrades | In-place major upgrade, blue/green deployments |
| Features | Plugins, SUPER restrictions, binlog access for CDC, time zones, character sets |
| Analytics | HeatWave (in-database analytics/ML on OCI and other clouds), zero-ETL integrations (Aurora) |
| Pricing | Instance, storage, I/O (Aurora standard vs I/O-Optimized), backups |
Typical fits
| Situation | Often a good fit |
|---|---|
| AWS, standard OLTP | RDS for MySQL |
| AWS, many read replicas, fast failover, high I/O | Aurora MySQL |
| Azure | Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server (zone-redundant HA) |
| Need analytics on operational data without ETL | HeatWave MySQL |
| GCP | Cloud SQL for MySQL |
Application compatibility checks
SELECT @@version, @@sql_mode, @@character_set_server, @@collation_server;
SELECT plugin_name, plugin_status FROM information_schema.plugins WHERE plugin_status = 'ACTIVE';
SELECT user, host FROM mysql.user WHERE Super_priv = 'Y';
- Applications or tools that need
SUPERor file system access need changes. - Definers on views/procedures referencing users that won't exist.
- Large
max_allowed_packetor custom variables some services restrict.
Test plan
- Migrate a copy (see the MySQL transformation posts) and run load tests.
- Force failover; measure application recovery time.
- Rehearse the major upgrade path the service offers.
- Check monitoring, slow query log and Performance Schema access.
Tip
Note each service's version end-of-support dates. Some charge for extended support on old major versions, which can change the cost picture quickly.
Checklist
- Version, plugins, privileges and modes inventoried
- HA, replica and CDC needs listed
- Services compared
- Failover and upgrade rehearsed
- Cost modelled including I/O and extended support