Database Update Guide in 2021

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When Should Your Business Think About Database
Updates in 2021?

• Before getting into the technical details of the
  why and the when you need to understand the types
  of databases that you are using. Because the
  database you are using along with other factors
  such as the size of your business, the growth
  plans of your organization, and the current
  capacity of utilization will play a key role in
  your decision.

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• Typically, there are three types of databases.
  Read on to find out more about the one that you
  use.

1. Text-based database The simplest form of
database, these are used in small-business
scenarios and follow a spreadsheet pattern of
rows and columns. These databases can be limited
in functionality and size. They are understood by
non-IT professionals and perform the basic
functions of storing, organizing, and retrieving
data. With the gradual increase in your business,
these types of databases will demand upgrades to
handle the increased load.
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2. Relational (SQL) Database A very commonly
used database type, relational databases are
often used by medium to large-sized
organizations. These types of databases are far
more effective than text-based DBMS and offer
features such as the creation of multiple
databases under a single server and access to
hundreds of users.  Still storing the data in a
tabular form, relational databases use multiple
objects related to each other. Some common SQL
database systems include Oracle database ,
Postgres SQL, MySQL database, and SQL server. 
   Relational database management systems are the
most widely used data storage in the world. Up
until recently most of the data that was being
generated by users, and systems had high degrees
of structure thereby making relational databases
the first choice for any organization.  For
example, lets consider a financial institution.
Their most important data are customer
transaction data. And as we know, transaction
information has strict formats which include
fields like to, from, amount, date, etc.
Such a fixed structure would suit very well to a
relational database management system.
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3. Non-relational (NoSQL) database Following a
schema-free structure, NoSQL database systems do
not follow a table structure with rows and
columns. Instead, these databases consist of
categories of different components such as users,
files, orders, etc. Because of this, they are
used to store large volumes of data and can be
easily scaled horizontally. Some well-known NoSQL
database systems include Couchbase and MongoDB.
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Should you Upgrade or Update? Whether you
upgrade your text-based database, the latest
MySQL update, planning to update Postgresql or
any of your existing database systems, you will
find certain benefits that will impact every
stakeholder in your organization. As you upgrade
your systems, you are enabling your staff to
partake in data maintenance activities. This
leaves more room for the IT staff to take care of
other critical issues. Moreover, updates more
often lead to increased data security and
privacy. This means you will have better
protection for your stored data.  A database
version update operation is not always a complex
task. Database creators have acknowledged the
fact that databases do need updates and upgrades
and thus they have built tools like upgrade
script, SQL Compare, Source Control to help
database administrators and developers easily
perform an update or an upgrade process task. As
a decision-maker, you should not assume that an
update of the database will always be an
expensive task in terms of cost or time. 
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When should you think about updating your
database? Now that you have identified your
current database, your need based on some basic
factors, and your decision to move forward, lets
understand when should you hit that update
button. 
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It doesnt matter if you are planning to update
MongoDB, SQL server, looking for the latest MySQL
update, or even to update Postgres, these factors
will universally be acceptable as the time to
update.
 1. Review of operations Many of the leading
DBMS providers take client feedback very
seriously and use it to add features and changes
in their future updates. So, timely reviews of
the functioning database and its individual areas
of performance are very important. 
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2. Compliance Every organization has set a
standard of operation and some of them are very
strict when it comes to these compliance
policies. This strictness ensures maximum
throughput and security of the data. These
compliance policies ensure that the critical
application databases and applications with
embedded databases are up-to-date. So every time
the compliances are updated, ensure that your
databases meet the criteria. If not, then it is
time to hit that button.
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 3. Performance Updates for databases are
designed to fix any errors in the previous
version and also focus on improving the
performance. Similarly, the throughput of the
database acts as a driving factor to decide
whether an update is required or not. Constant
benchmarking tests are performed by companies
that prove that updates can lead to increased
throughput and performance.  In a
recent benchmark for Postgres, the results found
that when you update Postgres, you see the
numbers increase and perform better with every
update. Here is a screenshot of the same.
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These benchmarks are usually run in a test
environment. The reason for this is benchmarking
programs can lock certain tables or even use the
bandwidth of the database server thereby reducing
the throughput of the database system. Having a
test environment allows organizations to
constantly run benchmarks and monitor
performance.   4. Creating data standards  As an
organization, you need to create a set of
standards for your database management systems
and adhere to them. This will not only help you
maintain a stable data processing operation but
also maintain privacy and enable easy error
detection. 
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5. Sync system upgrades with database
upgrades Many organizations are vulnerable to
cyber-attacks because they fail to update their
databases on time. While other systems are always
updated on priority, databases get left behind
and become the cause of massive cyber-attacks
like the theft of 191 million voter identities in
2015.   Instead of waiting to get signs to
update your database, you can use the update
cycle of other important systems of the
organization as a reminder to check for and
update databases whenever required. This will not
only ensure maximum throughput but also maximum
data security.
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Conclusion If you are a key stakeholder in an
organization, or even if you are someone who is
responsible for optimal utilization of data and
databases, chances are you work diligently to
ensure a smooth flow of operations. The
above-mentioned checks are some pointers that you
should keep in mind. Each of them will help
identify the right time to update your databases.
At OptimizDBA, we have expertise in database
updates and consult organizations on when to
perform it and how to do it with the least
impedance to operations. Get in touch with us if
you are looking for expert opinions on your
current database infrastructure.