MariaDB Consultancy Services
MinervaDB provides both onsite and remote consultancy services for MariaDB addressing Database Architect / Engineering / Operations services, Performance Optimization / Tuning, Benchmarking, Capacity Planning / Sizing, High Availability / Database Reliability Engineering, Data Recovery Services and Database Security. Our consultants are usually available on a short notice, We work for some of the largest internet properties and pioneers in building web-scale database infrastructure operations on MariaDB. You can download MinervaDB Consulting and Professional Services for MariaDB flyer here to know more details about our service delivery models and value proposition, Our dedicated MariaDB consulting team is ready to help you in the following areas:
Architecting MariaDB Operations for Web-Scale Performance and Reliability
MariaDB powers mission-critical applications from e-commerce checkouts to real-time analytics, yet many teams still treat it as “just another MySQL fork.” This guide distils battle-tested patterns we use when customers ask us to scale past 100 K queries/s, 99.99 % availability, and GDPR-grade security without rewriting their applications.
1. Capacity Planning and Sizing: Right-Size Before You Scale
| Workload Type | CPU Core : RAM GiB : IOPS Ratio | Typical AWS Reference |
|---|---|---|
| OLTP, read-heavy | 1 : 4 : 1 000 | c7g.2xlarge (8 vCPU, 32 GB) + gp3-3 000 |
| OLTP, write-heavy | 1 : 2 : 2 000 | i4i.xlarge (4 vCPU, 32 GB) + io2-10 000 |
| Analytics (columnar) | 1 : 8 : 500 | r7g.xlarge (4 vCPU, 32 GB) + st1 |
- Forecast with Little’s Law: L=λW where λ is arrival rate and W is average query latency.
- Add 30 % headroom for flash sales or viral spikes.
- Model disk growth via compound Poisson; 95-percentile yearly expansion is usually 3.7× raw insert volume.
2. Optimal and Scalable SQL Engineering Services
- Schema first, queries second
- Use INT UNSIGNED until you expect >4 B rows, then switch to BIGINT.
- utf8mb4 is mandatory; utf8 truncates 4-byte emojis → silent data loss.
- Access-path contracts
- Every SELECT must hit a covering index or partition prune.
- Enforce with EXPLAIN FORMAT=JSON in CI gate; fail build if rows_examined > 20 × rows_returned.
- Hot-spot free sequences
- Replace AUTO_INCREMENT with in-memory, node-local, non-persistentsequences via SEQUENCE + CACHE 1 000 on 10.6+.
- For multi-region, combine SEQUENCE with offset-and-step sharding key.
3. Choosing Storage Engines for Performance, Scalability and High Availability
| Engine | When to Use | When NOT to Use |
|---|---|---|
| InnoDB | Default OLTP; need ACID & row locks | Large BLOB streaming |
| MyRocks | 2–3× compression; write-heavy | Heavy range scans |
| Aria | Internal temp tables | User data (not crash-safe) |
| ColumnStore | Petabyte-scale analytics | Sub-second lookups |
| Spider | Transparent sharding | Cross-shard joins >5 % of queries |
Pro-tip: Run SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS every 30 s; if History list length > 1 000 000, long-running tx are stalling purge → imminent disk bloat.
4. Designing Schema for Performance and Scalability
- Functional partitioning
Split monolith into domain services → separate databases → independent evolution. - Horizontal sharding key rules
- Cardinality ≥ 1 000 future shards.
- Even distribution (χ² test p-value > 0.05).
- No cross-shard unique constraints.
- JSON instead of EAV
COLUMN_CREATE + COLUMN_GET is 4× faster than joining 5 attribute tables.
5. Remote DBA Services: 24×7 Run-Book
- Golden signals dashboard
- QPS, 95-th latency, replication lag, disk util, Innodb_row_lock_waits.
- Auto-triage
- If lag > 5 s → page on-call; if lag > 30 s → promote async replica automatically (Orchestrator).
- Chaos Friday
- Randomly kill AZ every week; expect <60 s RTO, 0 RPO.
6. Performance and Scalability Deep Dive
6.1 Benchmarking Toolkit
sysbench oltp_read_write \ --mysql-host=db1 --mysql-user=sbtest --mysql-password=*** \ --tables=32 --table-size=10_000_000 --threads=128 \ --time=300 --report-interval=1 --mysql-storage-engine=innodb \ --mysql-ignore-duplicates=on \ run
Target: >50 K tps on c6i.4xlarge.
6.2 Tuning Workflow
- Capture 60 s SHOW PROCESSLIST → identify top 20 queries.
- Run EXPLAIN → add composite indexes until rows < 10 × expected.
- Re-test with mariadb-dump –no-data | grep KEY; ensure no redundant indexes (>5 % write overhead).
6.3 Scale-Out Without Shards
- Read replicas via asynchronous + semi-sync(rpl_semi_sync_master_wait_point=AFTER_SYNC).
- Write scale-out with Galera; keep wsrep_certification_rules=optimistic for 15 % higher throughput.
7. High Availability and DR
| Solution | RPO | RTO | Typical Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Async replica + Orchestrator | <60 s | <3 min | $ |
| Galera 3-node | 0 s | <30 s | $$ |
| Galera + MaxScale + BINLOG router | 0 s | <10 s | $$$ |
| Cross-region DR + spider + delayed replica | <5 min | <15 min |
Backup strategy:
- Logical: mariadb-dump –single-transaction –master-data=2 nightly.
- Physical: mariabackup –backup –stream=xbstream every 6 h.
- Point-in-time: Binary logs on S3 with binlog_expire_seconds=86400.
8. Data Privacy and Security Consulting
We implement dynamic masking and irreversible pseudonymisation so that PII, PAN, PHI never leave production unprotected.
Tool chain:
- MaxScale Masking Filter → regex obfuscation on-the-fly.
- ColumnStore Anonymization → SHA2(CONCAT(salt, pan), 256) for tokenisation.
- GDPR Right-to-be-Forgotten → DELETE + OPTIMIZE TABLE + pt-online-schema-change to reclaim space.
Compliance map:
| Regulation | Technical Control | Audit Artifact |
|---|---|---|
| GDPR | Pseudonymisation, 30-day deletion SLA | Data-processing register |
| PCI DSS v4.0 | Network segmentation, PAN truncation | ASV scan, ROC |
| HIPAA | AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit | SRA risk analysis |
| SOX | Immutable audit trail, dual control | DB change-log signed via gpg |
9. Quick-Wins Checklist
- Set innodb_buffer_pool_size = 75 % RAM (max 512 GB).
- Enable innodb_flush_method=O_DIRECT_NO_FSYNC on NVMe.
- Turn on log_slow_verbosity=query_plan,innodb and long_query_time=0.1.
- Schedule mysqlcheck –optimize –all-databases weekly during low tide.
- Put max_connections ≤ 2 000; use connection pooling (MaxScale, ProxySQL) instead.
10. When to Call the Experts
- You expect >10× traffic spike in <90 days.
- Replication lag is cyclic and unexplained.
- Compliance audit in 30 days and PANs are in plaintext.
- You need zero-downtime migration from AWS RDS to on-prem Galera.
Our Remote DBA and Database Reliability Engineering teams have carried 1 200+ MariaDB clusters through Black-Friday peaks, GDPR audits and 3 AM failovers—so you don’t have to.
Contact us for a free 30-minute architecture review and walk away with an actionable performance roadmap tailored to your dataset and growth curve.
| MariaDB Database Infrastructure Operations Security Audit | Rate ( plus GST / Goods and Services Tax where relevant ) |
|---|---|
| Detailed Database Infrastructure Operations Security Audit and Recommendations for MariaDB | US $25,000 / MariaDB Instance |
☛ MinervaDB Benefits
- Vendor neutral and independent, Enterprise-class consulting, 24*7 support and remote DBA services for MySQL, MariaDB, MyRocks, PostgreSQL and ClickHouse.
- Virtual corporation with an global team of seasoned professionals – We have consultants operating from multiple locations worldwide, All of us work from home and stay connected via email, Google Hangouts, Skype, private IRC, WhatsApp, Telegram and phone. Being an virtual corporation we can hire the best talent from anywhere in the world, This makes an truly 24*7 operational team.
- Competitive pricing – We are an virtual corporation so we don’t charge the customers for our infrastructure cost, What you pay us goes purely for our unmatched technology team.
- Big Data Analytics and Columnar Store expertise – MariaDB ColumnStore and ClickHouse.
- We operate 24*7 – Our team operates from multiple locations worldwide so we are available 24*7.
- Pay As You Go billing model – You pay us only for the hours worked, We don’t ask for advances ever !! We are committed to delivering cost efficient consulting, support and services for our customers globally.
- Transparent ticketing system – We share with you the detailed work report of what we have done for your database infrastructure, This also includes how you will get benefitted with change we have done. We love absolutes transparency and detailed documentation.
- Emergency support available for you even when you are not our customer, Emergency support channels – Email, Slack, Google Hangouts, Skype, Yahoo Messenger and Phone.
- Pay per incident option available – You need our support in just fixing a single incident ? No problem, We have that option available.
- Vacation DBA Service – We can support your database infrastructure operations when the resident DBA is on a holiday / vacation so you can guarantee an optimal work-life balance for your DBA.
- Cloud DBA Services – IaaS and DBaaS including: Oracle Cloud, Google CloudSQL, Amazon Aurora, AWS RDS®, EC2®, Microsoft Azure® and Rackspace® Cloud.
☛ A low cost and instant gratification health check-up for your MariaDB infrastructure operations
- Highly responsive and proactive MariaDB performance health check-up, diagnostics and forensics.
- Detailed report on your MariaDB configuration, expensive SQL, index operations, performance, scalability and reliability.
- Recommendations for building an optimal, scalable, highly available and reliable MariaDB infrastructure operations.
- Per MySQL instance performance audit, detailed report and recommendations.
- Security Audit – Detailed Database Security Audit Report which includes the results of the audit and an actionable Compliance and Security Plan for fixing vulnerabilities and ensuring the ongoing security of your data.
** You are paying us only for the MariaDB instance we have worked for :
| MariaDB Performance Audit | Rate ( plus GST / Goods and Services Tax where relevant ) |
|---|---|
| MariaDB infrastructure operations detailed health check-up, diagnostics report and recommendations | US $30,000 / MariaDB instance |
- How business gets benefitted from our MariaDB health check-up, diagnostics reports and recommendations ?
- You can hire us only for auditing the selected MariaDB instances.
- Proactive and result oriented approach for MariaDB maximum availability and reliability.
- Detailed MySQL infrastructure operations audit report, interpretation and recommendation for performance, scalability, availability and database infrastructure operations reliability.
- On-demand – You can schedule for an on-demand MySQL infrastructure operations health check-up once registered as our customer (customer registration will be free forever).
- Security Audit and Recommendations for your Database Infrastructure Operations.
- Flexible payment options – PayPal, Wire, Cheque and Cash.
- Vendor neutral and independent – MySQL, MariaDB, Percona Server, MyRocks, InnoDB / XtraDB, TokuDB and RocksDB.
☛ Consulting Rates (We do both on-site and remote MariaDB consulting)
Sometimes you need Sr. level MariaDB consultants on-site for both strategic and technical consulting, Our consultants have several years of experience in architecting and building web-scale database infrastructure operations addressing performance, scalability and high availability . We have travelled to 46 cities in the world for Database Architect and DBA consulting.
| On-Site MariDB Consulting | Rate ( plus GST / Goods and Services Tax where relevant ) |
|---|---|
| Per Diem | US $500 / hour |
We can do everything remote (except few strategic database infrastructure operations discussions which demand on-site presence ) when it comes to MariaDB technical consulting, This include performance optimization , scaling database infrastructure operations (both vertically and horizontally ) , high availability, disaster recovery and data recovery services. We are usually available on an short notice.
| Remote MariaDB Consulting | Rate ( plus GST / Goods and Services Tax where relevant ) |
|---|---|
| Per Diem | US $350 / hour |
★ We deliver Consulting and Professional Services for MySQL, MariaDB, Percona Server, MyRocks and PostgreSQL .
☛ Data Recovery Services
We can provide Data Recovery Services for MySQL, MariaDB and Percona Server in the case following scenarios :
- Accidently dropped databases or tables
- Corrupted data files
- Corrupted XtraBackup
- Corrupted replication
- Corrupted file system
- ** If you have data in media, We can recover it for you !
| Data Recovery Services | Rate ( plus GST / Goods and Services Tax where relevant ) |
|---|---|
| Per Diem | US $500/hour |
** We always try our best to recover data for you (our recovery rate is high) but sometimes we may not be able to recover 100% of your data.
☛ Flexible consulting plans
If you are a startup or need only few hours of consulting every month then our flexible consulting plan will be the most optimal solution for you, You will have access to our seasoned team of consultants on-demand without signing-up for any longterm consulting contracts:
| Avg. Hours / Month | Quarterly ( plus GST / Goods and Services Tax where relevant ) | Six-Monthly ( plus GST / Goods and Services Tax where relevant ) | Annually ( plus GST / Goods and Services Tax where relevant ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | US $4,500.00 | US $8,500.00 | US $15,500.00 |
| 8 | US $7,500.00 | US $12,500.00 | US $25,500.00 |
| 12 | US $7,500.00 | US $15,500.00 | US $27,500.00 |
| 16 | US $8,500.00 | US $16,500.00 | US $30,500.00 |
| 20 | US $10,500.00 | US $18,800.00 | US $35,500.00 |
| 24 | US $15,000.00 | US $25,000.00 | US $45,500.00 |
| 28 | US $18,500.00 | US $35,500.00 | US $52,500.00 |
| 32 | US $21,500.00 | US $40,000.00 | US $55,500.00 |
| 36 | US $28,000.00 | US $52,000.00 | US $75,000.00 |
| 40 | US $35,500.00 | US $65,500.00 | US $82,000.00 |
☛ MinervaDB contacts – Sales & General Inquiries
| Business Function | Contact |
|---|---|
| ☎ CONTACT GLOBAL SALES (24*7) | 📞 (844) 588-7287 (USA) 📞 (415) 212-6625 (USA) 📞 (778) 770-5251 (Canada) |
| ☎ TOLL FREE PHONE (24*7) | 📞 (844) 588-7287 |
| 🚩 MINERVADB FAX | +1 (209) 314-2364 |
| 📨 MinervaDB Email - General / Sales / Consulting | contact@minervadb.com |
| 📨 MinervaDB Email - Support | support@minervadb.com |
| 📨 MinervaDB Email -Remote DBA | remotedba@minervadb.com |
| 📨 Shiv Iyer Email - Founder and Principal | shiv@minervadb.com |
| 🏠 CORPORATE ADDRESS: CALIFORNIA | MinervaDB Inc. 440 N BARRANCA AVE #9718 COVINA, CA 91723 |
| 🏠 CORPORATE ADDRESS: DELAWARE | MinervaDB Inc., PO Box 2093 PHILADELPHIA PIKE #3339 CLAYMONT, DE 19703 |
| 🏠 CORPORATE ADDRESS: HOUSTON | MinervaDB Inc., 1321 Upland Dr. PMB 19322, Houston, TX, 77043, US |
To know how we can help you in architecting and building an enterprise-class web-scale database infrastructure operations, please book an appointment here or send an email to contact@minervadb.com
☛ Further Reading
- Data Engineering
- Enterprise-Class 24×7 Vertica Support
- The Ultimate Guide to Database Corruption: Prevention, Detection, and Recovery
- GreenPlum Consultative Support (24/7) from MinervaDB Inc: Enterprise Database Excellence
- Mastering MySQL Schema Changes with gh-ost: A Complete Implementation Guide
