Frequently Asked Questions
This page answers the questions we are asked most often about our enterprise database services.
How We Work and What We Stand By
In the first conversation we talk about the problem that needs solving and the environment you are running. We cover the database type and version, the number of servers, the data volume, and any outages you have already had. We then take access to the system under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and establish the current state. In that work we review the configuration inventory, the state of backup and restore, the replication topology, the privilege matrix and the query profile of the workload. The proposal, the roadmap and the time estimates are all built on that measurement.
We connect through your own jump host or VPN, in line with your organisation's security policy. For our database user we request only the privileges the work requires, following the principle of least privilege. Every change is reported and put to you for approval before it is applied, and recorded once it has been. Changes destined for production are verified in a test environment first, and a rollback step is prepared in advance for each one. Following the principle of change management, we apply one change at a time. So that everything we do can be followed transparently, we ask that an audit log be kept.
We carry out all of the work remotely, including database administration, monitoring and incident response. Where your policy makes physical access mandatory, we assess those cases separately within the contract.
Support scope and response times are set in the contract. The systems in scope and the types of incident covered are also defined in the contract from the start. We sign agreements that include continuous monitoring and out-of-hours incident response. For critical production systems we recommend at least a maintenance agreement covering monitoring and backup verification.
For every intervention we record what was done, why, and the measured effect. In performance work we report the effect of each improvement with before and after measurements. On project work we hand over the installation configuration and the runbook along with the working system. We use the measurement results to help with your capacity and load planning.
Service Scope and Contract
We set the price from the scope of the work, not from a published list. Scope varies widely, from resolving a single slow query to building and handing over a multi-node cluster architecture. In the first conversation we clarify the need and establish the scope, and we quote after that. You can reach us for a quote through the contact page.
We offer three. Incident response covers the urgent resolution of a problem in production. Continuous maintenance covers setting up the monitoring stack, verifying backups regularly, patch and version planning, and capacity tracking. Consulting and projects covers work with a defined beginning and end, such as cluster installation, version upgrades, data migration and performance work. In most organisations all three needs exist together. Which forms apply is decided together at the contract stage.
Yes, we offer incident response on its own. In how we work, though, we prefer to see a problem coming rather than wait for it. Our agentic monitoring tools watch load and slow query measurements in near real time, and we report problems before they surface. Response time also changes markedly depending on whether we already know the system. In an environment we are connecting to for the first time, we establish the current state before intervening. For MySQL systems the scope is set out in detail on the MySQL Support page.
Yes, we prefer to work with the organisation's existing team. Your team knows the system and the application better than we do; we bring the depth on the database side. We share the reason behind every change we make, and we document the structures we build. Our aim is not to make the organisation dependent on us, but to leave the team able to run the system with confidence.
Yes, we assess database performance together with the operating system and storage layer underneath it. That assessment covers disk latency, the file system choice, kernel parameters and the behaviour of the virtualisation layer. We specialise in database administration on Linux and Unix systems.
Technologies and Products
We support MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB and MongoDB, and we also take on ProxySQL installation and management at the connection layer. Each product has its own service page: MySQL Support, PostgreSQL Support, MariaDB Support, MongoDB Support and ProxySQL Support. All of our services are listed on the Services page.
Yes, we support systems running on Amazon RDS and Aurora, Google Cloud SQL, Azure Database and MongoDB Atlas. Because a managed service gives no access to the operating system or the data files, tools that depend on those layers fall outside the scope. Query and index optimisation, parameter tuning, and capacity and cost planning are carried out on a managed service in exactly the same way.
No, we do not sell licences. We install and integrate the products of vendors such as Oracle, Percona and MongoDB into customer systems. We work independently of vendors. Because every component we use is open source licensed, our right to install and integrate comes directly from those licences. We do not propose a product that requires the organisation to buy a licence.
No, you are not required to use the tools we build. We use them to speed up our own work, and they do not need to be installed permanently in your infrastructure. GoFast analyses MySQL slow query logs. GoArchive archives related MySQL data with verification. Both are published on GitHub under the MIT licence. Your own team is welcome to use them.
Yes, we regularly carry out data migrations, version upgrades, distribution changes and server moves. Every migration is rehearsed in a test environment, the rollback plan is prepared, and the maintenance window is planned together. The request we receive most often is the migration from MySQL 8.0 to 8.4 LTS. Support for MySQL 8.0 ended in April 2026 and that version no longer receives security patches.
Confidentiality, Security and Data Protection
Yes, we sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before taking access to the system. It covers every kind of information we reach during the work.
Yes, database administration requires access to data by its nature. We keep that access limited to the work in hand, and we request only the privileges our database user needs. Production data stays in your systems. Where the work calls for a test environment, we recommend data masking so that personal data does not proliferate uncontrolled, and we set it up where needed.
We apply the technical measures auditors ask for at the database layer: encryption, audit logging, data masking, access control, and verified destruction of data whose retention period has expired. The legal assessment of compliance remains with the organisation and its legal counsel. Rather than offering a compliance guarantee, we set the boundaries of responsibility out together at the start of the project. The full scope is on the Database Security and Technical Measures page.
We protect our customers' names and details under non-disclosure agreements. In conversation we can share the sector and scale of the organisations we work with, and the kinds of problem we have solved.