News

Google Adds MySQL Database to Its App Engine Cloud

• By David Ramel
• October 7, 2011

Google on Thursday announced a free preview of Google Cloud SQL, which adds a MySQL database Web service to Google's cloud-based App Engine development stack.

"One of App Engine's most requested features has been a simple way to develop traditional database-driven applications," wrote Google Cloud SQL Product Manager Navneet Joneja in a Google Code blog post announcing the limited preview.

The MySQL service works with Google App Engine applications written in Python or Java. Previously, App Engine offered only a non-relational "datastore" with a proprietary syntax called GQL that's similar to SQL syntax. The new preview allows Google Cloud SQL instances of as much as 10GB and "is ideal for small to medium-sized applications," Google said.

Other features of the service listed on the introductory Web site include:

• Performance similar to that of the Google App Engine datastore
• SQL prompt within the Google APIs console
• Compatibility with Python and Java
• Synchronous or asynchronous replication
• A command-line tool
• Export or import databases via mysqldump

Google said most MySQL features will be supported, with certain exceptions such as user-defined functions and MySQL replication. Also, several MySQL statements are unsupported. More information is available on this FAQ page.

The company said the initial limited number of users won't be charged for the service in 2011, but didn't reveal a target date for when it would become generally available and billing would begin. However, Google said users will be given at least a 30-day notice. The App Engine itself is free to use up to a certain quota.

Instructions to sign up for the limited preview can be found here.