Cloud-hosted databases: technologies,challenges and opportunities

One of the main advantages of the cloud computing paradigm is that it simplifies the time-consuming processes of hardware provisioning, hardware purchasing and software deployment. Currently, we are witnessing a proliferation in the number of cloud-hosted applications with a tremendous increase in the scale of the data generated as well as being consumed by such applications. Cloud-hosted database systems powering these applications form a critical component in the software stack of these applications. To better understand the challenges in developing effective cloud-hosted database systems, this article discusses the existing technologies for hosting the database tier of software applications in cloud environments, illustrates their strengths and weaknesses, and presents some opportunities for future work.