What is a managed database?

A managed database is a database instance (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB etc.) fully managed by a cloud provider.

How to choose between PostgreSQL, MySQL and MongoDB?

Choose PostgreSQL if you have complex relational data, ACID transactions and want maximum extensibility (JSON, full-text search, advanced functions).

RBAC = Role-Based Access Control.

Enable automatic backup from the provider's control panel — on 4database.net, from Dashboard → Backups → Enable automatic backup.
Set the frequency (daily recommended), time (off-peak, usually 02:00–04:00 UTC) and retention (7, 14 or 30 days).
Test restoration at least once a month: create a test instance, restore the backup and verify data is complete.
Configure alerts: receive notification if the daily backup fails (email or webhook).

GDPR: personal data must be recoverable in case of an incident — backup is mandatory, not optional (Art. 32 GDPR).
RPO (Recovery Point Objective): daily backup = you can lose max 24h of data; hourly backup = max 1h data lost.
RTO (Recovery Time Objective): how long does restoration take? For a 100GB instance → 10–30 minutes on managed servers.
Legal retention: in Romania, financial data must be kept 10 years; archive backup is separate from operational backup.

Example 1: e-commerce with 10,000 orders/day — backup at 03:00 UTC, 30-day retention, Slack alert if it fails. Restoration tested on the first day of each month.
Example 2: SaaS app with financial data — hourly backup during business hours, daily the rest of the time; separate 10-year retention for legal archiving.
Example 3: small startup with 5GB data — daily backup with 7-day retention; sufficient for RTO < 1h and max loss < 24h.

Mistake 1: configuring backup but never testing it — 58% of untested backups fail on restoration (Veeam Report 2023).
Mistake 2: storing backup on the same server as production — a disk crash loses both data and backup.
Mistake 3: too short retention (3 days) — if you notice data corruption after 5 days, you have no valid backup left.
Mistake 4: not distinguishing between operational backup and legal archive — legal archive must be read-only and immutable.

Automatic daily backup enabled by default on all plans — no manual configuration needed.
Backups are stored in a separate S3 bucket, in a different availability zone than the main instance.
Point-in-time recovery (PITR) for PostgreSQL and MySQL — restore to any point in the last 7 days.
Automatic email alert if the daily backup fails — zero manual monitoring.
One-click restore test: 4database.net clones the instance from backup to a test environment, without affecting production.