DBaaS is Fine in Most Cases.

TL;DR: For 99% of use-cases a DBaaS (autonomous...), an RDS- or an MPV-service is sufficient. But in case I want to investigate further, I am still very grateful to Oracle for exposing the V$ and  X$ views. They allow me to inspect, understand, and troubleshoot my system at the next level

This blog post is partly in reaction to...

https://twitter.com/samokhvalov/status/1678786986763755521

Firstly, I agree with Nikolay.
And when you need "backend access" or "root-level-control" on the system where you database is running: please build+manage your own servers. I understand the desire for control and access. It is the only way a real techie will "feel safe". But realise that when you have all that access: with great power comes great responsibility: You will have to secure, manage and maintain your platform yourself. Not all organisations are willing to do so, and even less are capable of attracting + retaining staff with the desired level of competence.
(and did I mention "Documentation" ??)


But the world is moving on....
And for the rest of us, there are the "managed services" like RDS and other MPVs. And we have to accept that those come with some restrictions.

For me, it took a while to get used to it, but now I'm ok with the RDS "level of service". For the following (nitpickity) reasons: 

1. My customers often dont want to be bothered with the details of DBA-work. And they definitely dont want to deal with Oracle-sales ever again. RDS is the best example I know that "takes away the worries" of mundane DBA-tasks and liberates us from the sales-vampires.

2. A good RDBMS (Oracle, and to some extend Postgres) will expose enough of its functioning via SQL-interface so that I can diagnose problems.

3. As an application-developer, software provider, I will also try to limit my software and its complexity to avoid getting into situations where I "need backend access".

4. A good provider (Oracle, RDS) will have + provided assistance if needed.  (this is not the place to write another long rant about the support-staff who are driven by the need to Close Tickets, rather than to solve problems, but you know who you are...)

To the RDBMS-vendors, if they care to listen, I would say : please expose your system, all of it, via the SQL-interface. The rules of Codd still apply, and Rule-4 is Especially applicable here. 

SQL is Everything, and Everything is SQL...

And please provide the data via SQL. That way your customers / developers / users can find their data, and combine it in any way they see fit. Running graphs, dashboards with metrics-over-time are very useful, but at some point some geeky cstmer will want to query for himself and combine data in ways your dashboard didnt think of yet... Please Give them that SQL..


To the providers of managed services (RDS, other MPVs), I would say: Expose! Provide as much dashboards and metrics as the RDBMS can expose. And provide the data via SQL: that way the consumer is free to select/slice/dice/present the data in any way they think they need.