Help Center/ TaurusDB/ Service Overview/ Basic Concepts
Updated on 2025-07-02 GMT+08:00
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Basic Concepts

Before using TaurusDB, you should be familiar with the following concepts.

DB Instances

The smallest management unit of TaurusDB is a DB instance. A DB instance is an isolated database environment on the cloud. An instance ID uniquely identifies a DB instance. A DB instance can contain multiple databases and can be accessed using tools and applications. Each database name is unique.

A default administrator account (root) is provided when you purchase a DB instance. You can use this account to create databases and database users and assign permissions to them. You must set an administrator password when purchasing a DB instance. If you forget the administrator password, you can reset it.

You can create and manage DB instances on the console. For details about DB instance types, specifications, engines, versions, and statuses, see Instance Description.

DB Instance Types

There are single-node, cluster, serverless, and multi-primary instances. Different instance types support different instance specifications.

For details, see DB Instance Types.

Instance Specifications

For details, see Instance Specifications.

Billing Modes

There are yearly/monthly, pay-per-use, and serverless billing modes. For details about the differences between them, see Comparison of Billing Modes.

  • Yearly/Monthly: You prepay for a yearly or monthly subscription.
  • Pay-per-use: You pay as you go and just pay for what you use.
  • Serverless: You pay as you go and just pay for what you use.

Backups

TaurusDB supports multiple backup types. Based on different dimensions, there are the following backup types.

For details about the comparison between different backup types, see Backup Types.

Based on the Industry Perspective

  • Full backups: All data in your DB instance is backed up.
  • Incremental backups: Only data that has changed within a certain period is backed up.

Based on Backup Methods

  • Manual backups: Manual backups are user-initiated full backups of DB instances. They are retained until you delete them manually.
  • Automated backups: When you create a DB instance, an automated backup policy is enabled by default. After the DB instance is created, you can modify the policy if needed. TaurusDB will automatically create backups for DB instances based on your settings.

Based on Backup Regions

  • Same-region backups: Backups are stored in the same region as your DB instance.
  • Cross-region backup (OBT): Backups are stored in a different region from that of your DB instance.

Database Proxy

Database Proxy is a network proxy service that sits between TaurusDB and applications. It is used to handle all requests from the applications to access TaurusDB instances. For details, see What Is Database Proxy?

Compute

When you purchase a serverless instance, you need to specify a compute range. The billing unit is TCU. 1 TCU is approximately equal to 1 vCPU and 2 GB of memory. For details about how to change the compute range, see Changing the Compute Range.

Recovery Point Objective (RPO)

It refers to the maximum data loss amount tolerated by the system.

Recovery Time Objective (RTO)

It refers to the maximum tolerable service downtime, from the time when a disaster occurred to the time when services were recovered.

Application Lossless and Transparent (ALT)

ALT can prevent database connection and transaction interruptions during database system switchovers. There is no need to compensate for transactions or rebuild session contexts, ensuring application continuity. For details, see What Is ALT?

RegionlessDB Clusters

A RegionlessDB cluster consists of multiple TaurusDB instances in different regions around the world. Currently, a RegionlessDB cluster consists of one primary instance (in the primary region) and up to five standby instances (in standby regions). Data is synchronized between primary and standby instances, providing nearby access and regional DR capabilities.

Regions and AZs

A region and availability zone (AZ) identify the location of a data center. You can create resources in a specific region and AZ.

  • Regions are defined by their geographical location and network latency. Public services, such as Elastic Cloud Server (ECS), Elastic Volume Service (EVS), Object Storage Service (OBS), Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Elastic IP (EIP), and Image Management Service (IMS), can all be shared within a given region. Regions can be universal or dedicated. A universal region provides all sorts of cloud services for all users. A dedicated region provides only services of a given type or only for specific users.
  • An AZ contains one or multiple physical data centers. Each AZ has its own independent cooling, fire extinguishing, moisture-proofing, and electrical facilities. Within an AZ, compute, network, storage, and other resources are logically divided into multiple clusters. AZs within a region are interconnected using high-speed optical fibers so you can build cross-AZ high-availability systems.
Figure 1 shows the relationship between regions and AZs.
Figure 1 Regions and AZs

Huawei Cloud provides services in many regions around the world. You can select a region and an AZ as needed. For more information, see Global Products and Services.

Tags

Adding tags helps you better identify and manage your DB instances. Each DB instance can have up to 20 tags. For details, see Tag Management.

Compatibility Between TaurusDB and Browsers

For details, see Which Browsers Are Supported?