# Overview

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Exoscale **Managed MySQL** delivers a fully-managed, high-availability MySQL 8 (and 5.7 for legacy workloads) service. It removes the operational burden of provisioning, patching, scaling, and backing up databases, so you can focus on building applications rather than running infrastructure.


## Terminology
Service
: a running MySQL instance or cluster managed by Exoscale DBaaS

Plan
: a resource / redundancy tier such as `hobbyist-1`, `business-32`,
  `premium-9x-16`

Fork
: a point-in-time clone of an existing service, useful for upgrades, testing,
  or disaster-recovery workflows

Read Replica
: an additional node created with the built-in *read-replica* integration to
  offload read traffic

Migration Wizard
: Portal / CLI workflow that imports data from an external MySQL 5.7 – 8.0
  server


## Features
Managed Lifecycle
: automated provisioning, daily backups, minor-version patching, and plan
  resizing

Scalability
: vertical scaling by changing plans and horizontal scaling via zone-level read
  replicas

Integrated Backup & PITR
: automatic backups with point-in-time recovery on Business and Premium plans

Wizard-driven migrations
: assisted replication or dump/import from external MySQL sources

High SLA
: 99.95 % (Startup) and 99.99 % (Business & Premium) availability
  guarantees; no SLA on Hobbyist

API-first
: every feature exposed through `exo dbaas`; common workflows also available in
  the Portal