Innovating DigitalOcean Managed Databases: Our H1 Progress and Improvements

Databases are the cornerstone of modern applications, and at DigitalOcean, we’re committed to providing you with powerful, scalable, and easy-to-use managed database solutions. The first half of 2025 has been a busy and exciting time for our Managed Databases team, as we’ve rolled out a series of significant new features and engines designed to enhance your development experience. From expanding support for popular database versions to introducing advanced observability tools, we’ve been focused on delivering the innovations you need to build and scale with confidence. In chronological order, let’s take a look at some of the key launches and improvements we’ve made within the first half of the 2025 fiscal year [H1].

Managed PostgreSQL support for v17 [February]

Launched February 11, support for PostgreSQL 17 offers improved performance, expanded developer tools, enhanced high availability and replication, and advanced security and monitoring capabilities. To read more about all of the new features, such as indexing improvements and expanding monitoring and analysis tools, check out our blog post from this past February.

Managed MongoDB support for v8 [March]

Continuing the theme of database upgrades, as of March 13, DigitalOcean Managed MongoDB supports MongoDB v8 (8.0.12). This latest release brings significant improvements in performance, scalability, and security, including faster replication through improved concurrent writes, optimized time-series data handling, and enhanced client-side encryption with support for range queries. Developers also gain greater control over performance with features like persistent query settings and default maximum execution times. To learn more about this release and our Managed MongoDB service, check out our blog or visit the MongoDB homepage.

Support for up to 20TB for Managed MySQL and 30TB for PostgreSQL [March]

Both Managed MySQL and PostgreSQL have doubled the amount of storage they support, with MySQL now supporting up to 20TB and PostgreSQL supporting up to 30TB. As of March 19, these expanded storage options are currently available in Singapore (SGP1), San Francisco (SFO2), Toronto (TOR1), New York City (NYC2, NYC3), and Frankfurt (FRA1), with more regions to come. This scalable storage update brings greater flexibility to grow. Teams can scale existing workloads hosted on DigitalOcean Managed Databases or easily migrate workloads from other cloud providers in an increasingly multi-cloud world. Additionally, it makes migrating from self-managed databases easier by removing storage constraints. Read more about this storage update here, learn more about our migration services here, or spin up a Managed Database here.

Introducing DigitalOcean Managed Caching for Valkey [April]

On April 24, we launched our newest Managed Database service: Managed Caching for Valkey. This new engine seamlessly replaces our previous offering, Managed Caching (formerly Managed Redis®). For users, the transition is 1:1—Managed Caching for Valkey is a drop-in replacement for our existing Managed Caching service. It’s a fully managed, high-performance, in-memory datastore built for caching, message queues, and even primary database use. Managed Caching for Valkey is Redis®-compatible, supporting full compatibility with Valkey 8.0 and Redis 7.2.4®, making it easy to transfer your existing caching clusters. You can learn more about the database service by reading the blog or exploring our product documentation.

Introducing Role-Based Access Control to DigitalOcean Managed MonogDB with Predefined Roles [May]

May 7 marked the introduction of Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to DigitalOcean Managed MongoDB with support for predefined roles. Starting that day, MongoDB users can now assign the following roles to database users: “readOnly”, “readWrite”, and “dbAdmin”. These predefined roles help simplify access management by allowing you to enforce clear, predefined access policies, applicable to actions such as querying data, performing CRUD operations, or managing database settings. Managing team access can be complex, time-consuming, and challenging. However, Role-Based Access Control helps address these issues by enhancing security, improving operational efficiency and compliance, reducing costs, and offering flexible role adaptability. Check out our blog post that goes into more detail about RBAC for MongoDB, or explore our product documentation and release notes on predefined roles.

Database Observability, Monitoring, and Hardening Advancements [June]

Monitoring performance, health, and data becomes more complex as applications scale. To help address this challenge, on June 24 DigitalOcean introduced three new database observability, monitoring, and hardening features:

• Datadog Integration: You can now forward Managed Database logs directly to Datadog for easier viewing and analysis. Read the blog for more details.

• Default Resource Alerts & Cluster Event Notifications: Get automated alerts for resource thresholds (CPU, memory, disk) and key events like failovers or maintenance—offering real-time visibility into database health and performance.

• Trusted Source IP Labeling: Assign labels to IPs in your whitelist to simplify access management, reduce configuration errors, and enhance security.

Support for Kafka Schema Registry [July]

As of July 7, DigitalOcean now supports Kafka Schema Registry (Karapace) for its Managed Kafka database service, enabling centralized schema management and validation for event-driven applications. This feature helps ensure data consistency, supports schema evolution, and prevents compatibility issues between producers and consumers—making Kafka pipelines more reliable and easier to maintain at scale. Available for Kafka clusters with dedicated CPUs, Schema Registry improves data integrity, simplifies integration across diverse systems, and empowers teams to build robust, scalable microservices, ETL pipelines, and machine learning workflows.

Want to see what we’re working on for H2?

As we wrap up the first half of the year, we’re excited about what’s ahead. In the coming months, we’ll be launching several new features, some of which we’ll showcase in our Sail to Success weekly webinar series, so be sure to sign up to be notified about future webinars here. Secondly, keep an eye on our blog for the latest product announcements and updates throughout the year. Lastly, don’t miss Deploy 2025 in London, where we’ll explore how our Managed Database services, along with other DigitalOcean products, can help you scale AI applications by boosting resilience and eliminating single points of failure. Register here to save your spot.