// Database consulting
Database consulting, or a Dedicated Partner engineer every month
Database consulting from OSSeva comes in two forms: a fixed-scope project for your PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB or other open-source databases, or a Dedicated Partner, a named senior engineer who works your backlog every month for one fixed fee. Neither is billed by the hour. Enter your work email for a quote, or read below how each works and when to choose it.
- Project consulting
- Fixed scope and a fixed fee, with deliverables agreed before work starts
- Dedicated Partner
- A named senior engineer on one fixed monthly fee. No hourly billing
- Engines
- PostgreSQL first, then the other open source engines this site lists: MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, Redis and Valkey, Elasticsearch and ClickHouse
- Where the work happens
- Your servers, VMs, cloud account or Kubernetes. OSSeva does not host databases
- 24/7 and the pager
- Assure includes 24/7 reactive support and Operate adds the 15-minute P1. Both sit next to consulting
- First step
- A free 15-minute discovery call, or a fixed-scope health check
Last reviewed
Trusted globally by enterprises
Database consulting engagements
Every engagement is defined up front with clear deliverables, milestones and acceptance criteria, and carries a fixed fee.
Architecture and high-availability review
Independent review of how your databases are designed and run. We evaluate replication and failover design, performance bottlenecks, node sizing, backup and recovery, and multi-cluster strategy, and deliver a prioritized findings report.
Version upgrades and engine migrations
Major version upgrades and moves between engines, such as Oracle or SQL Server to PostgreSQL, with runbooks, cutover plans and rollback procedures. Scope follows schema size, code volume and the downtime window you can get.
Implementation
Greenfield database platform setup done right. Cluster or operator provisioning, storage and backup configuration, RBAC scaffolding, and integration with your existing CI/CD and secrets management.
Proof of concept and pilots
Bounded pilots that de-risk a platform decision before you commit. We define success criteria up front, run the pilot alongside your team, and deliver a go/no-go recommendation with evidence.
Custom integrations
Connecting your databases to your enterprise toolchain: SIEM, ITSM, secrets managers, identity providers, observability stacks and internal developer portals. Delivered as auditable code, not black-box scripts.
Security hardening
Configuration audits against CIS benchmarks, network policy design, TLS and mTLS configuration, role and access-control reviews. Delivered with evidence artifacts ready for your compliance team.
What does a database consultant do?
A database consultant looks at how your databases are designed and run, tells you what to change, and often does the work. At OSSeva that means the engagements above, done by engineers who support these engines every day, in your cluster, your cloud account or your toolchain. OSSeva does not host databases.
The same engagements apply to messaging, streaming and Kubernetes platforms, such as Confluent to Apache Kafka or Tanzu to Kubernetes. For the move between engines, see OSSeva migration services.
How it works
From first call to sign-off
A repeatable process that keeps scope tight and delivers results without dragging into open-ended consulting.
Scope
A 15-minute discovery call to understand your environment, constraints, and goals. We define deliverables, milestones, and a fixed fee. No hourly billing surprises.
Design
Our engineers produce a detailed engagement plan: architecture diagrams, migration runbooks, or pilot criteria, reviewed and signed off before any work begins.
Execute
We work alongside your team in your environment. Weekly check-ins, async updates in your communication channel, and documented progress at every milestone.
Validate
Structured acceptance testing against the agreed success criteria. We don't close the engagement until the deliverables pass and your team can operate them independently.
Dedicated Partner
The Dedicated Partner model: a named engineer for a fixed monthly fee.
Some work doesn't fit a single project. A Dedicated Partner is a database expert on your team: ongoing senior engineering for your open-source stack at a fixed monthly fee, so the backlog keeps moving without a new statement of work each time.
Talk about a Partner engagement- A named senior engineer who learns your stack and stays on it, month after month
- Works your backlog: upgrades, migrations, tuning, reviews and the work your team never gets to
- Joins your standups, tickets and chat channel like a member of your team
- A monthly report of what was done, what is next and what we see coming
- One fixed monthly fee, agreed up front. No hourly billing
What a Dedicated Partner is not
- Not an hourly contractor: there is no timesheet and no bill that moves with the month.
- Not a ticket queue: you work with one named engineer, not whoever picks up the next request.
- Not the pager: 24/7 reactive support comes with Assure, and monitoring plus the 15-minute P1 come with Operate.
Staff augmentation vs managed services, and where the Dedicated Partner fits
The difference between staff augmentation and managed services is who owns the outcome. The Dedicated Partner sits in the middle: you keep the priorities, one named engineer carries the work, and the fee does not move with the hours.
| Staff augmentation | Managed services | Dedicated Partner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who directs the daily work | Your manager, as with any member of your team. | The provider, against a service description. | You set the priorities in the backlog. The named engineer plans and does the work. |
| Who owns the outcome | You. The contractor supplies hours, and results and rework stay with you. | The provider, against response and resolution targets. On OSSeva Operate: 15-minute P1 response, 4-hour resolution target. | Shared. You own priorities and application decisions, the engineer owns the quality of what they ship and the monthly report. |
| How it is billed | Typically by the hour or the day. | OSSeva Operate is priced per cluster. | One fixed monthly fee, agreed up front. No hourly billing. |
| Who carries the pager | Your team. | The provider, 24/7. Assure adds 24/7 reactive support and Operate adds proactive monitoring. | Not part of the engagement. Pair it with Assure or Operate if you need 24/7 cover. |
| Continuity | Depends on the contractor's availability. | A named senior engineer on every Operate account. | The same named engineer, month after month. |
| Best when | You have a manager and a clear task list but not enough hands. | You want monitoring, patching and incidents taken off your team. | You have steady database work, such as upgrades, tuning and reviews, and want one engineer who learns the stack. |
Staff augmentation and managed services are described in general terms. The OSSeva Operate and Dedicated Partner columns are this site's own service terms.
Which service fits which job
Consulting and the Dedicated Partner are engineering work. The subscription tiers carry the response commitments, and a Dedicated Partner can run next to one of them.
| If you need | Choose | What it commits to |
|---|---|---|
| Signed patched builds for versions the community no longer fixes | Patch | Critical CVEs (CVSS 9.0 or higher) within 48 hours, High within 7 days. |
| 24/7 reactive support, upgrade planning and audit evidence | Assure | 24/7 reactive support. Assure does not monitor or run your clusters. |
| Databases monitored and run around the clock | Operate | 15-minute P1 response and 4-hour resolution target, with a named senior engineer. |
| A project with a start and an end: a review, an upgrade, a migration or a pilot | Database consulting | Deliverables and a fixed fee agreed before work starts. |
| Steady database engineering work, month after month | Dedicated Partner | A named senior engineer and one fixed monthly fee. No hourly billing. |
A health check as the first step
If you are not sure which engagement you need, start with a fixed-scope database health check for PostgreSQL, MySQL or MongoDB. You get a written report that ranks the findings and a readout call, and you can act on it yourself or ask us to quote the work.
- Version and support status against the community calendar
- Configuration, performance and replication
- Backup and recovery, including whether recovery has been tested
- Security configuration and end-of-life exposure
Fixed fee
No hourly billing. Projects carry a fixed fee and Dedicated Partner a fixed monthly fee, both agreed before we start.
Your environment
We work inside your cluster, your VPC, your toolchain. No managed platform lock-in. Everything we deliver is yours.
OSS-only output
We don't upsell proprietary tooling. Every recommendation and deliverable is based on open source with a path you can maintain independently.
What does a database consultant do?
A database consultant reviews how your databases are designed and run, recommends changes, and often does the work: architecture and high-availability reviews, tuning, version upgrades, migrations between engines, backup and recovery design and security hardening. At OSSeva an engagement has deliverables and a fixed fee agreed before work starts, and the work happens in your own environment.
What is staff augmentation vs. outsourcing?
Staff augmentation adds outside people to your team: you direct their work and you own the result. Outsourcing hands a function to a provider, who owns the outcome against an agreed service level. Managed services is the outsourcing model, and OSSeva Operate is an example. A Dedicated Partner sits between the two: a named engineer who works your backlog like a member of your team, for one fixed monthly fee.
What is the difference between staff augmentation and managed services?
Who owns the outcome. With staff augmentation you direct the work and the result is yours. With managed services the provider carries the outcome against response and resolution targets, and you stop directing the day-to-day work. The table above sets both beside the Dedicated Partner model.
Can I get a named database engineer for a fixed monthly fee?
Yes, as a Dedicated Partner: a named senior engineer who learns your stack and works your backlog for one fixed monthly fee, with no hourly billing. It sits next to Assure and Operate, which carry the 24/7 response commitments. Enter your work email for a quote.
How is the Dedicated Partner different from OSSeva Operate?
Operate is the managed tier: proactive 24/7 monitoring, a 15-minute P1 response and engineers who run your databases end to end, priced per cluster. A Dedicated Partner is engineering capacity: one named engineer who works the backlog of upgrades, tuning, reviews and migrations your team does not get to, on a fixed monthly fee. You can take either one, or both.
How is OSSeva different from a database consulting firm?
OSSeva also supports and operates the databases. The same company ships signed patched builds for versions the community no longer fixes, offers 24/7 reactive support on Assure and runs databases on Operate. Consulting is fixed-scope and fixed-fee, with no hourly billing, and the engineers know the engines because they support them every day.
How is database consulting priced?
Projects carry a fixed fee and a Dedicated Partner a fixed monthly fee, both agreed before work starts. There is no hourly billing. Enter your work email for a quote, or book the 15-minute discovery call.
How long does an engagement take?
It depends on the scope, and we do not quote a fixed duration without seeing the environment. The factors are schema size, code volume, the number of clusters, the downtime window you can get and how much testing your side needs. The fixed fee and the deliverables are agreed after the discovery call.
Which databases do you consult on?
OSSeva supports PostgreSQL first, then the other open source engines this site lists: MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, Redis and Valkey, Elasticsearch and ClickHouse. Every engine runs self-managed on your own servers, cloud account or Kubernetes. OSSeva does not support Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle Database, and it does not host databases.
Do you work on our servers, or do we move to yours?
On yours. OSSeva does not host databases. We work in your cluster, your VPC and your toolchain, through the access you grant, and everything we deliver is yours.
Can I start with a review before committing to a project?
Yes. A fixed-scope database health check gives you a written report on your PostgreSQL, MySQL or MongoDB clusters before you decide on anything larger, and the report ranks the findings so you can act on them yourself or ask us to quote the work.
Do you consult on SQL Server or Oracle Database?
OSSeva does not support Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle Database. We do plan and run migrations off them to PostgreSQL, and those routes have their own pages.
Get a quote
Ready to plan your engagement?
The discovery call is free and takes 15 minutes. We leave it with a clear picture of deliverables, scope, and fee, with no obligation to proceed.
Prefer to talk or read more first?