Cloud SQL for MySQL & PostgreSQL

While the Cloud SQL Overview covered the service at a high level, this lesson dives deeper into engine-specific features, configuration, and best practices for MySQL and PostgreSQL on Cloud SQL. These are the two most commonly used engines on the platform, and each has unique capabilities worth understanding.

Cloud SQL for MySQL

Supported Versions

Cloud SQL supports MySQL 5.6, 5.7, and 8.0. MySQL 8.0 is recommended for all new instances — it includes performance improvements, window functions, CTEs (Common Table Expressions), and improved JSON support.

Key Features

InnoDB storage engine — the default and only production-supported engine on Cloud SQL.
Binary log replication — enables read replicas and point-in-time recovery.
Database flags — over 100 MySQL flags can be configured (e.g. max_connections, innodb_buffer_pool_size, slow_query_log).
Character sets — supports UTF-8, UTF-8MB4 (recommended for emoji and full Unicode), and other character sets.

Read Replicas

Cloud SQL for MySQL supports read replicas for scaling read-heavy workloads:

Cloud SQL for MySQL & PostgreSQL

Cloud SQL for MySQL & PostgreSQL