Managing Databases in DigitalOcean using `doctl databases db` (with examples)

DigitalOcean provides a command-line tool called doctl that allows users to interact with their resources in a programmatic way. One of the commands provided by doctl is databases db, which is used to manage specific databases served by a database cluster.

In this article, we will explore different use cases of the doctl databases db command, along with code examples and explanations of each argument. These examples will demonstrate how to perform various operations such as retrieving, listing, creating, and deleting databases within a database cluster.

Use Case 1: Retrieving the name of a database

To retrieve the name of a specific database hosted in a database cluster, we can use the following command:

doctl databases db get <database_id> <database_name>

Motivation: You might want to retrieve the name of a database to perform further actions on it or to verify its existence.

Explanation:

• <database_id>: The ID of the database cluster where the database is hosted.
• <database_name>: The name of the database you want to retrieve.

Example Output:

{
  "name": "example_db",
  "created_at": "2022-01-01T10:00:00Z",
  "default": true,
  "status": "available",
  ...
}

Use Case 2: Listing existing databases

To list all existing databases hosted within a database cluster, we can use the following command:

doctl databases db list <database_id>

Motivation: You might want to have an overview of the databases hosted within a specific database cluster.

Explanation:

• <database_id>: The ID of the database cluster from which you want to list the databases.

Example Output:

[
  {
    "name": "example_db_1",
    "created_at": "2022-01-01T10:00:00Z",
    "default": true,
    "status": "available",
    ...
  },
  {
    "name": "example_db_2",
    "created_at": "2022-01-02T10:00:00Z",
    "default": false,
    "status": "available",
    ...
  },
  ...
]

Use Case 3: Creating a database

To create a new database with a given name within a database cluster, we can use the following command:

doctl databases db create <database_id> <database_name>

Motivation: You might want to create a new database to store data for your application.

Explanation:

• <database_id>: The ID of the database cluster where the new database will be created.
• <database_name>: The name of the new database.

Example Output:

{
  "name": "new_database",
  "created_at": "2022-01-03T10:00:00Z",
  "default": false,
  "status": "available",
  ...
}

Use Case 4: Deleting a database

To delete a specific database within a database cluster, we can use the following command:

doctl databases db delete <database_id> <database_name>

Motivation: You might want to remove a database that is no longer needed or to clean up resources.

Explanation:

• <database_id>: The ID of the database cluster from which you want to delete the database.
• <database_name>: The name of the database you want to delete.

Example Output:

{
  "message": "Database deleted successfully."
}

Conclusion

In this article, we explored different use cases of the doctl databases db command, which allows us to manage specific databases served by a database cluster in DigitalOcean. We covered examples of retrieving the name of a database, listing existing databases, creating a new database, and deleting a database. Each example included code, motivations for using the example, explanations of each argument, and example outputs.

With doctl and the databases db command, you can easily manage and interact with your databases in DigitalOcean.