New Contact Management in HeatWave MySQL

As a managed cloud service, HeatWave MySQL periodically delivers system updates to keep the underlying hardware and software current, efficient, secure, and reliable. These updates, which may involve scheduled or unscheduled maintenance windows, sometimes requiring downtime to apply changes to the database or operating system.  

During such maintenance activities, whether planned or unplanned, it is crucial to notify key system users to ensure smooth operations and effective planning. This new feature enhances usability by ensuring that the right individuals are informed promptly, empowering teams to take necessary actions and maintain system reliability.

Key points about customer contacts in HeatWave 

Access:
You can view and manage customer contacts during the launch of your DB System or add/edit them later by navigating to the details page of your HeatWave Database within the Oracle Cloud console. 

Purpose:
These contacts are setup to receive important notifications like maintenance windows, critical patching updates, and potential service disruptions.

Adding/Editing contacts:
You can add, edit, or remove email addresses from the customer contact list directly on the database details page

How to manage customer contacts:

There are two ways to manage your customer contacts 

1)  DB System creation flow

• Go to the Navigation Menu
• Navigate to Databases -> HeatWave MySQL  → DB Systems.
• Click Create DB System
• Navigate to the section of ''Provide contacts for operational notifications and announcements' and enter the email address.

Optionally, click Add contact to add another contact email

2) Update DB System post creation 

If you already have an established Database System you can follow the below steps.

• Go to the Navigation Menu
• Navigate to Databases -> HeatWave MySQL  → DB Systems
• In the list of Databases --> Click the name of the DB you wish to manage customer contacts.
• Navigate to Maintenance section --> Customer contacts → Click Manage.

Add, Edit or remove contacts in the Manage contacts screen.

Confirming HeatWave MySQL Notification Subscriptions

To ensure key contacts receive critical operational notifications and announcements, a simple two-step process is required:

Subscribe to Notifications
Once the contact email addresses are added, each user will receive an email titled "Action Required: Subscribe to Receive HeatWave MySQL Notifications." 
The email contains a "Subscribe" button, which the user must click to confirm their subscription to notifications.

Subscription Confirmation
Upon successfully subscribing, users will receive a confirmation email titled "HeatWave MySQL Notifications Subscription Confirmed."
This email includes a detailed list of HeatWave MySQL instances to which the user is now subscribed.

This process ensures that the right individuals are informed and prepared to act on important updates and announcements related to your HeatWave MySQL instances.

Email Notification

Upon subscription confirmation, users will start receiving email notification for the DB instance that they have setup their subscription for. The notification will have important and useful information about the maintenance like the start time, DB System name, region etc. It also includes documentation links to release notes, maintenance and few other things.

Summary 

Setting up and confirming HeatWave MySQL notification subscriptions is a straightforward process that ensures the right people are informed about critical updates and announcements. By assigning contacts and completing the subscription flow, organizations can enhance communication and reduce the operational burden of managing notifications. This feature enables teams to stay ahead of maintenance activities, respond to issues promptly, and plan effectively, ensuring the reliability and efficiency of their HeatWave MySQL databases.

Resources :

  Viewing and Managing Contacts.

YouTube link - Contact Management in HeatWave MySQL