Patent ID: 8307003

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of creating and managing aspects of a relational database instance using a self-service Web service, comprising: under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions, providing a plurality of application programming interfaces (APIs) each enabling a user to submit a Web service request to a control environment, each API corresponding to a desired action to be performed with respect to a relational database for the user in a data environment that is separate from the control environment; in response to receiving a first Web service request to the control environment through a first API of the plurality of APIs, causing at least one task to be performed to provision a data instance of a relational database in the data environment, the request specifying one of a plurality of relational database engines to use in provisioning the data instance to implement the relational database; and in response to receiving a second Web service request to the control environment through a second API of the plurality of APIs, causing at least one task to be performed in the separate data environment to perform a desired action with respect to the provisioned data instance, the request specifying the desired action, wherein the user is able to create and manage aspects of provisioning the relational database by submitting Web services calls to the control environment, and wherein the user is able to access the provisioned data instance to access data in the relational database using a data interface of the data environment, the data interface configured to operate independent of the control environment.