A cloud database management system (CDBMS) is a database management system hosted by a third party on remote servers and accessed over the Internet, whereas a traditional database system is installed locally. A CDBMS can be deployed in three ways: as a virtual machine image managed by the customer, as a database as a service managed by the provider, or as a fully managed hosting service. Before deploying a CDBMS, an organization should consider its performance, budget, data governance, and staffing requirements as a CDBMS may not provide the same level of performance as a local system and has different compliance implications.