Database Services (RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora)
Difficulty: medium
Overview
AWS provides fully managed database services for relational, NoSQL, in-memory, and analytical workloads.
Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service):
- Fully managed relational database. Supported engines: MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server, Aurora.
- AWS manages: OS patching, backups, multi-AZ failover, read replicas.
- Customer manages: DB schema, query optimization, access controls.
- Multi-AZ: Synchronous replication to standby in another AZ; automatic failover; for high availability.
- Read Replicas: Asynchronous replication for read scaling; can be cross-region.
Amazon Aurora:
- AWS-proprietary relational DB; MySQL and PostgreSQL compatible.
- Up to 5× throughput of MySQL on RDS; 6 copies of data across 3 AZs automatically.
- Aurora Serverless: scales compute automatically; great for variable workloads.
Amazon DynamoDB:
- Fully managed NoSQL key-value and document database.
- Single-digit millisecond performance at any scale.
- Serverless: no server provisioning; auto-scales.
- Global Tables: multi-region, multi-active replication.
- DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX): in-memory cache; microsecond latency.
Amazon Redshift:
- Fully managed cloud data warehouse.
- Petabyte-scale; columnar storage; for OLAP/business intelligence workloads.
- Uses SQL; integrates with BI tools (QuickSight, Tableau).
Amazon ElastiCache:
- In-memory caching; supports Redis and Memcached.
- Reduces database load; sub-millisecond response times.
Amazon Neptune:
- Fully managed graph database; supports property graph and RDF.
Database Migration:
- AWS DMS (Database Migration Service) — Migrate databases to AWS with minimal downtime.
- AWS SCT (Schema Conversion Tool) — Convert database schema to a compatible format when changing engines.
Practice Linked Questions
Q1. Which AWS service is a fully managed relational database that supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and SQL Server, handling OS patching, backups, and Multi-AZ failover for you?
Select one answer before revealing.
Q2. Which AWS database service is a fully managed NoSQL key-value and document database designed for single-digit millisecond performance at any scale?
Select one answer before revealing.
Q3. What is a key advantage of Amazon Aurora over standard Amazon RDS MySQL?
Select one answer before revealing.
Q4. A company needs to analyze petabytes of structured sales data using SQL queries for business intelligence reporting. Which AWS service is purpose-built for this use case?
Select one answer before revealing.
Q5. Which AWS service provides a fully managed in-memory cache compatible with Redis and Memcached, used to reduce database load and improve application response times?
Select one answer before revealing.
Q6. A company is migrating their on-premises Oracle database to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL. Which AWS tool converts the database schema and stored procedures to a compatible format?
Select one answer before revealing.
Q7. Which TWO features are automatically included with Amazon RDS when you enable Multi-AZ deployment? (Select TWO — more than one answer may be correct)
Select one answer before revealing.