Amazon DynamoDB – a Fast and Scalable NoSQL Database Service Designed for Internet Scale Applications by Werner Vogels.
From the post:
Today is a very exciting day as we release Amazon DynamoDB, a fast, highly reliable and cost-effective NoSQL database service designed for internet scale applications. DynamoDB is the result of 15 years of learning in the areas of large scale non-relational databases and cloud services. Several years ago we published a paper on the details of Amazon’s Dynamo technology, which was one of the first non-relational databases developed at Amazon. The original Dynamo design was based on a core set of strong distributed systems principles resulting in an ultra-scalable and highly reliable database system. Amazon DynamoDB, which is a new service, continues to build on these principles, and also builds on our years of experience with running non-relational databases and cloud services, such as Amazon SimpleDB and Amazon S3, at scale. It is very gratifying to see all of our learning and experience become available to our customers in the form of an easy-to-use managed service.
Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database service that provides fast performance at any scale. Today’s web-based applications often encounter database scaling challenges when faced with growth in users, traffic, and data. With Amazon DynamoDB, developers scaling cloud-based applications can start small with just the capacity they need and then increase the request capacity of a given table as their app grows in popularity. Their tables can also grow without limits as their users store increasing amounts of data. Behind the scenes, Amazon DynamoDB automatically spreads the data and traffic for a table over a sufficient number of servers to meet the request capacity specified by the customer. Amazon DynamoDB offers low, predictable latencies at any scale. Customers can typically achieve average service-side in the single-digit milliseconds. Amazon DynamoDB stores data on Solid State Drives (SSDs) and replicates it synchronously across multiple AWS Availability Zones in an AWS Region to provide built-in high availability and data durability.
Impressive numbers and I am sure this is impressive software.
Two questions: Werner starts off talking about “internet scale” and then in the second paragraph says there is “…fast performance at any scale.”
Does anybody know what “internet scale” means? If they said U.S. Census scale, where I know software has been developed for record linkage on billion row tables, then I might have some idea of what is meant. If you know or can point to someone who does, please comment.
Second question: So if I need the Amazon DynamoDB because it handles “internet scale,” why would I need it for something less? My wife needs a car to go back and forth to work, but that doesn’t mean she needs a Hummer. Yes? I would rather choose a tool that is fit for the intended purpose. If you know a sensible break point for choosing the Amazon DynamoDB, please comment.
Disclosure: I buy books and other stuff at Amazon. But I don’t think my purchases past, present or future have influenced my opinions in this post. 😉
First seen at: myNoSQL as: Amazon DynamoDB – a Fast and Scalable NoSQL Database Service Designed for Internet Scale Applications.