#704: #704: Scaling your relational database on AWS - Are relational databases cool again?
Jan 20, 2025
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Josh Hart, Principal Solutions Architect at AWS, discusses the resurgence of relational databases with modern solutions. He highlights innovations like Aurora Serverless v2 for vertical scaling, which adapts to demand, and the Aurora Limitless Database that simplifies sharding. Hart also delves into how the RDS Data API streamlines connection management, making it easier for developers to focus on creating value. The conversation is packed with practical insights for optimizing database management, enhancing efficiency, and addressing scaling challenges in cloud environments.
The introduction of Aurora Serverless v2 allows relational databases to dynamically scale with traffic, reducing operational costs and enhancing performance.
RDS Proxy and RDS Data API simplify connection management for scalable applications, improving performance while minimizing network configuration complexities.
Deep dives
Scaling Challenges with Relational Databases
Many users encounter substantial scaling challenges when utilizing relational databases as their applications grow. As relational databases can become bottlenecks, adding more compute resources often provides only a temporary fix. Users frequently provision for peak capacity, leading to waste, as resources sit idle during off-peak times. Consequently, businesses face increased costs and diminished efficiency when their databases cannot adapt dynamically to fluctuating workloads.
Innovations in Database Scaling Solutions
The introduction of Aurora Serverless V2 offers a solution to the vertical scaling issues associated with relational databases. This technology allows databases to automatically scale up and down based on traffic patterns without downtime or requiring database restarts. Such responsiveness ensures that resources are efficiently allocated, particularly during varying usage levels in development or testing environments. By leveraging this capability, organizations can significantly reduce their operational costs while maintaining optimal performance.
Connection Management and Application Performance
Effective connection management is crucial for the performance of relational databases, especially in scalable applications. Traditional approaches to connection pooling can lead to resource exhaustion when scaling up. The RDS Proxy and the newly introduced RDS Data API provide simplified connection management solutions, particularly for serverless architectures. These innovations allow developers to manage database connections effortlessly, which enhances application performance while minimizing network configuration complexities.
Are relational databases cool again? In this episode of the AWS Podcast, host Simon Elisha sits down with Josh Hart, Principal Solutions Architect at AWS, to explore how traditional databases are getting a modern makeover. They dive into three game-changing innovations from AWS that are solving age-old database scaling headaches: Aurora Serverless v2 for seamless vertical scaling, Aurora Limitless Database for hassle-free sharding, and the RDS Data API for simplified connection management. Whether you're wrestling with dev/test environments or running production workloads at scale, this episode unpacks practical solutions that could save you time, money, and operational headaches.
* Check out more examples of building modern data architectures on AWS in the AWS Data for SaaS patterns repository on GitHub (https://github.com/aws-samples/data-for-saas-patterns )
* Dive deeper into scaling relational databases with this 2 part blog series on the AWS database blog (https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/database/scale-your-relational-database-for-saas-part-1-common-scaling-patterns/ )
* Head over to YouTube to find more on-demand content for scaling databases (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoqD0z_296PbKATwUcaGowmOJwlE_2ysP )
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