Amazon on Relational Databases

Amazon has been at the forefront of cloud computing for the longest time and they have offered various cloud computing products like storage services & database services to the enterprise.

Another additional product on the Amazon web services is the Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) which Amazon feels would help streamline processes of settings up, scaling and operating relational data over the internet.

Amazon vice president of web services, Adam Selipsky, have noted that they have been working on the relational database for the last two years since many of their Amazon web service customers have given feedback that they require relational database in the cloud. These customers were already using Amazon’s SimpleDB which provides basic, simple and reliable database in the cloud.

Amazon’s relational database offering would include a full features MySQL database which automatically handles common database administration tasks namely: setup, provisioning, patch management, and backup duties. Amazon’s selling point on this is the cheap cost of subscribing to this service as they do not charge customer with upfront fees but are billed based on their actual usage.

I think having a relational database on the cloud is a big boost and selling point for the company. I have been working on SharePoint which is an internet based platform and for the last 8-10 years architects and developers have had challenges on building relational stuff on SharePoint as this doesn’t come out of the box. Amazon’s push to make this a major offering seems to have lots of potential and could get more customers into their services.

I would be watching the progress of Amazon web services closely. How about you? Have you had any experience on their cloud computing services? How did it go?

The Amazon relational database service can be found here – Amazon RDS.

Image from Amazon.