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AWS has come up with a cloud-native database service known as Amazon Aurora. Aurora combines the power and security of business databases. It is easy to use for MySQL and PostgreSQL. After reading this article, you will learn how Amazon Aurora works. You will learn how it differs from Amazon RDS. You will also know when to use it for your apps.
For those new to AWS, exploring AWS Training may help. It can deepen your understanding of AWS services.
What is Amazon Aurora?
Amazon Aurora is a relational database engine compatible with MySQL and PostgreSQL. It is used by AWS and built for high performance. Aurora is five times faster than MySQL and three times faster than PostgreSQL. It achieves this by splitting its architecture into two planes: the Data Plane and the Control Plane.
What is Amazon Aurora | Amazon Aurora Tutorial | AWS Database Services | Edureka | AWS Rewind-4
This Edureka video on 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐚 will give you an Introduction on Amazon Aurora, you will explore some popular features and benefits and then create an Amazon Aurora RDS Database.
Data Plane
Aurora uses these operations in its data storage and retrieval. They are an efficient way to improve query processing. To improve data high availability and durability, it is logged and stored continuously in Amazon S3. The logging and storage layer in the Data Plane ensures data security and easy recovery.
Control Plane
It also works with the other planes to run tasks such as scaling, monitoring, and even automated backups. It works with other AWS services, like DynamoDB, Amazon SWF, and Route 53. These services enable your database needs, as well as their scaling and reliability.
Aurora’s architecture is durable. As explained above, it stores data in multiple Availability Zones (AZs). It can also back up data continuously and be automated. So, it is ideal for apps that need high throughput and minimal downtime.
How Amazon Aurora Works with Amazon RDS
Amazon Aurora and Amazon RDS are managed database services in the AWS cloud. Amazon Aurora is based on the original Amazon RDS. It has extra features for better performance and availability.
RDS works with several databases, like MySQL and PostgreSQL. Aurora, though, is built for MySQL and PostgreSQL. It has cloud-friendly features. Both Aurora and Databases handle backups, monitoring, and patching. But, Aurora is better for heavy workloads. The Aurora database performs up to five times better than the normal MySQL database offered by RDS.
The platform is for demanding, mission-critical tasks. It has a more durable and resilient failover system. Aurora guarantees six copies of the data across three Availability Zones. This means less downtime and faster recovery from failures. So, Aurora performs better than RDS.
For a hands-on experience, check out this AWS Tutorial. It has details on AWS database management.
What Are the Differences Between Aurora and RDS?
| Aspect | Aurora | RDS |
Performance | Amazon Aurora is far superior to standard RDS instances in terms of performance; it offers five times MySql throughput and three times Postgres throughput. Aurora is designed to maintain low latency and high throughput, which makes it suitable for serving read-intensive and highly congested workloads. | RDS, in turn, is suitable for mainstream workloads with no improvement on speed as seen with Aurora. |
Scalability | Aurora has integrated and fully automated storage provisions that range from 10GB to 128TB. | Unfortunately, scaling with RDS requires some effort and planning and involves a large degree of manual intervention, which might cause downtime or disrupt the application you are running. |
Availability and Fault Tolerance | This environment realistically replicates data six ways across three Availability Zones and is, therefore, more durable with faster failover capabilities.
| While RDS supports the deployment of Multiple Availability Zones for backup and disaster avoidance, Aurora was designed with a far better backup and recovery rate, hence minimising the risks of system halts. |
Backup and Recovery | Both services provide auto backups, but Aurora has a continuous backup process and sends data to Amazon S3 in near real time. Aurora restores the database better in the event of a disaster and reduces the data loss that could occur if the system were to fail. | The backups carried out at RDS are usually done on a daily basis.
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Cost Efficiency | Aurora’s cost-saving potential can be considered for an application that receives a large amount of data to read and write or an application with varying traffic. | RDS imposes additional charges, which are compensated where such aspects as performance, automatic scaling, and high availability can be enhanced. It is quite possible that complex applications with more intense computational loads will fare better with RDS. |
If you’re preparing for a job interview on AWS, these AWS Interview Questions might be helpful.
Should You Choose Amazon RDS or Aurora?
The evaluation of your application is the key factor in deciding between Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora. For high-throughput, low-latency apps without human intervention, use Aurora. It has Auto-Scaling and is the best. If you need highly available, cloud-native apps with fast data access, then yes, Aurora is a good investment. It offers a better long-term fix for a database with a growing workload.
However, when it comes to the smaller applications with constant traffic, Amazon RDS fits like a glove. It is cheaper and compatible with more forms of database engines like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle. For any enterprise that does not need high-end 3D graphics, RDS is a good, low-cost solution.
Aurora Scaling
The most attractive aspect of Amazon Aurora is the new database’s dynamic scaling architecture. The figure shows that Aurora adjusts storage and computing at a client’s request.
Aurora Database Storage
Aurora features a distributed storage system to avoid single points of failure. It automatically handles and distributes database storage across nodes, which automatically copy the data across various Availability Zones (AZs). This achieves high durability and resiliency.
Proxy Fleet and Dynamic Scaling
Apps work with Aurora via a proxy set that effectively orchestrates the flow of incoming database calls. Aurora also aims to boost the proxy fleet’s performance by spreading traffic across the available database instances. Aurora has a warm pool of DB capacity. As workloads increase, it draws more database instances. This warm pool lets Aurora handle traffic spikes and create new database instances as needed.
On-Demand DB Capacity
The warm pool, in fact, refers to a set of configured database images that are then available on an ‘as and when required’ basis. This allows Aurora to scale out to handle a surge in traffic and workloads. It does this by adding more instances to the existing database cluster. This capacity can be reduced during low traffic and busy times, making the architecture very flexible and cheap.
This auto-pilot resource-scaling option ensures your apps perform well, no matter the workload.
Replicas
Notably, Amazon Aurora allows up to 15 read replicas, which helps in read-intensive applications. These replicas are in clusters of Availability Zones, which improves app performance by spreading the read traffic.
Other replicas in Aurora sync fast with the primary database. There is low replication lag because Aurora and S3 use the same storage. So, Aurora suits apps needing high read throughput and low-latency data access.
Aurora replicas improve performance and availability by distributing read traffic. This helps, even if a failover is needed.
Features of Amazon Aurora
Amazon Aurora has advanced features for modern, high-performance apps.
- High Performance: Aurora is 5x faster than MySQL and 3x faster than PostgreSQL. It provides efficient, low-latency, high-throughput data access.
- Seamless Scaling: Aurora’s auto-scaling lets your database grow to 128TB as needed by your app.
- Highly Available: Still, innovative systems like Aurora replicate data across three Availability Zones, ensuring high durability and failover.
- Security: Aurora works with AWS’s Identity and Access Management for access. It supports encryption at the item and network levels.
Pricing
Amazon Aurora uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model. Clients pay based on factors like storage, the number of read replicas, and compute instances. Aurora costs more than most RDS options. But, it is a better value for heavy workloads.
Backup Storage (US East – N. Virginia)
| Component | Pricing |
| Backup Storage | $0.021 per GB-month |
Backtrack Costs (US East – N. Virginia)
| Component | Pricing |
| Change Records | $0.012 per 1 million change records per hour |
Data API Costs (US East – N. Virginia)
| Component | Pricing |
| First 1 Billion API Requests | $0.35 per million requests |
| Above 1 Billion API Requests | $0.20 per million requests |
| Data API Free Tier | 1 million free API requests/month for the first year |
Data Transfer Costs (US East – N. Virginia)
| Transfer Type | Pricing |
| Data Transfer IN to Aurora | $0.00 per GB |
| Data Transfer OUT (First 10TB) | $0.09 per GB |
| Data Transfer OUT (Next 40TB) | $0.085 per GB |
| Data Transfer OUT (Next 100TB) | $0.07 per GB |
| Data Transfer OUT (Above 150TB) | $0.05 per GB |
| Data Transfer between AZs | Free |
Conclusion
Amazon Aurora is part of the AWS portfolio. It aims to provide a fast, scalable database for cloud-native apps. It is ideal for organizations that need a database that can grow on its own, be very available, and have minimal outages. It is slightly more expensive than Amazon RDS for less complex apps, but it has the same management functions.
FAQs
What does Amazon Aurora do?
Amazon Aurora is a fully managed relational database engine offering high performance and scalability for MySQL and PostgreSQL workloads.
What is the difference between Amazon RDS and Aurora?
Aurora offers better performance, scalability, and availability, while RDS supports more database engines and is more cost-effective for smaller workloads.
Is Amazon Aurora better than MySQL?
Yes, Aurora provides up to five times the performance of MySQL with advanced cloud-native features.
Is Amazon Aurora more expensive?
Yes, but it offers better cost efficiency for high-demand workloads.
Is it AWS Aurora SQL or NoSQL?
Amazon Aurora is a SQL-based relational database engine.
