Key Takeaways

Scaling Database Challenges

• Querying complexity: Application needs to be aware of database component locations
• Ensuring data consistency: Executing routine operations like backups at different times across components
• Resharding: Ongoing process of redistributing data as individual components become hot
• Capacity management: Overprovisioning nodes to handle hotspots leads to additional costs

Amazon Aurora Postgres Limitless Database

• Managed horizontal scalability solution that goes beyond a single database
• Scales up to millions of write transactions per second and manages petabytes of data
• Provides operational simplicity of a single database cluster
• Billing based on usage, no additional costs for horizontal scaling

Architecture and Features

Database Shard Group

• Encapsulates the infrastructure needed, provides a single endpoint for applications
• Scales vertically and horizontally based on load and data size

Data Distribution

• Sharded tables: Data distributed across shards based on shard key
• Reference tables: Full copies on each shard for faster joins
• Collocated tables: Tables with same shard key stored on same shard

Transactions and Queries

• Maintains ACID properties of PostgreSQL with distributed commit
• Leverages clock synchronization to provide consistent snapshots across shards
• Query execution optimized for single-shard and multi-shard scenarios
• Allows function distribution to push down execution to shards

Scaling and Availability

• Shard groups distributed across availability zones for high availability
• Automated shard splitting to handle hotspots
• Single system backups and restores for consistency

Getting Started

• Limitless Database is generally available, can be created through AWS Console or APIs
• Refer to documentation and related sessions for more details
• Provide feedback through the survey