Amazon Aurora - How to use it?

Aurora is a cloud service, which has been built to work in conjunction with MySQL and PostgreSQL.  

Introduction

The Aurora web service works well with Amazon RDS (Relational Database) by combining the features of enterprise and open-source databases over the cloud. The efficient performance and high-availability is adopted from enterprise databases and the cost-effective nature and simple architecture is adopted from open-source databases.  

The end result is an efficient service which is 5 folds quicker than standard MySQL database and 3 folds quicker than PostgreSQL database. It provides a distributed, fault-tolerating, continuous backup and auto-recovery feature. It provides the ability to replicate data objects at three different availability zones.  

How to use Aurora? 

• Login to AWS Management Console.  
• Create a database instance and launch it.  
• When the DB instance launches, select the type of instance based on the requirement.  
• Provide details regarding the instance, such as name, and click on the ‘Continue’ button.  
• Add additional information on the configuration page, and click on the ‘Continue’ button.  
• In the Management page, select whether you wish to have automatic backups and continue.  
• Review the details and click on the ‘Launch DB instance’ button.  

Aurora DB cluster

An Aurora database cluster consists of multiple database instances and a cluster volume which helps in managing these data instances. A cluster volume is basically a virtual database storage which is present in multiple availability zones and every zone contains a copy of the database cluster data. There are 2 types of clusters- Primary DB instance, and Aurora Replica.  

• Primary DB instance- It takes the responsibility of performing all data modifications (read and write operations) on the clusters. Every cluster in the Aurora database consists of one primary database instance.  
• Aurora Replica- It only supports read operations, and connects to the same cluster which the primary database instance connects to. If the primary database instance fails, Aurora replaces it with Aurora replica.  

Endpoints

An endpoint refers to a combination of host name and port which is created when a user connects to an Aurora cluster.  

• Cluster endpoint- is used to connect to current primary DB instance. It helps perform write operations.  
• Custom endpoint- is used to represent the set of DB instances that the user chooses. After a cluster is created, an endpoint is connected to it, during which the operation of load-balancing happens, during which one instance out of the set of DB instances is chosen to manage the connection. This instance can be made to refer to a specific endpoint, and can be made to perform specific operations.  
• Reader endpoint- is used to connect to an Aurora replica, and is read-only. There is only one reader endpoint, which helps in load balancing.  
• Instance endpoint- is used to connect to a specific DB instance. It helps figure out if there are any complications related to capacity or performance in a specific instance.  

Features of Aurora

• Users follow pay-as-you-go approach, with no hidden costs.  
• It provides a strong security base, by providing access to the network and database to limited number of people. 
• All the latest patches available for a specific software are automatically provided and upgraded.  
• All the data objects, logs, and database logs are backed up, and timers can be set to automatically back them up at different timings.  

Features of Aurora for MySQL and PostgreSQL

It has features such as serverless configuration, auto-scalable storage, quick responses, customized endpoints for instances, and parallel operations for certain input output operations. It provides scaling so that the database instance can be modified for every instance in the cluster. Additional replicas of the data can be created when the amount of user requests increases.