Chapter 3. SimpleDB versus RDBMS

We have all used a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) at some point in our careers. These relational databases are ubiquitous and are available from a wide range of companies such as Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, and so on. These databases have served us well for our application needs. However, there is a new breed of applications coming to the forefront in the current Internet-driven and socially networked economy. The new applications require large scaling to meet demand peaks that can quickly reach massive levels. This is a scenario that is hard to satisfy using a traditional relational database, as it is impossible to requisition and provision the hardware and software resources that will be needed to service the demand peaks. It is also non-trivial and difficult to scale a normal RDBMS to hundreds or thousands of nodes. The overwhelming complexity of doing this makes the RDBMS not viable for these kinds of applications. SimpleDB provides a great...