AWS Intros High-Memory Instances To Connect Large Databases To AWS Services

In keeping with the hybrid cloud trend, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced availability of new high memory instances for its Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service that the cloud giant called "perfect" for large database services like SAP HANA.

The new high memory instances will offer 6, 9, and 12 terabytes of memory, the most memory of any SAP-certified cloud instance, according to AWS. The offering was designed for businesses to run their in-memory databases in the same Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) as the rest of their enterprise applications.

Businesses moving to the cloud want the flexibility of running their large, in-memory databases in a cloud environment while keeping close to other applications that work with these large databases. The new Amazon EC2 High Memory Instances will let customers run large-scale SAP HANA installations, while guaranteeing lower latency, operational simplicity, and more predictable performance, according to Jeff Barr, AWS' chief evangelist in a blog post.

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The new instances will help customers scale their in-memory database deployments and integrate these databases with other AWS services, including storage, networking, IoT, analytics, and machine learning services, the Seattle-based company said in a statement about the new offering.

Specifically, customers using the new instances can also use services such as Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS), Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), Amazon CloudWatch, and AWS Config.

“Amazon EC2 provides the most comprehensive selection of instances by far, giving customers the flexibility to select the right instance for the right workload today and into the future,” Matt Garman, vice president of compute services for Aws said in a statement. “… Amazon EC2 High Memory instances give our customers the ability to scale their in-memory database with predictable performance in the same VPC as their other AWS services."

The new instances are now available in the U.S. East region and Asia Pacific region as dedicated hosts with a three-year term. The offering will be available soon in the U.S. West region, Europe region, and the AWS GovCloud Region in the U.S., according to Barr.

"We’re not stopping at 12 [terabytes] and are planning to launch instances with 18 [terabytes] and 24 [terabytes] of memory in 2019," Barr added.