Redshift cluster sizes

100 nodes maximum for each configuration.

Dense Storage (DW1) nodes are available in two sizes.   These are HDD backed instances.

A. The Extra Large has three HDDs with a total of 2TB of magnetic storage. Maximum of 200 TB of storage.

B. The Eight Extra Large has 24 HDDs with a total of 16TB of magnetic storage. Maximum of 1.6 Pedabyte of storage. 

Dense Compute (DW2) nodes are also available in two sizes.  These are SSD back instances.

A. The Large has 160GB of SSD storage per EC2 instance with a maximum is 1.6 TB

B The Eight Extra Large is sixteen times bigger (then the dense compute large) with 2.56TB of SSD storage on the EC2 instance for a maximum of 256TB of SSD storage.

Moving and migrating data from on premise to AWS using Attunity CloudBeam

Here is some interesting information regarding using a solution like Attunity CloudBeam to move and migrate Oracle databases from on premise to AWS:

• Recognizing the importance of speed, Attunity has introduced Quality of Service options ranging between 200Mbps to 1Gbps.
• 12 TB per day data delivery 
• Attunity has published transfer rates, useful for benchmarking and planning (http://www.attunitycloudbeam.com/performance/performance-details)

Oracle VLDB on AWS

As enterprise began to move to the cloud, the question of running very large Oracle databases on AWS is coming up.  Of course, the definition of a what is a VLDB varies by industry, size of company, and personal opinion.   For our discussion, let's say it is a 10's of TB database.  In this case, most Oracle databases of this size will be running on Oracle RAC.   Currently, Oracle RAC is not supported on AWS.

A method to get around the lack of support for RAC in AWS is running the application on EC2, and Oracle RAC in a co-location facility or customer data center. AWS Direct Connect allows establishing private connectivity between AWS and data center/co location or customer data center to achieve the speed required. Datapipe is one AWS hosting provider partner that has done this: 

http://www.slideshare.net/AmazonWebServices/aws-partner-presentation-datapipe-deploying-hybrid-it-aws-summit-2012-nyc

Copying 1 TB of data from on premise RDBMS to AWS/EC2

I often get asked how long it will take to transmit a 1 TB database (assumes that the database is actually 1 TB in size and not just allocated at 1 TB). Elapsed time is going to depend on many factors: speed of connection, compression used (if any), can load be done in parallel etc.  The fastest load times will happen using AWS import/export (http://aws.amazon.com/importexport/ ).  The next fastest will be using AWS Direct Connect (http://aws.amazon.com/directconnect). Direct Connect provides speeds of 1 Gbps to 10Gbps.  Using a 1 Gbps line, it would take about 3-4 hours (here is a good site: http://fasterdata.es.net/fasterdata-home/requirements-and-expectations/).    Assuming an internet connection speed of 100 Mbps (100Base-T connection) it would take about a day to transfer using a traditional connection to AWS/EC2  Both DirectConnect and Import/export provide a secure method of transfer.