System Design on AWS

Chapter 10. AWS Storage Services

Chapters 2 and 3 introduced multiple storage types and solutions. This chapter explores AWS-specific storage services, which map to different kinds of storage solutions present in the market. We’ll start with traditional storage services like block storage and then move to various kinds of databases used to store data identifying business and technical requirements.

Referring to our example of Cafe Delhi Heights from Chapter 9, the chain of restaurants is going online where customers can look for available food items and place an order. To provide the best customer experience and food-delivery services online, Cafe Delhi Heights will store data such as restaurant images, menus, marketing campaign information, and so forth on AWS storage services. Cafe Delhi Heights has given us the job of making this happen, so let’s identify their storage requirements and choose the best AWS storage solution. We need to be able to:

• Store a customer’s profile and access details like username and password

• Store food information such as available menu items

• Store different kinds of media, such as images of food items and reviews uploaded by customers

• Perform big data analytics to improve the customer experience, such as separating good and bad reviews

• Create food communities and allow people to interact in social circles

• Search for food items based on multiple identifiers, such as name, restaurant location, and ratings

• Archive application logs and metrics ...