AWS Database Migration Service Reviews

We are using AWS Database Migration Service for our data migration from our RDS, Oracle database from on-prem or cloud to moving this data into AWS ecosystem, S3, and then into Snowflake. We are using AWS Database Migration Service, and now we are on a journey of onboarding the stream platform.

The cost effectiveness of AWS Database Migration Service is good as it is quite cost effective. The scalability option is another valuable feature because AWS provides its own compute behind it, so I can scale up and scale down at any given point.

The security features of AWS Database Migration Service, such as encryption and IAM integration, are good.

I have used it for anything analytical, assisting in making the data available as quickly as possible from upstream systems to the downstream system.

We have the ability to bring data for all tables of a database in one go, as long as the tables follow a particular naming convention. I can use wild characters to bring all of those tables in one go rather than maintaining a series of table names. 

Additionally, I am using AWS for our daily lifecycle, providing ease of doing things. AWS offers a way to build jobs that are scalable, expandable for new and current tables, and can be deployed quickly. This efficient workflow has been particularly helpful.

I work for a company that was in the process of migrating a couple hundred servers to the cloud from on-premises. This is where we used the AWS Database Migration Service.

One valuable feature of AWS Database Migration Service is change data capture (CDC). You can copy the database at first without impacting your current database, and then use CDC to copy incremental changes. The switchover is also very convenient when you switch over from the current database to the new one. This helps save time because you do not need to buy servers, and AWS recommends target server configurations. This eliminates the typical low-level technical work like setting up the server and networking, which helps significantly.

We were planning AWS Database Migration Service and migration services for one of our customers.

We used AWS Database Migration Service for legacy modernization. The work was completed last year.

The migration was from Oracle to Postgres. We had one more migration which involved MongoDB and Oracle on-premises to DynamoDB.

The transformation capabilities are valuable. Easy transformation and synchronization of changes in the database whenever there is change data.

The synchronizations on a weekly basis and monthly basis were good.

We implemented it using our stage canary option, where there's a near-prod environment, and then we sync it and switch over every week.

The Schema Conversion Tool was excellent.

We used it for encryption for data transfers and IAM roles which provided connectivity to the databases and user roles. This was excellent because we didn't have to create any new users, which could have been difficult previously.

We are setting up CDT jobs to get database changes from AWS RDS. We are not really migrating anything, but we get the changes from our source RDS instance and save it as a file in an S3 bucket.

For our continuity planning, we need all the history happening in the source database because AWS source database does not store history there. By capturing all the changes from our AWS instance and storing it in an S3 bucket, we can do whatever transformation we want without the fear of losing data. The confidence it gives us is ensuring we have the data. As long as we don’t delete these data, we always have this historical database.

We use AWS Database Migration Service to integrate data using Change Data Capture (CDC) functionality. Instead of directly accessing the database, we monitor the database log files for any data changes, adhering to the CDC concept. This approach ensures real-time data synchronization without impacting the production database or data files themselves. It allows us to maintain a live, up-to-date integration with AWS and update dashboards accordingly.

One of the features I find most valuable is its ability to apply rules and transformations to data during real-time integration. This includes changing schema names or table structures on AWS without delaying the data flow. Initially, full migrations can vary widely in time depending on the source system; for instance, a large Magento database might take up to six months, while smaller databases like IBM DB2 could migrate within hours. Once set up, AWS DMS ensures real-time synchronization using Change Data Capture (CDC), maintaining data integrity throughout the process.

DMS's architecture is highly beneficial, allowing for scalable migrations of large datasets. The service's change data capture feature is precious, enabling synchronization between the old and new systems, and providing customers with real-time data visibility.

There could be enhancements in the product intelligently covering more scenarios to prevent crashes or failures. Improved dashboard capabilities for monitoring jobs and the ability to resume migrations from the last successful point instead of starting over would significantly enhance the user experience.

We used the solution for live replication but faced many access challenges. We moved to make a full copy and then use column-level filtering to achieve incremental load. Over time, we get the necessary access permissions, allowing us to switch to live replication. We experienced a delay of roughly two minutes, which was not an issue for our use case.

When AWS Database Migration Service started working correctly, we had approximately 300 tables replicating from Oracle and other databases into AWS S3. Subsequently, any changes, such as full replication or percentage increments, could be easily accomplished by executing additional DMS tasks. DMS was configurable and straightforward to use. They were also scaling the scheduling of DMS drops. There are so many different options available.

We use an airflow instance on AWS to scale and schedule DMS tasks. This has allowed us to retire nearly 350 Informatica or injection jobs and consolidate them into DMS, a cost-effective service.