More Database Power – 20,000 IOPS for MySQL With the CR1 Instance

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I am a huge fan of the Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS). Over the course of the last couple of years, I have seen that my audiences really appreciate the way that RDS obviates a number of tedious yet mission-critical tasks that are an inherent responsibility when running a relational database. There’s no joy to be found in keeping operating systems and database engines current, creating and restoring backups, scaling hardware up and down, or creating an architecture that provides high availability.

Today we are making RDS even more powerful by adding a new high-end database instance class. The new db.cr1.8xlarge instance type gives you plenty of memory, CPU power, and network throughput to allow your MySQL 5.6 applications to perform at up to 20,000 IOPS. This is a 60% improvement over the previous high-water mark of 12,500 IOPS and opens the door to database-driven applications that are even more demanding than before. Here are the specs:

• 64-bit platform
• 244 GB of RAM
• 88 ECU (16 hyperthreaded virtual cores each delivering 2.75 ECU)
• High-performance networking

This new instance type is available in the US East (Northern Virginia), US West (Oregon), EU (Ireland), and Asia Pacific (Tokyo) Regions and you can start using it today!

— Jeff;