Amazon Redshift announces Automatic Table Optimization
Amazon Redshift, the most widely used cloud data warehouse, announces general availability of Automatic Table Optimization, a new self-tuning capability that optimizes the physical design of tables by automatically setting sort and distribution keys to improve query speed. You can use Automatic Table Optimization to get started with Amazon Redshift easily or optimize production workloads by decreasing the administrative effort required to get the best possible performance.
Distribution and sort keys are table properties that define how data is physically stored. While Amazon Redshift has industry-leading performance without setting sort or distribution keys, applying keys can result in significant performance improvements for the most demanding workloads. Previously, customers had to apply sort and distribution keys manually. Automatic Table Optimization continuously observes how queries interact with tables and uses machine learning to select the best sort and distribution keys to optimize performance for the cluster’s workload. If Redshift determines that applying a key will improve cluster performance, tables will be automatically altered within hours without requiring administrator intervention.
To get started, simply create a table without explicitly setting a sort or distribution key. Existing tables can be defined for automation by altering their sort and distribution styles with the ALTER TABLE <tbl> ALTER sortkey|diststyle AUTO command. To learn more about Amazon Redshift Automatic Table Optimization, see the documentation and the blog.
Automatic Table Optimization is available on Amazon Redshift version 1.0.21291 in all regions where the Redshift Advisor is available. Refer to the this link for Amazon Redshift Advisor availability.