Amazon ElastiCache is a fully managed service that allows you to use in-memory data stores in the cloud.

 

Key Points for Amazon ElastiCache

  • ElastiCache provides fully-managed implementation of two open-source in-memory data stores
    • Memcached
    • Redis
  • Enables high performance – to the tune of sub-millisecond response times.
  • Ideal for Key-Value based Databases, but works with SQL Databases as well.
  • Supports detailed monitoring statistics via CloudWatch.
  • Use Cases:
    • Gaming Leader-boards
    • Session Stores
    • Geo-spatial Services
    • Real-Time Analytics

 

Following diagram shows a conceptual view of how ElastiCache works:

How ElastiCache works

Image courtesy of AWS

 


Memcached vs Redis

Following chart highlights the key attributes of the two open-source in-memory data stores Amazon supports:

Redis vs MemCached

In simple terms:

  • Go with Memcached when you need a simple in-memory data store (or if you need multi-threaded support)
  • Go with Redis when you need feature-rich in-memory data store

 


Pricing

Amazon ElastiCache is billed for following components:

  • Nodes – per hour
    • Price varies by Node instance type
    • You save if you use Reserved Instances
  • Backup Storage – per GB per month
  • Data Transfer
    • Between Zones – standard data transfer rates apply
    • Between Regions – standard data transfer rates apply

 


External Resources