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Redis becomes the most popular database on AWS as complex cloud application deployments surge

No diggity, NoSQL

Open-source NoSQL in-memory database Redis is the most popular database in the world if, that is, your world is solely within Amazon Web Services.

The knock to the egos of the database big boys has come from Sumo Logic, which provides monitoring software mostly focused on AWS, and can be explained by some of the peculiarities of modern application architecture continuing to gain traction in the cloud.

According to Sumo Logic's research of 2,100 companies that it monitors, Redis is the number one database in AWS – with 28 per cent market share. MySQL came in second with 23 per cent and PostGreSQL third with 20 per cent. Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server were left languishing at joint sixth place with 10 per cent each.

Compare these findings to the big bad world outside AWS and the contrast is stark. According to DBengines, Oracle, MySQL, and Microsoft SQL Server hog the top three spots respectively, a ranking that has not changed in six years. The database rating service, with measures based on website mentions, job ads, search queries, FAQs and social media, ranked Redis down in eighth place.

Redis's popularity as a database, a cache, and a message broker in modern cloud architecture provides an explanation for its position in the AWS ranking but not in the wider world.

But that is a perception that Redis, the company behind the open-source database, has gone some way to dispel.

Speaking to The Register last year, Redis Labs CTO and co-founder Yiftach Shoolman said the company wants to continue changing the perception of Redis from being a cache to "a real database. I think that our production numbers show it already. Redis can be extremely reliable."

To this end, Redis this year promoted its database in real-time analytics as an "AI serving platform" for use in fraud detection and IoT monitoring.

Things are getting complex

The Sumo research also shows how those developing and rolling out applications face increasing complexity in infrastructure. The median number of AWS services used by enterprises grew from 15 last year to 26 services in 2020. Growth in service adoption shows organisations moving beyond Amazon's core storage, database, and network services. AWS Security Token Service, AWS Key Management Service, AWS Identity Access Management, and AWS Lambda all made the top 10 AWS services used.

Meanwhile, 47 per cent of organisations have two or more AWS regions and 43 per cent told Sumo Logic that they have two or more AWS accounts to deal with.

Over 40 per cent of AWS customers are using container orchestration and around 85 per cent are using Kubernetes to build and operate applications across multiple clouds. Serverless architecture is continuing to grow rapidly: AWS Lambda adoption is at 37 per cent, up from 24 per cent in 2017.

Sumo said the increase in interest in modern cloud-based and/or serverless architecture was accelerating due to the spread of COVID-19 and the need for businesses to operate remotely and demonstrate greater flexibility.

"Many industries around the world are adopting digital-first models during the shelter-in-place order. Over the last 12 months, we see continued growth in the modern application stack, comprising IaaS services, microservice technologies and modern application components. And, multi-cloud adoption has accelerated with 70 per cent growth over the last 12 months as more companies adjust to support remote workforces," the report said.

All of which means that it is not just online shopping that is ensuring Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is having a good pandemic. ®

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