Understanding Amazon Aurora I/O-Optimized: When to Use It and How It Saves Costs

Managing database costs and performance is a top priority for organizations running data-intensive applications. Amazon Aurora, AWS’s fully managed relational database, now offers Aurora I/O-Optimized, a new configuration designed to enhance price performance and eliminate unpredictable I/O costs. For workloads with frequent read and write operations, I/O expenses can quickly become a significant portion of the total database spend. Aurora I/O-Optimized addresses this by removing I/O charges altogether—customers pay only for instances and storage, leading to predictable pricing and potential cost savings of up to 40%.

In this blog, we’ll explore what Aurora I/O-Optimized is, when to use it, and how it can help reduce database costs, ensuring businesses get the best value from their cloud infrastructure.

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‍What is Amazon Aurora I/O-Optimized?

Amazon Aurora I/O-Optimized is a new configuration introduced by AWS to improve price performance and provide predictable costs for I/O-intensive workloads. Unlike the standard Aurora configuration, which charges separately for read and write I/O operations, Aurora I/O-Optimized eliminates I/O charges entirely. Customers only pay for database instances and storage, making cost estimation simpler and more predictable.

Key Benefits of Aurora I/O-Optimized:

• No I/O Charges: You only pay for instance and storage usage, avoiding unpredictable I/O costs.
• Improved Performance: Higher throughput and reduced latency for demanding applications, leading to better user experience and system efficiency.
• Predictable Pricing: Eliminates unpredictable I/O costs, simplifying budgeting and financial planning.
• Potential Cost Savings: Offers up to 40% cost reduction for workloads where I/O costs exceed 25% of total Aurora spending.
• Enhanced Scalability: Designed to handle rapid scaling without the risk of unpredictable I/O expenses, making it ideal for businesses experiencing growth.

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Aurora Standard vs. Aurora I/O-Optimized

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When is Aurora I/O-Optimized Relevant?

Aurora I/O-Optimized is ideal for workloads that require frequent and high-volume read and write operations. Some key scenarios where it is beneficial include:

1. High-Traffic Web Applications: Applications with intensive read/write transactions, such as e-commerce, social media platforms, and online marketplaces that need fast data retrieval and updates.
2. Analytics and Reporting: Workloads that involve heavy querying and data aggregation, such as business intelligence platforms, data warehouses, and real-time analytics applications.
3. Financial Services: Real-time transaction processing systems where low latency is critical, such as stock trading platforms, banking applications, and payment processing systems.
4. Gaming and Streaming Services: Applications with high concurrency and continuous data writes, including online multiplayer games, video streaming services, and content delivery networks.
5. Machine Learning and AI Applications: Training and inference workloads that require high-speed data access and large-scale processing.
6. IoT and Sensor Data Processing: Applications dealing with a high influx of data from IoT devices, requiring constant and fast writes and reads.

For applications with low to moderate I/O usage, Aurora Standard remains the more cost-effective choice.

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Typical Savings with Aurora I/O-Optimized

Cost savings with Aurora I/O-Optimized depend on how much of your database spend is attributed to I/O operations. Here’s a typical breakdown:

• If I/O charges account for less than 25% of the total Aurora spend → Aurora Standard is more economical.
• If I/O charges account for more than 25% of the total Aurora spend → Aurora I/O-Optimized can save up to 40% on costs.

For example, if your Aurora database spend is $10,000 per month, and $3,000 (30%) is due to I/O charges, switching to Aurora I/O-Optimized could potentially reduce costs by $1,200/month, making it a more cost-efficient choice.

Additionally, organizations with high data throughput requirements can benefit from predictable billing, avoiding unexpected cost spikes due to fluctuating I/O usage.

Example Scenario

Consider the example below for understanding substantial savings achieved through Aurora I/O-Optimized:

FinTech Corp, a leading financial services provider, relies on Amazon Aurora MySQL to process real-time transactions, including payments, stock trading, and fraud detection. Their database workload involves frequent and high-volume read/write operations, leading to significant I/O costs.To enhance cost efficiency while maintaining performance, FinTech Corp evaluates migrating to Aurora I/O-Optimized.

Current Costs (Aurora Standard)

• Instance + Storage Costs: $14,000/month
• I/O Charges: $6,000/month (30% of total Aurora spend)
• Total Monthly Cost: $20,000

Optimized Costs (Aurora I/O-Optimized)

• New Total Monthly Cost: $17,600
• Savings Calculation:40% of $6,000 I/O costs eliminated = $2,400/month savings

Cost Savings

• Monthly Savings: $20,000 (current) - $17,600 (optimized) = $2,400
• Annual Savings: $2,400 * 12 months = $28,800

By switching to Aurora I/O-Optimized, FinTech Corp achieves $28,800 in annual savings, ensuring cost predictability and improved efficiency for its high-volume transactional workloads.

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How to Migrate to Aurora I/O-Optimized

Switching to Aurora I/O-Optimized is simple and can be done via:

1. AWS Management Console

1. Navigate to the Amazon RDS Console.

2. Select your Aurora cluster.

3. Choose the Modify option.

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4. Switch to Aurora I/O-Optimized.

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5. Apply changes and restart if necessary.

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2. AWS CLI Command

aws rds modify-db-cluster --db-cluster-identifier my-cluster --storage-type io-optimized

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Things to Watch Out For:

• Switching Limitations: You can switch to Aurora I/O-Optimized only once every 30 days but can revert to Aurora Standard at any time.
• Supported Instances: Not all EC2 instances are supported; compatible types include T3, T4g, R5, R6i, R6g, X2g, and R7g.
• Cost Justification: If your I/O spend is minimal, Aurora Standard may still be the better choice.

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Conclusion

Amazon Aurora I/O-Optimized is a powerful option for businesses with high I/O workloads, offering predictable pricing and significant cost savings. Organizations with I/O-heavy applications, such as financial services, analytics, and gaming, can benefit from its performance improvements and up to 40% cost reductions. By understanding when to switch and how to optimize your Aurora spend, you can ensure better database efficiency and cost management.

Want to explore more on Amazon Aurora Cost Optimization ? Consider checking the blogs below:

1. Unlock Hidden Savings: The Ultimate Guide to Amazon Aurora Cost Management - Part 1
2. Optimizing Amazon Aurora MySQL Costs

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References

• ‍AWS announces Amazon Aurora I/O-Optimized
• ‍ New – Amazon Aurora I/O-Optimized Cluster Configuration with Up to 40% Cost Savings for I/O-Intensive Applications | AWS News Blog
• ‍ Aurora I/O-Optimized: Improved Database Performance - AWS