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Database

SAA Decision Logic Flow

What type of data are you storing?

RELATIONAL

Structured, ACID, SQL

YES

Do you need PostgreSQL/MySQL compatibility with cloud-native features?

YES

Do you need Multi-Master (Write to any region)?

YES

Amazon Aurora Global Database (Multi-Master)

Exam Tips
  • Aurora = 5x MySQL, 3x PostgreSQL performance
NO

Do you need serverless auto-scaling?

YES

Amazon Aurora Serverless v2

NO

Amazon Aurora (MySQL/PostgreSQL)

Exam Tips
  • Aurora = 5x MySQL, 3x PostgreSQL performance
Need specific engine

Do you need a specific database engine (SQL Server, Oracle)?

YES

Amazon RDS (with specific engine)

Exam Tips
  • Multi-AZ for HA, Read Replicas for read scaling
Analytics

Do you need petabyte-scale data warehouse for analytics (OLAP)?

YES

Amazon Redshift

Exam Tips
  • For complex queries on historical data
  • Columnar storage
  • NOT for OLTP! Use for analytics, BI, reporting
KEY-VALUE / DOCUMENT

NoSQL

Low latency

Do you need single-digit millisecond latency at any scale?

YES

Amazon DynamoDB

Exam Tips
  • Use Cases: Session data, shopping carts, mobile apps
  • Features: DAX for microsecond latency, Global Tables
  • Serverless, auto-scaling, fully managed
MongoDB

Do you need a fully managed MongoDB-compatible database?

YES

Amazon DocumentDB

Exam Tips
  • For MongoDB workloads needing AWS-managed solution
JSON + SQL

Do you need to store JSON documents with SQL queries?

YES

Amazon RDS with PostgreSQL (JSONB) or DynamoDB with PartiQL

IN-MEMORY / CACHING

Caching & Fast Access

Redis

Do you need Redis compatibility?

YES

Amazon ElastiCache for Redis

Exam Tips
  • Use Cases: Real-time analytics, gaming leaderboards
  • Features: Pub/Sub, persistence, complex data structures
  • Multi-AZ with auto-failover
Simple cache

Do you need simple caching (Memcached)?

YES

Amazon ElastiCache for Memcached

Exam Tips
  • Multi-threaded, simpler than Redis
GRAPH DATABASE

Relationship queries

Do you need to query relationships (social networks, fraud detection)?

YES

Amazon Neptune

Exam Tips
  • Supports: TinkerPop Gremlin, SPARQL
  • Use Cases: Knowledge graphs, identity graphs
TIME-SERIES DATA

IoT, DevOps metrics

Do you need to store IoT, DevOps, or time-stamped data?

YES

Amazon Timestream

Exam Tips
  • Serverless, auto-scaling
  • 1000x faster, 1/10th cost vs. relational DBs
LEDGER DATABASE

Immutable, Cryptographic

Do you need immutable, verifiable transaction log?

YES

Amazon QLDB

Exam Tips
  • Use Cases: Finance, supply chain, audit trails
  • NOT blockchain, centralized ledger
SEARCH & ANALYTICS

Full-text search

Do you need full-text search or log analytics?

YES

Amazon OpenSearch Service

Exam Tips
  • Formerly Elasticsearch Service
  • Use Cases: Log analytics, application monitoring, search
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