AWS Database Migration Service gets gen AI-powered schema conversion

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has updated its Database Migration Service’s schema conversion feature with a new generative AI-powered capability that automates schema conversion to a great extent.

The schema conversion feature, announced at the ongoing annual re:Invent conference,  helps enterprises convert the source database schema and procedures to the target database system.

The feature was already capable of automating many steps in the database migrations process but a new generative AI-powered capability can now automate “certain complex database code elements” that required manual intervention, the company said.

This capability is designed to help enterprises reduce migration timelines and reduce costs.

In the backend, the capability uses large language models (LLMs) hosted on Amazon Bedrock to convert code snippets in the source database that were otherwise not supported by traditional rule-based techniques, including complex procedures and functions.

The Database Migration Service, which was launched in 2016, was designed to help enterprises migrate relational databases, data warehouses, NoSQL databases, and other types of data stores.

According to AWS, more than one million databases have been migrated using the service.

Other updates to database services include observability features for Amazon Aurora MySQL, PostgreSQL, and the general availability of Amazon MemoryDB Multi-Region — a fully managed Multi-Region database that allows enterprises to build applications across multiple AWS Regions.  

According to AWS, MemoryDB Multi-Region will offer high availability, disaster recovery, microsecond read and single-digit millisecond write latency for multi-Region distributed applications.

The observability updates for Amazon Aurora MySQL and PostgreSQL can be accessed via Amazon CloudWatch Database Insights. The new updates allow enterprises to observe databases without having to spend time building telemetry, dashboards, or setting up alarms.

“With no further setup, you can monitor the health of all of your Amazon Aurora MySQL and PostgreSQL instances in the selected region,” the company said in a statement.

However, this service is not free and there is a per-hour, per-database instance charge based on the average number of vCPUs being used (for provisioned instances) or Aurora Capacity Units (for Serverless v2 databases) monitored, with separate charges for ingestion and storage of database logs.