A document database is designed to store semi-structured data as documents, typically in JSON or XML format. Unlike traditional relational databases, the schema for each non-relational (NoSQL) document can vary, giving Developers, Database Administrators, and IT Professionals more flexibility in organizing and storing application data and reducing storage required for optional values.

JSON document support makes it easier for Developers to serialize and load objects containing relevant properties and data. NoSQL databases are designed to scale “out” using distributed clusters of low-cost hardware to increase throughput without increasing latency.

Document Databases on AWS

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides a number of non-relational (NoSQL) document database options. You can operate your own non-relational document data store in the cloud on Amazon EC2 and Amazon EBS, work with AWS solution providers, or take advantage of fully managed non-relational services.

Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL document database service that provides extremely fast and predictable performance with seamless scalability. Running your own NoSQL cloud databases on Amazon EC2 and Amazon EBS gives you full control over your database without the burden of provisioning and installing hardware.

In addition, AWS has partnered with MongoDB and Couchbase, both of whom provide support and training for customers running their products on Amazon EC2 and Amazon EBS.

Amazon DynamoDB

Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed document database service running in the AWS cloud that provides extremely fast and predictable performance with seamless scalability. DynamoDB is a fast and flexible NoSQL database service for applications that need consistent, single-digit millisecond latency at any scale. It is a fully managed database and supports both document and key-value data models. Its flexible data model and reliable performance make it a great fit for mobile, web, gaming, ad-tech, the Internet of things (IoT), and many other applications. Get started with DynamoDB.

See these recent whitepapers and blog posts to learn more about DynamoDB:

Introduction to Amazon DynamoDB
Redfin uses Amazon DynamoDB to accelerate lookups of similar listings from 2 secs to 12 milliseconds
AWS re:Invent 2018: Deep Dive on Amazon DynamoDB (DAT401)

Document Databases on Amazon EC2 and EBS

Developers may install document databases of their choice on Amazon EC2 and Amazon EBS. An Amazon EC2 instance can be used to run a document database which means developers avoid the friction of infrastructure provisioning while gaining access to a variety of standard document database engines.

Cassandra

Cassandra is an open source distributed document database designed to handle large amounts of data across many commodity servers, providing high availability with no single point of failure. Consider EBS when running Cassandra workloads (learn how CrowdStrike ran dense, cheaper Cassandra clusters with EBS).

For more about working with Cassandra and running Cassandra on AWS, read the Apache Cassandra on AWS whitepaper and visit the AWS Marketplace »

Best Practices for Running Apache Cassandra on AWS
Couchbase

Couchbase develops and supports Couchbase Server, a high-performance distributed key-value store. Couchbase delivers support, services, and training for commercial-grade deployments of Couchbase Server on AWS. Learn more about working with Couchbase and running Couchbase Server on AWS »

MarkLogic

MarkLogic Corporation develops MarkLogic Server (MarkLogic), an Enterprise NoSQL database platform that is fully scalable and provides ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability) transactions for large datasets. For an overview of best practices and scaling, see the whitepaper MarkLogic on AWS »

MongoDB

MongoDB, Inc. develops and supports MongoDB, an open source, high performance document-oriented database. MongoDB Inc. delivers technical support, professional services, and training for commercial-grade deployments of MongoDB.

Use the AWS MongoDB Quick Start (also available in PDF format) to deploy a multi-node MongoDB cluster in the AWS cloud, following AWS best practices, in approximately 15 minutes.

For an overview of MongoDB and its implementation on AWS, see the whitepaper MongoDB on AWS: Guidelines and Best Practices. Also, be sure to review AWS security recommendations for MongoDB as well as the security section of the MongoDB documentation.

For more about working with MongoDB Inc. and running MongoDB on AWS, see the information in the AWS Partner Directory and read how Organizations Realize Transformative Benefits with MongoDB on AWS.