AWS adds UltraWarm storage tier for Elasticsearch customers

AWS Office
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AWS has announced that its UltraWarm storage tier for Amazon Elasticsearch Service that provides customers with fast interactive analytics of log data at one-tenth of the cost of existing storage options is now generally available.

Amazon Elasticsearch Service makes it easy for users to collect, analyze and visualize machine-generated log data from websites, mobile devices and sensors. 

UltraWarm for Amazon Elasticsearch Service provides Elasticsearch customers with a warm storage tier that is able to store large amounts of data cost-effectively and with a snappy, interactive experience.

There are no up-front investments required for businesses that want to use UltraWarm and customers pay a simple hourly rate for the storage they use.

UltraWarm storage

Amazon Elasticsearch Service now supports two storage tiers, hot and UltraWarm. The hot tier is primarily used for indexing, updating and providing the fastest access to data while UltraWarm provides a distributed cache for more frequently accessed data. UltraWarm also uses advanced placement techniques to determine which blocks of data are accessed less frequently so that they can be moved outside of the cache to Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3).

UltraWarm stores data in Amazon S3 and provides up to 50 percent faster query execution when compared to competing warm—tier solutions as well as 80 percent lower cost than the warm-tier storage from other managed Elasticsearch offerings. Customers can easily visualize search results from both their recent and longer-term operational data using the service's Kibana interface.

VP of databases and analytics at AWS, Raju Gulabani explained the benefits of UltraWarm storage in a press release, saying:

“Our customers tell us that log data offers a wealth of operational and security insights, but that the storage of log data quickly adds up, and proves cost-prohibitive over the medium and long term. UltraWarm is the most cost-effective Elasticsearch-compatible storage solution available. It is also performance-optimized, so customers can investigate and interactively visualize their data while they embrace data at scale.”

UltraWarm can be enabled on existing or new domains using the AWS Management console, CLI or SDK and the new storage tier is now available on Amazon Elasticsearch version 6.8 and above in the US East, US West, AWS GovCloud, Canada, South America, EU, Asia Pacific, China and Middle East regions with additional regions coming soon.

Anthony Spadafora

After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.