AWS Database Migration Service Reviews

We use this solution to enable us to carry out heavy, data-level migrations across multiple ETL tools.

We particularly like that this solution has the facility to integrate with all ETL tools.

We also like that this solution provides us with high speed velocity, performance, scalability, and throughput for our data migration tasks.

We would like to see some improvement in the performance of large scale procedures, such as when we migrate from Oracle to csSQL.

We have been working with this solution for over five years.

We would rate this solution a 10 out of 10.

All of our infrastructure is on Amazon, so we used AWS Database Migration Service to perform a database migration from one relational database to another within the AWS cloud. The migration was from an Oracle database to PostgreSQL database, and AWS DMS helped us transfer all the tables and other objects from the one database to the other automatically.

If your infrastructure is already on Amazon, it simply makes the most sense to use a tool officially provided by them as an additional service, rather than having to rely on a third-party solution.

On the other hand, if you have a custom infrastructure and you want to migrate to Amazon, it also makes thing much easier to integrate. The way it works is brilliant, and it's based on similar logic to Oracle's GoldenGate migration tool in that you can migrate everything from data tables to schemas from one database to another. So in most situations where you would need to migrate to Amazon, the best way is by using AWS DMS.

One area that AWS DMS can improve on is its conversion of data types. For example, in Oracle, you have a data type called RAW, but in PostgreSQL there is no such thing. Thus, AWS DMS doesn't know what type I want to use when migrating from Oracle to PostgreSQL, and when performing the migration, AWS DMS changed the RAW data type to the byte data type, which isn't what I wanted.

For example, if I wanted to manually transfer the RAW data type in the Oracle database to something else like VARCHAR in the PostgreSQL database, AWS DMS doesn't seem to have this functionality. It would be great if I could change the data type conversions manually instead of automatically.

Another area that has proven difficult for me is the use of AWS Schema Conversion Tool, which is a free, cross-platform app that they offer as part of AWS DMS. I was under the impression that I would first have to use this tool to convert from one database to another, and then use AWS DMS, but when I used it, some of the tasks didn't work correctly. To my surprise, when I skipped using the Schema Conversion Tool and went ahead with the migration with AWS DMS, it automatically transferred everything and it was all correct. So I am not sure what the point of the Schema Conversion Tool is, because the default functionality of AWS DMS seemed to transfer and convert the databases fine without it.

There is also room for improvement from a support perspective. It is sometimes necessary to contact their support team when there is something you don't understand, and when I wrote a support ticket they simply weren't able to help. Yet, when our company contacted the manager of our reseller, they were able to create a meeting room with an Amazon specialist for DMS, and with one call, all our questions were answered. I think their email support team could be much better when compared with their personal support team. 

I have used the solution only once, during a migration which took place over two or three months. 

I only used AWS DMS over the course of about three months, but I could tell that it's not always stable. I think it's fine if you only need to use it for a short time with a one-time migration, but if you intend to use it all the time in, for instance, a staging environment, every day of the month, I wouldn't say that's a good idea. I would only use it for quick migrations.

I have certainly needed the support, especially when I don't understand why something doesn't work. This is often the case when dealing with different types of databases, such as Oracle and PostgreSQL. We also use a lot of other databases, so for us, contacting support is almost inevitable.

Once, when I wrote a support ticket but I didn't get the help I needed, our company wrote to the manager of our reseller who arranged for a meeting with Amazon's personal support. We spoke with an AWS DMS specialist in this meeting and showed him our problem, and with this one call, all our questions were answered.

It's easy to set up when you use Amazon's official documentation, and the first steps are simple. Amazon also has a few practice videos so you can see how it is done.

However, it's not always easy to adapt the documentation according to our own particular applications and databases. For example, if you've never used it before, you will likely need to set aside a minimum of 40 hours for reading and testing.

I implemented it by myself.

The pricing is per hour, though I do not have the exact figures.

If you have specific questions about the service, a personal support team from Amazon is available, but this will bring in additional costs.

Our infrastructure is fully on Amazon, so for us AWS DMS was an obvious choice to perform our migration as it is an additional service that Amazon provides. To those who are thinking of using the same, I would say go ahead and try it. If you come across any problems or have questions, you will most likely need to contact Amazon support, which can give good service, but it's not ideal. The paid support, however, worked well for us.

I would rate AWS Database Migration Service a seven out of ten. 

We primarily use the solution to migrate databases. 

We have an Oracle database on-premise, and then we have a plan to install the new system with a database for another application service. Therefore, we need to duplicate, to copy, our Oracle database to the Postgres database on AWS. 

The solution makes it very simple to migrate the database. 

The solution's price is cheaper than Oracle GoldenGate or other solutions. 

We can get a lot of support services from AWS via the MSP. 

The solution is stable and reliable.

It's scalable. 

This solution is compatible with only AWS. I cannot use this solution with AWS and other cloud services like Azure or Google Cloud.

We've been using the solution for one month. 

The solution is stable. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. The performance is good. 

We have five customers that use the AWS Service. I don't know how many exactly use it. We have just five AWS customers in our company.

I can expand the hardware specification from one virtual machine to three or four. I can expand the hardware cloud resource without rebooting or stopping the service. This solution is scalable.

The support on offer is pretty great. 

We have only one way to get support from AWS. We need access to our support partner. We need the budget to get technical support from AWS as we need a contract with an AWS MSP partner.

Our engineer did recommend this solution first for migrating the database. We copy our Oracle database to AWS first. And then, we move our Oracle database and Postgres on AWS. I have experience with Oracle GoldenGate.

This solution is a PaaS solution. We do not need to handle an installation for this solution, as it's already installed on AWS.

We are a user of the product.

I recommend the solution. I'm pretty happy with the capabilities. 

I'd rate the solution a nine out of ten.

The tool is offered as part of AWS stacks. We use it for data migrations from on-premise to AWS stack via PostgreSQL and MySQL. We also use it for the infrastructure configuration to simplify the setup because we are going on RDS. The AWS platform will manage everything. We use it for the simplification of migration. We do not do a lot of study on how exactly to map the database provisioning.

The database migration services allow us to do real-time synchronization of on-premise and database to plan out our releases. We do prod testing to keep the prod data in sync, at the same time, not expose it much. The automation of this synchronization helps us ensure the data is consistent in both AWS and on-prem. Then we can switch over wherever you need it. Parallely, we can do production performance testing and user experience testing without actually writing a lot of code. It comes out of the box. It is one feature that we like a lot.

The other feature I like is schema migration. When we want to upgrade it to MySQL, we can easily upgrade it. It is another stack. We haven’t used database migration. We can use it if we want to move from Oracle to PostgreSQL. It also comes as an out-of-the-box solution. I think these three things are very good. However, we have not used database migration yet because we do not plan to install software yet. The solution has a good feature stack.

The product's performance could be a little bit better. It is good in terms of the data, but it is difficult for the first time. After that, the synchronization is fine. We saw a few failures because of the bandwidth the first time the data got loaded. The performance could be better, but it's only for the first time. We haven't seen any performance-related issues post the initial setup.

I am using the solution right now.

There's no issue with stability. The solution is quite stable. It has to be stable. The only reason we are moving to AWS is to be scalable and perform well.

On-premises scalability is the reason why we are moving into AWS. The product's purpose is to introduce scalability. We would not have picked it up if it was not a ten out of ten. It is expected to be scalable because of how the nodes are getting set up in AWS. We have a medium to large user group. It's for a finance-related project. So there are quite a bit of end users, but not very high. It is targeted at brokers and stock traders.

The technical support is really good. We have partnered with Amazon, and we are part of Amazon's consultation team. There's a service engineer and an overall account manager who take care of the issues. For any automation issues, we can go through them to coordinate. They provide excellent support.

Positive

The initial setup is quite easy. The product has one of the easiest installation setups.

My team, who has expertise in Data Migration Services, did the implementation in a few hours. We have five DevOps team members, two architects, one for data and one for infra and application, and managers. The development team varies. It depends on the system. The rest is the core team. Below the core team, we usually have pilot teams and project teams. We might have a specific development team if a feature enhancement needs to happen, but it is very rare. The core team comprises five DevOps, two architects, and one manager. The maintenance team takes over the maintenance of the on-premise system.

I recommend using the solution if the end goal is AWS. It should not be used for GCPRs and on-premise migration. A lot of the features are applied while the migration tool is in place. The migration tools, like data and schema migration tools, make more sense if the target infrastructure is AWS. You could not use it as a separate tool. If someone is looking at an AWS infrastructure, they have to use the product. However, if they are not looking at AWS and want to use it as a tool, they should not use it. For such cases, they can use the available free and open-source versions of the tools.

Whatever features are there in my system are all available in the solution. Out-of-box migration is also available. I don't see anything that is missing. My system is a real-time system. For me, it's a relational database with straightforward data structures. The volume is much higher if someone has big data processing migration, which may be a problem. For any big data solution, they will have to rework it. The product will not support it. When you have properly structured data, it is not that difficult for AWS to make it. I don't know how effective it will be if you have unstructured data, like big data and unstructured datasets. I have not seen a lot of use cases.

Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.

We utilize it for mostly heterogeneous migration when you are migrating from one RDBMS platform to another. Obviously, we can use it for homogeneous migrations as well. However, it really comes in handy when you are migrating from the same source platform to the same destination. 

You get a lot of other options for migration, for example, you get different types of backups. You get the option for the native replication being supported by the RDBMS engines. However, when you are migrating from one platform to another platform, which is a heterogeneous case, you need some kind of Golden Gate, CDC, and all that. DMS with heterogeneous migration is, therefore, really very handy, particularly with data transformation and migration use cases.

They're working and improving this service further. They were developing DMS for various use cases, including those specific to Babel Fish. 

It is easy to set up. 

The solution can scale. 

It is very stable. 

Support is helpful.

The performance of data migration could be smoother.

I've been using the solution for almost a year. 

The solution has been stable in my experience. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

This is a very scalable product. Expanding out is easy.

The most recent project I did was with a data size that was relatively small. In past, some of my colleagues told me that DMS gets performance issues and that the data migration performance issues they faced happened when the data size was huge. On the other hand, AWS says that for huge data sizes, you need to increase the size of your resources. Therefore, I cannot say with confidence if the issues were the fault of the product or the fault of the size of resources. However, I have heard it lacks performance for large data sets.

We've used the solution for two clients in two different data migrations. 

Technical support has been good. they are helpful and responsive. 

It is very easy to set up the solution. It's not complex at all. 

Users do need to pay for licensing, and the cost is based on the resources used. 

I'd recommend the solution to others.

I'd rate the product eight out of ten. 

I am using AWS Database Migration Service for migrations and relationship migrations.

The most valuable features of the AWS Database Migration Service are the ease of migration, beneficial storage system, security, and simple instance creation. Additionally, the cloud that is provided is more complete than other solutions.

AWS Database Migration Service can become complex when testing. Other solutions, such as Microsoft Azure makes it easy to do. There are more steps to complete tasks in AWS Database Migration Service than in Microsoft Azure.

I have been using AWS Database Migration Service for approximately five years.

The stability of the AWS Database Migration Service is good.

AWS Database Migration Service is scalable.

I have not contacted support.

I have used Microsoft Azure previously and it is overall easier to use than AWS Database Migration Service. 

My advice to those new to this solution is for them to take notes and know all the documentation needed for the migrations.

I rate AWS Database Migration Service a nine out of ten.

We've used the product for database migration from on-prem to AWS for an Oracle database.

The ease of use is great.

It is easy to set up initially.

It's scalable.

The solution has been quite stable. 

We had challenges working with the database as it was a different kind of exit. It has blobs and other types of storage which caused issues.

If they had some sort of functionality where, at a specific point in time, if I want to start a new job, it should automatically pick up from where it has been left rather than having people worry about the exact job number and the timing. If something could be automated, that will be really helpful.

I've used the solution for a while. I've used it at least over the past year.

It's a stable solution. That said, every technology or solution in the industry has its own challenges. It's a good solution overall as I've used it for multiple databases. In my past experience, it has worked, and it has done wonders.

It is scalable. For the instances it supports, it is scalable on runtime. It'll just require downtime and can be scaled up or down accordingly.

While we don't have any active projects right now, typically, we have six or seven people on the product.

I've had to reach out to support as there were challenges with the database data types. We had to reach out to technical support multiple times to get that sorted. In general, we've found them to be helpful and responsive. 

Positive

The initial setup is very simple and straightforward. It's not complex. 

For us, since we have many factors involved, we took at least two to three days to configure and validate things and then run the assessment and then get to the job. The configuration does not take much. The reason we had a longer time was due to the fact that it was a huge schema, around 800 GB. Therefore, it took that much time for us to evaluate and go through a preassessment. After configuring, there were challenges we had to fix. Then, after fixing them, we came back to the migration. It's a whole process. That said, the configuration altogether itself was not as much time. It was smooth.

While it is a paid service, I don't have many details about licensing or costs. It's not an aspect of the product I manage. That said, I would say it is worth the investment. 

We are AWS partners.

I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using. 

Whether it's the right product for everybody varies from situation to situation. There is not a generic thing you can say about the service or the situation. Everyone's experience will vary depending on their requirements. That said, in general, I would recommend it to others. 

Overall, I'd rate the product seven out of ten. There were challenges. And if the preassessment is there, we should have been warned in the preassessment about the challenges. If we fixed the issues in preassessment, we wouldn't have been waiting for hours and days for a job to complete. Considering it's a huge database, it's really difficult to wait on the whole thing over very small issues.

AWS Database Migration Service is a very useful tool for our organization. One example of how we use it is when we need to save the data to ensure we don't lose it. To eradicate this risk, we save the database where we can extract it through commands. We can do a lot of with just simple commands that will assist in accessing the data with ease.

Also, we can select from the API where we will use the data connections to the API where the client can easily access the data. At the day's end, we set some data from our website and view the API connection to the ABL link to the client. They can access that data to the API and the database will give the function and connect.

Saving the data that is in use is easy. We don't have any complexity like with MySQL. The database connections can be a little tricky in MySQL, it is easier with AWS Database Migration and the consistent view it provides.

We can easily access AWS Database Migration Service through not only AWS, but pgAdmin.

The price is expensive for a person or student who wants to learn how to use the solution. For students, AWS provides free access for a year. I would like to see the company provide the same access to individuals who are trying to learn the solution on their own to pursue a particular career that requires the knowledge.

We have been using Database Migration Service for two years.

AWS Database Migration Service is stable. The server has limits on how many can connect to the database, but you can extend them. 

This solution is scalable. We have approximately 40 people using AWS Database Migration Service in our company. This includes developers and the support team.

We have plans to increase our usage.

AWS provides useful documentation that helps you understand how to do everything. This includes instructional videos if you are not satisfied with the documentation. The technical team is also available and quick to respond and find a solution.

Positive

The installation is easy. You just need to provide one authentication link where you have the port numbers and the name of the database. You can access Database through API or save the data into Database. You can install it using any code that you use.

The deployment does not take much time. You can connect directly to anything, and it is quick. There are connections you should know about. 

AWS Database Migration Service is the least expensive solution, but is still expensive.

Anyone considering AWS Database Migration Service should have some basic knowledge and know their use case. Also, they should understand that AWS will have many features available, but to commit to a database you need to have knowledge of how they build it. For example, if you are building an application with a login page, the details should be saved into tables, and you will need to know how to connect those tables.

I would rate Database Migration Service a nine out of 10 overall.