Frequently Asked Questions

Features & Capabilities

What best practices should I follow when hosting NoSQL databases on Amazon EC2?

Recommended best practices include: deploying across multiple AWS regions and availability zones for high availability; configuring Amazon VPC with subnets in all zones; using NAT gateways for outbound communication; setting up bastion hosts for secure access; assigning IAM roles for deployment; and placing MongoDB clusters in private subnets with replica sets in different zones. For multi-region deployments, enable VPC peering and assign lower priority to secondary region nodes to control failover. Note: Multi-region deployments increase costs and can introduce higher latency due to eventual consistency. Source.

Which Amazon EC2 instance types are recommended for NoSQL databases?

I3 instances (SSD-based, up to 64 vCPUs and 488 GB RAM, 3.3 million read IOPS) are ideal for I/O-intensive NoSQL workloads. D2 instances (HDD-based, up to 36 vCPUs and 244 GB RAM) are suited for high sequential read/write access and large datasets. Both support enhanced networking. Note: Choose instance type based on your workload's IOPS and storage requirements. Source.

What storage options are best for NoSQL databases on Amazon EC2?

Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) is recommended for resilience and high availability. For NoSQL workloads, Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1, up to 32,000 IOPS/volume) and General Purpose SSD (gp2, up to 10,000 IOPS/volume) are preferred. Ephemeral storage (instance store) offers high performance but does not support snapshots; custom backup strategies are required. Note: Ephemeral storage is not persistent—data is lost if the instance stops or terminates. Source.

How does N2WS support backup and recovery for NoSQL databases on AWS EC2?

N2WS Backup & Recovery enables automated, policy/schedule-based backups for NoSQL databases hosted on AWS EC2. It supports backup and recovery for MongoDB, Cassandra, and other NoSQL databases, as well as AWS services like RDS, EFS, Aurora, DynamoDB, and Redshift. Note: N2WS is designed for AWS and Azure environments; support for other clouds is not documented. Source.

Does N2WS offer automated backup for ephemeral storage on EC2 instances?

Ephemeral storage (instance store) on EC2 does not support snapshots. To back up data, you must move it to an EBS volume and use N2WS to automate EBS backups. Note: Direct backup of ephemeral storage is not supported; manual intervention is required to migrate data to EBS. Source.

What features does N2WS offer for backup and disaster recovery?

N2WS provides automated backup and recovery for AWS and Azure, immutable backups, cross-cloud recovery, granular restore (file/folder/environment), intelligent storage tiering (reducing long-term backup costs by up to 92%), custom DR retention policies, and automated compliance reporting. Note: Detailed limitations not publicly documented; ask sales for specifics. Source.

Does N2WS support integration with other tools and APIs?

Yes, N2WS integrates with third-party monitoring tools, identity providers, and compliance reporting platforms (e.g., Datadog, Splunk, Bocada). It offers a RESTful API for automation and integration, with documentation available at N2WS RESTful API documentation. Note: Some integrations may require additional configuration. Source.

Use Cases & Benefits

Who can benefit from using N2WS for NoSQL database backup and recovery?

N2WS is suitable for enterprises, public sector organizations, MSPs, and industries such as healthcare, finance, education, retail, and logistics. It is designed for IT managers, cloud directors, and MSPs managing AWS and Azure environments. Note: Best fit for organizations using AWS or Azure; teams needing support for other clouds may want to consider alternatives. Source.

What business impact can customers expect from using N2WS?

Customers can expect up to 92% reduction in long-term backup costs, up to 50% savings on compute costs, near-instant recovery to minimize downtime, and simplified compliance with automated reporting. N2WS also improves operational efficiency by automating backup processes and providing a unified management console for AWS and Azure. Note: Actual results depend on environment size and configuration. Source.

Security & Compliance

What security and compliance certifications does N2WS have?

N2WS is independently certified for ISO/IEC 27001:2022. It is SOC compliant by inheritance (leveraging AWS and Azure compliance), and supports FedRAMP, ITAR, and CJIS compliance when deployed in AWS GovCloud. For more details, visit the N2WS Trust Center. Note: For a copy of the ISO certificate, contact customer.success@n2ws.com. Source.

How does N2WS protect against ransomware and accidental deletion?

N2WS uses immutable, air-gapped backups that cannot be altered or deleted, multi-factor authentication, end-to-end encryption (TLS/HTTPS), and strong password policies. Automated compliance reporting and audit-ready logs help meet regulatory requirements. Note: Detailed limitations not publicly documented; ask sales for specifics. Source.

Support & Implementation

How long does it take to implement N2WS, and how easy is it to start?

N2WS can be implemented in as little as two weeks, with support from dedicated Customer Success Managers and onboarding calls. Deployment options include AWS Marketplace AMI and CloudFormation templates. Extensive resources (video tutorials, user guides, knowledge base) are available. A 30-day free trial is offered without a credit card. Note: Implementation time may vary based on environment complexity. Source.

What technical documentation is available for N2WS users?

N2WS provides a user guide, release documentation, RESTful API documentation, upgrade guides, and troubleshooting resources. These are available at User Guide, Release Documentation, API Documentation, and Upgrade Guides. Note: Some resources may require login or support access. Source.

Customer Proof & Success Stories

Can you share specific case studies or customer success stories using N2WS?

Yes. For example, Skechers standardized backup and recovery across a multi-cloud estate, St. John's University eliminated legacy tape storage and improved recovery, and DB Systel automated backup for 1,500+ volumes and 700 servers, saving 20% operational time. More case studies are available at N2WS Case Studies. Note: Results vary by organization and use case. Source.

What feedback have customers given about the ease of use of N2WS?

Verified customers report that N2WS is simple to use, with quick setup and responsive support. For example, Shane H (MSP) says, "It's very simple to use and we are a MSP for multiple companies. Support is great and quick to respond." Julian Ware (City of Oakland) notes, "You’re just clicking and going. And, to me, that’s what the modern world of backup is." Note: User experience may vary. Source.

Try it Free
Get a demo
Try it Free

Best Practices for Hosting NoSQL Databases on Amazon EC2

Learn best practices for hosting NoSQL databases such as MongoDB and Cassandra on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (AWS EC2).
Share post:

In the first post of this three-part series, we discussed the strengths and weaknesses of various types of NoSQL databases. In the second post, we compared the features of the two most popular NoSQL databases: MongoDB and Cassandra. In this final article, we will discuss best practices for hosting NoSQL databases on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). Amazon EC2 offers multiple compute and storage options catering to the varied requirements of NoSQL workloads. Using Amazon EC2 with other services in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) ecosystem, such as Amazon Cloud Watch and 1-Click Launch from Amazon Marketplace, provides additional advantages.

Recommended Best Practices

Some of the best practices recommended for hosting NoSQL databases on Amazon EC2 are:

Multiple Deployment Options

With the help of AWS regions and Availability Zones, Amazon EC2 offers multiple deployment options that provide highly available workloads. However, enabling high availability requires network and security level planning and configuration. Also, the various deployment models add latency to write operations (for eventual consistency), which comes at a financial cost.

Single Region and Multiple Availability Zones

Setting up a MongoDB cluster in a new Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) on AWS requires the following deployment and configurations:

  1. Amazon VPC must be configured across all three availability zones with required subnets.
  2. Public subnets should allow outbound communication of private subnets via the NAT gateways.
  3. Bastion hosts must be configured to allow secure communication with Amazon EC2 instances present in both public and private subnets.
  4. Amazon Identity and Access Management (AIM) roles must be created to provide the required access for deployment.
  5. MongoDB clusters should be set up in private subnets, along with the replica sets in different availability zones.

In the scenario below, one Amazon EC2 node acts as the primary node while the others act as secondary nodes.

Figure 1: Quick Starting MongoDB on AWS

Multi-Region Deployment

In the multi-region deployment model, data is replicated across multiple regions so that if one region is down, another region will take over to serve user requests. For better control, the node in this second region can be assigned a lower priority, ensuring it only takes over when the first region is down—not when there is an issue with the primary availability zone in the first region. To allow communication and data transfer between two regions, VPC peering must be enabled.
The multi-region deployment model is more expensive than other models, as you have to maintain two regions and bear the cost of data transfer. Also, maintaining eventual consistency can cause high latency issues, depending on the region you are using for replication.  

Figure 2: Multi-Region Active-Active Architecture

Amazon EC2 Instance Types

Amazon EC2 offers a variety of instance types that are suitable for deploying NoSQL databases. These types include:

I3 Instances

I3 instances use SSD storage and are compatible with I/O-intensive workloads such as NoSQL databases and data warehousing applications. The largest type of I3 instance (i3.16xlarge) offers 64 vCPUs and 488 GB of memory, along with 3.3 million read IOPS and 1.4 million write IOPS. I3 instances support enhanced networking, making them ideal for applications that require low jitters and a high packet transfer rate.

D2 Instances

D2 Instances are Amazon EC2 dense-storage instances that use HDD-based storage. The largest D2 instance (d2.8xlarge) offers 36 vCPUs and 244 GB of memory. D2 instances also offer an enhanced networking feature with Intel interfaces. These instances are specially designed for applications that require high sequential read-write access to log analyzing applications or large datasets such as Apache Hadoop.

High Scalability

Amazon EC2 allows for both vertical and horizontal scaling of NoSQL databases. Vertical scaling can be achieved by auto-deployment, which replaces an existing instance with a larger instance without any data impact or downtime. When scaling horizontally, it is recommended to increase the number of nodes in a cluster in order to achieve homogeneous data distribution. For example, in MongoDB, sharding is used to distribute workloads across multiple nodes. With sharding, read/write operations are distributed across the cluster to gain high throughput.

High Performance Storage Options

The two storage options used to host NoSQL workloads on Amazon EC2 instances are:

Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS)

Amazon EBS is a block storage from AWS that auto-replicates in its availability zone to provide excellent resilience and high availability. While there are multiple Amazon EBS volume types, the best choices for NoSQL workloads are Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1) and EBS General Purpose SSD (gp2). Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1) has a maximum IOPS of 32,000 per volume. General Purpose SSD (gp2) has a maximum IOPS of 10,000 per volume. Both options offer single digit latencies.

Ephemeral Storage

Ephemeral storage is the local storage of Amazon EC2 instances, and its IOPS depends on the attached Amazon EC2 instance type. Because you can’t create a snapshot of ephemeral storage volumes, you need to schedule a custom backup for ephemeral storage. One option is to create a new Amazon EBS volume and move data from ephemeral storage to the new volume. You can see examine a particular use case: how to back up MySQL data from the instance store storage to EBS and how to perform automated backup with EBS. 

Ensuring efficiency using NoSQL and AWS

AWS is a simple cloud-based platform that offers Amazon EC2 compute services for running NoSQL applications. These services offer features such as high scalability, high availability, and excellent performance. AWS is the best choice for hosting NoSQL applications due to its 1-Click Launch option (which reduces deployment time to just a few minutes) and the flexibility of its pay-as-you-go model. When hosting NoSQL databases on Amazon EC2, follow the best practices outlined in this post to ensure efficiency.

N2WS Announces Backup and Recovery Support for NoSQL

N2WS Backup & Recovery offers many powerful features, among these, are automated backup and recovery operations for NoSQL databases hosted on AWS EC2. You can  create policy/schedule-based backups for your NoSQL databases, along with existing AWS service support including Amazon RDS, EFS, Amazon Aurora, Amazon DynamoDB and Amazon Redshift clusters. N2WS is a fully-featured solution providing unparalleled backup and recovery for data held in the AWS cloud.

You might also like