Multi-Region Data Migration

Re-architecting an inventory datastore from relational to DynamoDB across multiple regions

Overview

Built at Amazon WW Grocery, this project re-architected an inventory datastore from a relational database to NoSQL (DynamoDB) to unlock higher throughput at lower cost.

I designed and executed the migration of 10M+ records across multiple regions, keeping downtime under 5 minutes with comprehensive validation at every step.

Business Impact

10x
Throughput Scalability
Headroom gained by moving to DynamoDB
−10%
Infrastructure Cost
Lower cost than the relational datastore
10M+
Records Migrated
Moved across multiple regions
< 5 min
Downtime
For the entire cutover

Migration Approach

  • •Re-modeled the inventory datastore from relational tables to DynamoDB
  • •Migrated 10M+ records across multiple regions
  • •Ran comprehensive validation to confirm data correctness in every region
  • •Planned the cutover to keep downtime under 5 minutes

Technologies Used

Source

Relational database

Target

DynamoDB

Cloud

AWS (multi-region)

Frequently Asked Questions

Why move from a relational database to DynamoDB?

The move to NoSQL gave the inventory datastore 10x throughput scalability while reducing infrastructure costs by 10%.

How much data was migrated, and with how much downtime?

More than 10 million records across multiple regions, with under 5 minutes of downtime.

How was correctness verified?

Every region went through comprehensive validation as part of the migration before cutover was considered complete.