Stories with Tag Amazon S3

• Preview: Amazon S3 Tables and Lakehouse in DuckDB

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  Posted: 2025-03-18 16:36:20

  Verbose tl;dr

  DuckDB now offers preview support for querying data directly in Amazon S3 via a new extension. This allows users to create and query tables stored as Parquet, CSV, or JSON files on S3 without downloading data, leveraging S3's scalability and DuckDB's analytical capabilities. The extension utilizes the httpfs extension for access and supports various S3-specific features like AWS credentials and different regions. While still experimental, this functionality opens the door to building efficient "lakehouse" architectures directly on S3 using DuckDB.

  This DuckDB blog post announces and details a preview release of a highly anticipated feature: the ability to query data directly in Amazon S3 using DuckDB, effectively turning S3 into a data lakehouse. The post emphasizes the performance and cost benefits of this approach, eliminating the need for complex and expensive data warehousing solutions in many scenarios.

  The core of the new functionality revolves around treating S3 buckets as if they were local file systems. Users can now create DuckDB tables directly on top of Parquet files stored in S3, querying the data without needing to download it first. This direct access is made possible through the integration of the s3fs file system library, enabling seamless interaction with S3 objects. The blog post highlights the simplicity of this integration, demonstrating the creation of a table from S3 data with a single SQL command. This streamlined process eliminates the data movement and transformation steps often required when using traditional data warehouses.

  Performance is a key focus of the announcement. The post explains how DuckDB leverages its internal query engine optimizations to achieve efficient querying of S3-based data. These optimizations include parallel processing, columnar storage, and intelligent filtering, all contributing to fast query execution even on large datasets. The post provides comparative performance benchmarks, showcasing the speed advantages of DuckDB compared to other query engines when accessing data in S3.

  Cost-effectiveness is another significant benefit highlighted in the blog post. By eliminating the need to move and store data in intermediate systems, DuckDB reduces both storage costs associated with data duplication and compute costs related to data transfer and processing. The pay-per-use nature of S3, combined with DuckDB's efficient querying capabilities, results in a more cost-effective solution for many analytical workloads.

  The post also discusses the preview nature of this release. While core functionalities are already implemented and demonstrably performant, ongoing development is focused on expanding format support beyond Parquet, enhancing SQL compliance, and further optimizing performance. The authors actively encourage community feedback to guide the development and ensure a robust and feature-rich final release. They detail how users can try out the preview version, providing instructions for installation and configuration. The post concludes by inviting users to explore the new S3 integration and contribute to its development through feedback and contributions.

  • DuckDB
  • Amazon S3
  • Data Lakes
  • Lakehouse
  • Data Warehousing
  • Cloud Storage
  • Query Engine
  • Analytics
  • Data Engineering
  • SQL
  • Columnar Storage
  • parquet
  • data formats
  • Preview Release
  • big data

  Summary of Comments ( 33 )
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43401421

  Verbose tl;dr

  Hacker News commenters generally expressed excitement about DuckDB's new S3 integration, praising its speed, simplicity, and potential to disrupt the data lakehouse space. Several users shared their positive experiences using DuckDB, highlighting its performance advantages compared to other query engines like Presto and Athena. Some raised concerns about the potential vendor lock-in with S3, suggesting that supporting alternative storage solutions would be beneficial. Others discussed the limitations of Parquet files for analytical workloads, and how DuckDB might address those issues. A few commenters pointed out the importance of robust schema evolution and data governance features for enterprise adoption. The overall sentiment was very positive, with many seeing this as a significant step forward for data analysis on cloud storage.

  The Hacker News post "Preview: Amazon S3 Tables and Lakehouse in DuckDB" generated a moderate number of comments discussing the announcement of DuckDB's ability to query data directly in Amazon S3, functioning similarly to a lakehouse. Several commenters expressed excitement and approval for this development.

  A recurring theme in the comments is the praise for DuckDB's impressive speed and efficiency. Users shared anecdotal experiences of DuckDB outperforming other database solutions, particularly for analytical queries on parquet files. Some specifically highlighted its superiority over Presto and Athena in certain scenarios, mentioning significantly faster query times. This performance advantage seems to be a key driver of the positive reception towards the S3 integration.

  Another point of discussion revolves around the practical implications of this feature. Commenters discussed the benefits of being able to analyze data directly in S3 without needing to move or transform it. This is seen as a major advantage for data exploration, prototyping, and ad-hoc analysis. The convenience and cost-effectiveness of querying data in-place were emphasized by several users.

  Several comments delve into technical aspects, comparing DuckDB's approach to other lakehouse solutions like Databricks and Apache Iceberg. The discussion touched upon the differences in architecture and the trade-offs between performance and features. Some commenters speculated about the potential use cases for DuckDB's S3 integration, mentioning applications in data science, analytics, and log processing.

  While the overall sentiment is positive, some comments also raised questions and concerns. One commenter inquired about the maturity and stability of the S3 integration, as it is still in preview. Another user pointed out the limitations of DuckDB in handling highly concurrent workloads compared to distributed query engines. Furthermore, discussions emerged around the security implications of accessing S3 data directly and the need for proper authentication and authorization mechanisms.

  Finally, some comments explored the potential impact of this feature on the data warehousing and lakehouse landscape. The ability of DuckDB to query S3 data efficiently could potentially disrupt existing solutions and offer a more streamlined and cost-effective approach to data analytics. Some speculated on the future development of DuckDB and its potential to become a major player in the cloud data ecosystem.

• In S3 simplicity is table stakes

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  Posted: 2025-03-14 11:55:17

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  Werner Vogels argues that while Amazon S3's simplicity was initially a key differentiator and driver of its widespread adoption, maintaining that simplicity in the face of ever-increasing scale and feature requests is an ongoing challenge. He emphasizes that adding features doesn't equate to improving the customer experience and that preserving S3's core simplicity—its fundamental object storage model—is paramount. This involves thoughtful API design, backwards compatibility, and a focus on essential functionality rather than succumbing to the pressure of adding complexity for its own sake. S3's continued success hinges on keeping the service easy to use and understand, even as the underlying technology evolves dramatically.

  Werner Vogels, Amazon CTO and Vice President, in his blog post titled "In S3 simplicity is table stakes," reflects on the fifteenth anniversary of Amazon S3, the Simple Storage Service. He emphasizes that while S3's core principle and enduring value proposition has always been its radical simplicity, maintaining this simplicity amidst an ever-expanding feature set has been a continuous and deliberate effort. He argues that simplicity is no longer a differentiating factor, but rather a fundamental requirement, the "table stakes," for any storage service in today's cloud landscape.

  Vogels details how the design principle of "start with the customer and work backwards" has been instrumental in preserving S3's simplicity. He illustrates this by explaining how new features are meticulously evaluated for their alignment with the core tenets of S3, ensuring they seamlessly integrate without complicating the user experience. This customer-centric approach ensures that adding features enhances, rather than detracts from, the overall simplicity. He highlights that even complex features, such as object lifecycle management and sophisticated access control mechanisms, are designed to be accessible and easily understood by users.

  Furthermore, Vogels underscores the importance of backward compatibility in maintaining simplicity. He explains that changes to S3 are implemented with utmost care to avoid disrupting existing applications that rely on its consistent behavior. This commitment to backward compatibility, he asserts, provides developers with the confidence to build upon S3, knowing that their applications won't break due to unexpected changes. He elaborates on the immense scale at which S3 operates, emphasizing the careful consideration required when introducing changes that could potentially impact millions of users and trillions of objects.

  The post also touches upon the growing ecosystem around S3, acknowledging the numerous third-party tools and services that integrate with it. Vogels argues that this thriving ecosystem further underscores the importance of S3's simplicity, as it allows for seamless integration and interoperability with other systems. This, he claims, allows developers to leverage the vast functionalities of S3 without having to grapple with complex integrations.

  Finally, Vogels reiterates that the continuous focus on simplicity has been key to S3's long-term success. He concludes by reaffirming Amazon's commitment to maintaining this principle as S3 continues to evolve and adapt to the changing demands of the cloud computing landscape. He suggests that while the feature set may expand, the core value of simplicity will remain paramount, guaranteeing a user-friendly and dependable storage solution for years to come.

  • AWS
  • S3
  • Amazon S3
  • Simple Storage Service
  • Cloud Storage
  • Storage
  • data storage
  • Simplicity
  • Usability
  • scalability
  • Cloud Computing
  • distributed systems
  • Werner Vogels
  • Amazon Web Services

  Summary of Comments ( 6 )
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43361737

  Verbose tl;dr

  Hacker News users largely agreed with the premise of the article, emphasizing that S3's simplicity is its greatest strength, while also acknowledging areas where improvements could be made. Several commenters pointed out the hidden complexities of S3, such as eventual consistency and subtle performance gotchas. The discussion also touched on the trade-offs between simplicity and more powerful features, with some arguing that S3's simplicity forces users to build solutions on top of it, leading to more robust architectures. The lack of a true directory structure and efficient renaming operations were also highlighted as pain points. Some users suggested potential improvements like native support for symbolic links or atomic renaming, but the general consensus was that any added features should be carefully considered to avoid compromising S3's core simplicity. A few comments compared S3 to other storage solutions, noting that while some offer more advanced features, none have matched S3's simplicity and ubiquity.

  The Hacker News post "In S3 simplicity is table stakes" (linking to an article on Werner Vogels' blog) generated a moderate discussion with several insightful comments focusing on the complexities hidden beneath S3's seemingly simple interface and the challenges of building robust systems around it.

  Several commenters echoed the sentiment that S3's simplicity is deceptive. While the basic operations appear straightforward, building production-ready systems requires grappling with eventual consistency, data integrity guarantees, and performance optimization. One commenter highlighted the challenges of "exactly-once" semantics and the intricacies of handling failures during multipart uploads. Another pointed out the hidden costs associated with things like data retrieval and egress fees, which can become significant at scale.

  The discussion also touched on the trade-offs between S3's simplicity and the more complex features offered by other storage solutions. One commenter noted that while S3 excels at simple storage and retrieval, it lacks the robust querying capabilities of databases. This leads to situations where users need to build their own indexing and querying mechanisms on top of S3, adding complexity to the overall system. Another commenter mentioned the increasing reliance on third-party tools and services to manage and optimize S3 usage, further highlighting the hidden complexities.

  One compelling thread explored the challenges of achieving strong consistency with S3. A commenter mentioned the limitations of using list operations for consistency checks and the need for careful consideration of eventual consistency when designing applications. This led to a discussion about the trade-offs between consistency and availability and the different approaches for mitigating consistency issues.

  Another interesting comment thread focused on the evolution of S3 and the increasing demand for more advanced features. While acknowledging S3's strengths, commenters expressed a desire for features like native support for structured data and more sophisticated access control mechanisms. This reflects the growing complexity of data storage needs and the limitations of a purely object-based storage model.

  Finally, some commenters discussed alternatives to S3, including cloud-based solutions from other providers and self-hosted object storage systems. This highlighted the competitive landscape and the ongoing innovation in the cloud storage space.

  In summary, the comments on the Hacker News post reveal a nuanced perspective on S3's simplicity. While acknowledging its ease of use for basic tasks, the discussion emphasizes the hidden complexities and challenges that arise when building robust, scalable systems. The comments also highlight the evolving needs of users and the ongoing development of alternative solutions in the cloud storage ecosystem.