Today I installed a simple database on the Amazon Webservices. Amazon SimpleDB is a web service providing the core database functions of data indexing and querying in the cloud. This service is available in Europe since a few weeks. This allows to achieve lower latency, operate closer to other resources like Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, and Amazon SQS in the EU Region, and help meet EU data storage requirements when applicable.

Simple DB is simple to use, low touch, scalable, highly available, fast, flexible, inexpensive and designed for use with other Amazon Web Services.

The prices are:

• First 25 Amazon SimpleDB Machine Hours consumed per month are free
• $0.154 per Amazon SimpleDB Machine Hour consumed thereafter
• First 1 GB of data transferred in per month is free
• $0.100 per GB – all data transfer in thereafter
• First 1 GB of data transferred out per month is free; thereafter:
• $0.170 per GB – first 10 TB / month data transfer out
• $0.130 per GB – next 40 TB / month data transfer out
• $0.110 per GB – next 100 TB / month data transfer out
• $0.100 per GB – data transfer out / month over 150 TB

When using Amazon SimpleDB, you organize your structured data in domains within which you can put data, get data, or run queries. Domains consist of items which are described by attributename-value pairs. The spreadsheet model shown in the following image explains the structure:

Amazon Simple DB Data Model