What is Amazon Redshift?
Amazon Redshift is a fully managed cloud data warehouse that enables efficient data analysis using standard SQL. It’s the most widely used cloud data warehouse, serving thousands of customers analyzing exabytes of data.
Understanding Auto-Copy Feature
The auto-copy feature revolutionizes data ingestion by automating the loading process from S3 to Redshift. Here are the key benefits:
- Zero Additional Cost: This functionality comes built-in with Amazon Redshift
- Simple Implementation: Setup using basic SQL commands via JDBC/ODBC clients
- Automatic Error Handling: Built-in management of problematic data files
- Duplicate Prevention: Load-once mechanism eliminates the need for manifest files
Technical Implementation
To implement auto-copy, you need:
- An AWS account
- An encrypted Amazon Redshift cluster or serverless workgroup
- An S3 bucket with appropriate permissions
The setup process involves:
- Creating an S3 event integration
- Configuring auto-copy jobs using SQL commands
- Monitoring through system tables like SYS_COPY_JOB and STL_LOAD_COMMITS
Best Practices
- Use unique filenames for each auto-copy job
- Avoid updating existing file contents
- Don’t overwrite existing files
- Create new files with different names for updates
Important considerations
- Existing S3 files aren’t automatically loaded
- MAXERROR parameter isn’t supported
- Manifest files aren’t supported
- Key-based access control isn’t available
Learn more about Amazon Redshift Auto-Copy implementation and best practices