Redshift Cross-Region Data Lake Queries Now GA

Querying S3 data lakes across regions is now a first-class citizen in Redshift.

What changed

• Amazon Redshift can query Amazon S3 data lake tables in a different AWS Region.
• Enhanced VPC routing keeps Redshift-S3 data transfer traffic within your VPC.
• These features utilize the integrated data lake query engine on Redshift RG provisioned and Serverless clusters.

Why it matters

This removes a significant hurdle for global analytics and cross-region reporting. Previously, querying S3 data in a different region from Redshift required manual data movement or complex federation setups. The honest version: This enables direct querying of data that must remain in specific regions for residency requirements, such as in financial services or healthcare. It also simplifies global reporting by avoiding costly and time-consuming data replication. The integrated data lake query engine running on compute nodes means you are not paying for a separate query service.

The catch

Cross-Region queries incur standard data transfer charges. While the announcement highlights that data stays within your VPC with enhanced VPC routing, this does not negate the inter-region data transfer costs. The feature is available in all regions where Redshift RG provisioned and Serverless clusters are available, but users should verify specific regional support if operating in less common AWS geographies. Watch out: Enhanced VPC routing requires careful network configuration within your VPC. It pairs with VPC peering or Transit Gateway for connectivity to other VPCs, adding to the operational overhead.

Ship it

If you have data residency requirements or global reporting needs that previously involved manual S3 data copying between regions for Redshift analysis, investigate enabling cross-region queries. Ensure enhanced VPC routing is configured for security-sensitive workloads to keep traffic within your VPC, and be prepared for standard inter-region data transfer costs.

Bottom line: Redshift can now query S3 data lakes across regions, simplifying global analytics but still incurring data transfer fees.

— Filed to /aws