Best Practices for AWS Athena for Data Analytics

Overview

AWS Athena is a query service that enables users to run SQL queries against data kept in Amazon S3. It is a very simple-to-use serverless service that doesn’t need any infrastructure configuration.

We’ll review some top tips in this blog post for properly utilizing and following the best practices for AWS Athena for data analytics.

Best practices for Amazon Athena for Data Analytics

Optimize your data storage on Amazon S3

• Optimizing your data storage on Amazon S3 is essential for obtaining good query performance because Athena searches the data stored there. Utilizing file formats like Parquet and ORC, which are designed for columnar storage and compression, is one option to optimize the storage of your data on Amazon S3.
• By storing data in columns rather than rows, columnar storage can enhance query performance by minimizing the quantity of data a query must scan. For instance, a query can skip over other columns in the data if it only needs to read a few of them. Faster query performance and lower costs may result from this.
• Partitioning your data is another technique to improve the storage of your data on Amazon S3. Partitioning is breaking up data into manageable chunks depending on one or more columns. You may divide up your data, for instance, according to date, area, or another property. By enabling Athena to read only the data required for a given query, partitioning can make queries scan less data overall. Faster query performance and lower costs may result from this.
• Compression can also aid in minimizing the volume of data a query must search. Data compression allows you to store more information on a given quantity of storage, which can lower the cost of Amazon S3 data storage. Compressed data can also be read more quickly because there is less data to read from the disc.
• Avoid using SELECT *: It’s excellent practice to avoid using SELECT * (select all) when requesting data from AWS Athena. This is so that all data columns, including those you don’t require, will be scanned. Instead, make sure your SELECT query includes the columns you require. This may lessen the volume of information examined and enhance query performance.

Use AWS Glue Data Catalog for Metadata Management

• AWS Glue Data Catalog is a fully-managed metadata repository that stores metadata for all your data assets across multiple data stores and services. Using AWS Glue Data Catalog, you can create a centralized metadata repository for your data assets, making it easier to discover and understand your data. You can also use the metadata stored in AWS Glue Data Catalog to improve query performance by partitioning your data and using predicate pushdown.

Use AWS CloudTrail for Audit Logging

• AWS CloudTrail records actions a user, role, or AWS service takes in Athena. You can use this information to determine the request made to Athena, the IP address from which the request was made, who made it, and when it was made. Using CloudTrail can help you comply with regulatory requirements and internal policies.

Use AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) for Access Control

• AWS IAM allows you to manage access to Athena resources. You can use IAM to create and manage users and groups, set permissions, and grant access to Athena resources. You can also use IAM to enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for accessing Athena resources, which adds an extra layer of security to your data.

Use AWS Key Management Service (KMS) for Data Encryption

• AWS KMS is a fully managed encryption service that makes it easy to create and manage encryption keys and use them to protect your data. You can use AWS KMS to encrypt data at rest and in transit in Athena. Encryption can help you comply with regulatory requirements and internal policies and protect your data from unauthorized access.

Monitor your Query Performance

• Athena provides query metrics that you can use to monitor query performance and troubleshoot issues. You can use metrics like QueryExecutionTime and DataScannedInBytes to identify slow-running queries and optimize them for better performance. You can also use CloudWatch Logs to monitor query execution and receive alerts when queries exceed certain thresholds.

Use Amazon QuickSight for Visualization

• Amazon QuickSight is a cloud-based business intelligence service that you can use to create and publish interactive dashboards, reports, and charts. You can connect Amazon QuickSight to Athena to create visualizations of your data and share them with your team. Amazon QuickSight can help you gain insights into your data and make informed decisions based on those insights.

Conclusion

AWS Athena is a powerful tool for cloud-based data analytics. You can manage your metadata, restrict access to your data, optimize your data storage, keep an eye on query performance, and visualize your data by adhering to these best practices. With these best practices, you may increase security and compliance, lower costs, and get better query speed.

About CloudThat

CloudThat is an official AWS (Amazon Web Services) Advanced Consulting Partner and Training partner and Microsoft Gold Partner, helping people develop knowledge of the cloud and help their businesses aim for higher goals using best-in-industry cloud computing practices and expertise. We are on a mission to build a robust cloud computing ecosystem by disseminating knowledge on technological intricacies within the cloud space. Our blogs, webinars, case studies, and white papers enable all the stakeholders in the cloud computing sphere.

Drop a query if you have any questions regarding AWS Athena, I will get back to you quickly.

To get started, go through our Consultancy page and Managed Services Package, CloudThat’s offerings.