Developers who use Amazon's Web Services now have a new way to bring search into their applications.
Launched today in beta mode, CloudSearch offers a full-blown search service in the cloud that developers can build into their apps. Using the AWS Management Console, developers create a search domain, upload the data that they want searchable, and then CloudSearch indexes the content, according to Amazon.
Like other cloud-based services, CloudSearch is also scalable, so it can expand as the amount of data increases. Developers can also tweak key settings and parameters without having to upload the data again.
Amazon's description certainly touts CloudSearch as something relatively quick and simple, and not too pricey.
"You can set it up and start processing queries in less than an hour, with automatic scaling for data and search traffic, all for less than $100 per month," Amazon explained in a blog. "CloudSearch hides all of the complexity and all of the search infrastructure from you. You simply provide it with a set of documents and decide how you would like to incorporate search into your application."
The company also stressed that developers don't need to create their own indexing or query processing or some of the other messy work associated with building a search environment. They can also add more features without having to rewrite any existing code.
The index is updated continuously, so new or revised data automatically becomes searchable without having to re-index the database. The index itself is stored in memory to allow for quicker searches.
While the service seems simple enough, the pricing can be tricky.
Like many cloud-based services, the costs vary based on the amount of traffic, data, and monthy usage. Amazon has fully detailed its pricing scheme via a dedicated Web page, but one typical example estimated the monthly cost at just under $87.
Interested developers can learn more by signing up for an online webinar scheduled for May 10.
How CloudSearch Works