Chapter 4. Databases on AWS
As you saw in the previous chapter, WordPress stores in a database all the bits and pieces that make up your website. But of course, this approach isn’t limited to WordPress: it would be hard to imagine any public-facing application of even minimal complexity that didn’t rely on structured data of one sort or another. Working on an application? Learn to love databases. The coming pages explore how to choose a database architecture and how (and why) to move your database away from the WordPress instance to run independently in its own environment.
Just in case you haven’t yet been formally introduced, I’ll take a moment to explain what a database does. A database is software that’s good at reading digital information and then reliably storing it in a structured format so that the information can later be efficiently retrieved in useful formats and combinations.
Imagine that your business keeps records of all your customers, including their names, addresses, and previous purchases. From time to time, you’ll probably want access to that information. Perhaps you need an address so you can mail an invoice, or maybe you’d like to analyze your data to look for correlations between street addresses and purchasing patterns.