Amazon Redshift

Redshift uses PostgreSQL-compatible SQL. Data is organized in Schemas and Tables. Columnar storage optimizes analytical queries.

Data Model

• Schemas — logical namespaces (e.g., public); contain tables.
• Tables — identified by schema.table; have columns, distribution style, sort keys.
• Rows — table data; accessed via SQL or row-level fetch.
• Distribution — how data is spread across nodes (KEY, EVEN, ALL).
• Column profiles — statistics and value distributions per column.

Gotchas

• schema.table format: Always use fully qualified names (e.g., public.users) when referencing tables.
• SSL required: Redshift connections require SSL; use require or verify-full.
• Query timeout: Long-running queries may time out; consider LIMIT or more selective filters.