  Cloud-based distributed databases are a popular choice for many current
applications, especially those that run over the Internet. By incorporating
distributed database systems within cloud environments, it has enabled
businesses to scale operations to a global level, all while achieving desired
standards of system reliability, availability, and responsiveness. Cloud
providers offer infrastructure and management tools for distributed databases
as Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS), re-purposing the investment by businesses
towards database services. This paper reviews the functionality of these
services, by highlighting Amazon Relational Data Service (RDS), suited for
handling relational distributed databases.
