Which AWS service provides the capability for interactive queries over large datasets?

Amazon Athena is designed specifically for interactive querying of large datasets stored in Amazon S3 using standard SQL. It operates serverlessly, allowing users to run queries without the need for complex infrastructure management. This ease of use makes it particularly suited for ad-hoc analysis and quick insights, as users can simply execute SQL queries against the data they have stored in S3 without needing to provision any additional resources.

Athena efficiently utilizes Presto, an open-source distributed SQL query engine, to enable fast query responses over vast amounts of data, making it highly effective for analytics tasks. It's an ideal choice for users who require flexibility and speed when working with large datasets stored in a data lake, as it allows for analytic workloads to be performed without significant overhead.

In contrast, other services may not be as directly aligned with the need for interactive querying over large datasets in a straightforward manner. For instance, while Amazon EMR can handle large datasets, it requires users to manage the infrastructure and software for processing data, which makes it less optimal for purely interactive use cases. Amazon Redshift is a managed data warehouse service optimized for complex queries but requires upfront provisioning and is typically used for more structured analytics rather than ad-hoc results. Amazon RDS is a relational database service