What is Amazon RDS?
Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is a managed service that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud.
Amazon RDS supports Amazon Aurora, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server, and PostgreSQL database engines.
What are the Features of Amazon RDS?
Following are high level features of Amazon RDS
| Feature | Summary |
| Easy to administer | Ease of Use Amazon RDS database instances are pre-configured with parameters and settings appropriate for the engine and class you have selected. You can launch a database instance and connect your application within minutes. Automatic software patching Amazon RDS will make sure that the relational database software powering your deployment stays up-to-date with the latest patches. |
| Performance | General Purpose (SSD) Storage Amazon RDS General Purpose Storage is an SSD-backed storage option delivers a consistent baseline of 3 IOPS per provisioned GB and provides the ability to burst up to 3,000 IOPS above the baseline. Provisioned IOPS (SSD) Storage Amazon RDS Provisioned IOPS Storage is an SSD-backed storage option designed to deliver fast, predictable, and consistent I/O performance. You can provision up to 40,000 IOPS per database instance |
| Scalability | Push-button compute scaling You can scale the compute and memory resources powering your deployment up or down, up to a maximum of 32 vCPUs and 244 GB of RAM. Easy storage scaling The Amazon Aurora engine will automatically grow the size of your database volume as your database storage needs grow, up to a maximum of 64 TB or a maximum you define. The MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, and PostgreSQL engines allow you to scale up to 64 TB of storage and SQL Server supports up to 16 TB. Read Replicas Read Replicas make it easy to elastically scale out beyond the capacity constraints of a single DB instance for read-heavy database workloads. Read replicas are available in Amazon RDS for MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and Oracle as well as Amazon Aurora. |
| Availability and durability | Automated backups The automated backup feature of Amazon RDS enables point-in-time recovery for your database instance. Amazon RDS will backup your database and transaction logs and store both for a user-specified retention period i.e. any second during your retention period, up to the last five minutes Database snapshots Database snapshots are user-initiated backups of your instance stored in Amazon S3 that are kept until you explicitly delete them. Multi-AZ deployments Amazon RDS Multi-AZ deployments provide enhanced availability and durability for database instances. When you provision a Multi-AZ database instance, Amazon RDS synchronously replicates your data to a standby instance in a different Availability Zone (AZ). |
| Security | Encryption at rest and in transit Amazon RDS allows you to encrypt your databases using keys you manage through AWS Key Management Service (KMS). Amazon RDS supports Transparent Data Encryption in SQL Server and Oracle. Amazon RDS supports the use of SSL to secure data in transit. |
| Manageability | Monitoring and metrics Amazon RDS provides Amazon CloudWatch metrics for your database instances at no additional charge. You can use the RDS Management Console to view key operational metrics. Amazon RDS also provides Enhanced Monitoring, which provides access to over 50 CPU, memory, file system, and disk I/O metrics. Event notifications Amazon RDS can notify you via email or SMS text message of database events through Amazon SNS. Configuration governance Amazon RDS integrates with AWS Config to support compliance and enhance security by recording and auditing changes to the configuration of your DB instance including parameter groups, subnet groups, snapshots, security groups and event subscriptions. |
| Cost-effectiveness | Pay only for what you use There is no up-front commitment with Amazon RDS; you simply pay a monthly charge for each database instance that you launch. Reserved instances Amazon RDS Reserved Instances give you the option to reserve a DB instance for a one or three year term Stop and start Amazon RDS allows you to easily stop and start your database instances for up to 7 days at a time |
What are the supported RDS DB Engines?
RDS Supports the following DB Engines
Amazon Aurora – Amazon Aurora is a MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud that combines the performance and availability of traditional enterprise databases with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of open source databases.
Amazon RDS for MySQL – MySQL is the world’s most popular open source relational database and Amazon RDS makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale MySQL deployments in the cloud. With Amazon RDS, you can deploy scalable MySQL servers in minutes with cost-efficient and resizable hardware capacity.
Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL – PostgreSQL has become the preferred open source relational database for many enterprise developers and start-ups, powering leading business and mobile applications. Amazon RDS makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale PostgreSQL deployments in the cloud.
Amazon RDS for Oracle – Amazon RDS for Oracle is a fully managed commercial database that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale Oracle deployments in the cloud.
Amazon RDS for SQL Server – SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft. Amazon RDS for SQL Server makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale SQL Server deployments in the cloud.
Amazon RDS for MariaDB – MariaDB is a popular open source relational database created by the original developers of MySQL. Amazon RDS makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale MariaDB server deployments in the cloud.
Amazon RDS Pricing
Amazon RDS is free to try and you only pay only for what you use with no minimum fees. You can pay for Amazon RDS using On-Demand or Reserved Instances.