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Getting Started with AWS RDS

Welcome to AWS RDS​

Running a database on EC2 yourself is possible, but you'd be responsible for backups, software patches, disk expansion, replication, and failover. Amazon RDS handles all of that automatically, leaving you to focus on your application.

RDS doesn't give you anything you couldn't set up manually — it saves you the time and operational overhead of doing so.

What You'll Learn​

  • Supported engines — PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server, Aurora
  • Launching an RDS instance — choosing the right engine, instance class, and storage
  • Security groups — allowing only your EC2 instance to reach the database
  • Connecting from EC2 — using psql or mysql CLI from your server
  • Connection strings — the RDS endpoint format and how to use it in your app
  • Automated backups — retention periods and point-in-time recovery
  • Multi-AZ deployments — synchronous standby for high availability
  • Parameter groups — tuning database configuration without SSH access

Prerequisites​

  • An AWS account
  • An EC2 instance running your backend application
  • Basic SQL knowledge (PostgreSQL or MySQL)