Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS)

Database Fundamentals

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Welcome to Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS).

In this module, you’ll discover key concepts that are related to database solutions,
including the following:

• Identifying the different database services in the cloud

• Discovering the differences between unmanaged and managed database solutions

The goal of this module is to help you understand the database resources that are
available to power your solution. You will also review the different service features
that are available so that you can understand how different choices affect solution
availability.
 What you will learn

At the core of the lesson

You will learn how to do the following: Key terms:
• Amazon RDS
• Provide an overview of Amazon Relational Database
Service (Amazon RDS). • Database (DB) instance
• Describe some of the options that Amazon RDS • DB engine
offers. • Aurora
• List the six database types on Amazon RDS. • Aurora cluster
• Identify backup options for Amazon RDS. • Cluster volume
• Examine a few uses cases for Amazon RDS.
• Describe details about one Amazon RDS database
type, Amazon Aurora.
• Explore the key benefits of Aurora.

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In this module, you will learn how to do the following:

• Provide an overview of Amazon RDS.
• Describe some of the options that Amazon RDS offers.
• List the six database types on Amazon RDS.
• Identify backup options for Amazon RDS.
• Examine a few uses cases for Amazon RDS.
• Describe details about one Amazon RDS database type, Amazon Aurora.
• Explore the key benefits of Aurora.
Amazon RDS

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To begin with, you will discuss Amazon RDS.

 Amazon RDS defined

What is Amazon RDS?

A managed database service that sets up and operates
a relational database in the cloud Users

Application
servers

Amazon RDS

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Amazon RDS is a managed database service that sets up and operates a relational
database in the cloud.

Running an unmanaged, standalone relational database can be time-consuming and

have limited scope. To address these challenges, AWS provides a service that sets up,
operates, and scales the relational database without any ongoing administration.
Amazon RDS provides cost-efficient and resizable capacity while automating time-
consuming administrative tasks.

Amazon RDS frees you to focus on your applications so that you can give them the
performance, high availability, security, and compatibility that they need. With
Amazon RDS, your primary focus is your data and optimizing your application.
 Amazon RDS use cases

Web and mobile applications Ecommerce applications Mobile and online games

• High throughput • Low-cost database • Rapid growth capacity

• Massive storage scalability • Data security • Automatic scaling
• High availability • Fully managed solution • Database monitoring

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Amazon RDS works well for web and mobile applications that need a database with
high throughput, extensive storage scalability, and high availability. Because Amazon
RDS does not have any licensing constraints, it fits the variable usage pattern of these
applications.

For small and large ecommerce businesses, Amazon RDS provides a flexible, secured,
and low-cost database solution for online sales and retailing.

Mobile and online games require a database platform with high throughput and
availability. Amazon RDS manages the database infrastructure so that game
developers do not need to worry about provisioning, scaling, or monitoring database
servers.
 DB instance

What is a DB instance?

A DB instance is an isolated database

environment that runs in the cloud.

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What is a DB instance ?

A DB instance is an isolated database environment that runs in the cloud.

It is the basic building block of Amazon RDS.

 Amazon RDS DB instances
Mechanics of Amazon RDS DB instances

Amazon RDS supports the

DB instance class
following database types:
• Central processing unit (CPU)
Amazon RDS • Memory • MySQL
• Network performance • Aurora
DB instance storage • Microsoft SQL Server
• Magnetic • PostgreSQL
Amazon RDS • General purpose solid state drive (SSD) • MariaDB
DB primary • Provisioned input/output operations per
• Oracle
instance second (IOPS)

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The basic building block of Amazon RDS is the DB instance. A DB instance is an

isolated database environment. It can contain multiple user-created databases, and
you can access it by using the same tools and applications that you use with a
standalone database instance. The resources in a database instance are determined
from its database instance class, and the type of storage is determined from the type
of disks.

Database instances and storage differ in performance characteristics and price so that
you can customize your performance and costs to the needs of your database. When
you choose to create a DB instance, you must first specify which database engine to
run. Amazon RDS currently supports the following databases: MySQL, Aurora,
Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, and Oracle.
 Amazon RDS backup

Amazon RDS backup options include the following:

Automatic Creates automated backups (data and transaction logs) of DB instances during the
backup window

Manual
Creates storage volume snapshots of your DB instances

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Because Amazon RDS is a fully managed service, one task that it automatically
performs is the periodic backup of a DB instance. The entire instance is backed up to
a storage volume snapshot during a specified backup window. It is retained according
to a specified backup retention period. The first snapshot of a DB instance contains
the full data. Subsequent snapshots are incremental and contain only the data that
changed since the most recent snapshot.

Optionally, you can back up a database instance manually by creating a snapshot.

For more information about working with backups and managing Amazon RDS
backups and snapshots, see “Backing up and restoring an Amazon RDS DB instance”
at
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/CHAP_CommonTasks.B
ackupRestore.html.

For more information about Amazon RDS, see Amazon RDS FAQs at
https://aws.amazon.com/rds/faqs/.
 Easy Create method in Amazon RDS

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This section covers a sample configuration that uses the Easy Create method to
create a database in Amazon RDS. This section also examines some of the differences
between the Standard method and Easy Create method.
 Creating a DB instance in Amazon RDS

• The easiest way to create a DB instance is to use the AWS Management Console.
• After you create the DB instance, you can use standard MySQL utilities—such as MySQL Workbench—to connect to a
database on the DB instance.

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You can create a DB instance in Amazon RDS in two ways. The management console
offers an Easy Create method and a Standard method. If you choose to use the Easy
Create method, the configuration options are based on Amazon best practices. You
can specify a DB engine and instance size and can choose an identifier. You also have
an opportunity to select Standard to create your instance. You determine or choose
your configurations.
 How to create a DB instance

MySQL example
1. In the Configuration section, choose
MySQL.
2. Complete the remaining steps that are
needed to answer the required
configuration questions, and then choose
Create.
3. Depending on the DB instance class and
the amount of storage, it can take up to
20 minutes before the new instance is
available.

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This slide describes the main steps to create a DB instance using the Easy Create
method.
High availability with Amazon RDS

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This section covers high availability with Amazon RDS.

 High availability with Multi-AZ deployment: Replication
Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

Availability Zone 1 Availability Zone 2

Public subnet Public subnet

Amazon Elastic
Compute Cloud
(Amazon EC2) instance App App EC2 instance

Private subnet Private subnet

RDS primary DB RDS standby DB

instance instance
Synchronous
replication

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One of the main features of Amazon RDS is that you can configure a database
instance with high availability by using a Multi-AZ deployment. This configuration
automatically generates a standby copy of the database instance in another
Availability Zone in the same virtual private cloud (VPC). After you make the initial full
copy, transactions are synchronously replicated to the standby copy. Running a
database in multiple Availability Zones can enhance availability during planned
system maintenance. It can help protect your database against database failure and
disruptions to Availability Zones.

In the diagram, an RDS DB instance is configured with high availability. The primary
instance runs in Availability Zone 1, and it serves requests from applications that run
in Availability Zones 1 and 2. The standby replica runs in Availability Zone 2, and it
provides data redundancy. It is synchronously replicated from the primary instance.
 High availability with Multi-AZ deployment: Failover
VPC

Availability Zone 1 Availability Zone 2

Public subnet Public subnet

EC2 instance EC2 instance

App App

Private subnet Private subnet

RDS primary DB RDS standby DB

instance instance

Failover

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If the primary database instance fails, Amazon RDS automatically brings the standby
database instance online as the new primary instance. Requests from both
applications are then directed to the new primary instance. The requesting
applications use the Amazon RDS Domain Name System (DNS) endpoint to reference
the database by name. As a result, the failover happens without needing to change
the application code. Also, notice that no data loss occurs because of the
synchronous replication.
Scalability with Amazon RDS

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This section covers scalability with Amazon RDS.

 Amazon RDS read replicas and scaling
AWS Cloud

VPC
Features
• Asynchronous replication Availability Zone 1
• Ability to promote to the primary Public subnet
instance if needed

Functionality EC2 instance

• Read-heavy database workloads
• Ability to offload read queries Private subnet

RDS DB RDS read replica

instance instance

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In addition to a high availability configuration, Amazon RDS offers other ways of

providing scalability. For example, you can create read replicas for MySQL, MariaDB,
PostgreSQL, and Aurora. Updates to the source DB instance are asynchronously
copied to the read replica instance. You can reduce the load on your source DB
instance by routing read queries from your applications to the read replica. You can
also use read replicas to scale out beyond the capacity constraints of a single DB
instance for read-heavy database workloads.

Read replicas can also be promoted to become the primary DB instance. However,
because it uses asynchronous replication, this option requires manual action.

Read replicas can be created in a different Region from the primary DB instance. This
feature can direct reads to a read replica in a geographic area that is closer to the
user. Thus, it can help satisfy disaster recovery (DR) requirements or reduce latency.

For more information about scaling, refer to “Scaling Your Amazon RDS Instance
Vertically and Horizontally” at https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/database/scaling-your-
amazon-rds-instance-vertically-and-horizontally/.

For information about storage types, refer to “Working with storage for Amazon RDS
DB instances” at
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_PIOPS.StorageTy
pes.html.

For information about read replicas, refer to Amazon RDS Read Replicas at
https://aws.amazon.com/rds/details/read-replicas.

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 Amazon RDS scaling

Amazon RDS scaling options

• Instance class
– Change instance class to increase computation
and memory capacity.
• Storage capacity
– Scale storage for existing instances.
– Increase storage capacity without incurring
downtime.

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You can also increase the capacity of a database server by changing its instance class
or storage capacity. By changing the instance class, you can increase the CPU and
memory that are available to the instance. By modifying the allocated storage, you
can increase storage capacity without incurring downtime.

Note that changing an instance class requires downtime.

 Amazon RDS
demonstration

Amazon RDS console demonstration

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Review the Amazon RDS demonstration: Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)
Console Demo.

You can find this video demonstration in the learning management system.
Aurora

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This section discusses Aurora.

 Aurora defined

What is Aurora?
Aurora is a relational database engine.

Benefits of Aurora
• Aurora uses the same code, tools, and
applications as existing MySQL and PostgreSQL
databases.
• Aurora includes a high-performance storage
subsystem.
• An Aurora DB is created with clusters.

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What is Aurora?

• Aurora is part of the managed database service Amazon RDS. Aurora is a relational
database engine.
• A database engine is a service for storing, processing, and securing data.

Some of the benefits of Aurora include the following:

• Aurora uses the same code, tools, and applications as existing MYSQL and
PostgreSQL databases.
• Aurora includes a high-performance storage subsystem. Its database engine is
customized to take advantage of that fast distributed storage.
• An Aurora DB has clusters that consist of one or more DB instances and a cluster
volume that manages the data for those DB instances.
 An Aurora DB cluster

Aurora DB cluster

An Aurora DB cluster consists of one or

more DB instances and a cluster volume
that manages the data for those DB
instances.

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What is an Aurora DB cluster?

An Aurora DB cluster consists of one or more DB instances and a cluster volume that
manages the data for those DB instances.

What is an Aurora cluster volume?

An Aurora cluster volume is a virtual database storage volume that spans multiple
Availability Zones. Each Availability Zone has a copy of the DB cluster data.
 Contents of an Aurora DB cluster
Two types of DB instances make up an Aurora DB
cluster.

Primary DB instance
The primary DB is the main instance. The instance allows
read and write operations and allows for data modification.

Aurora Replica
The Aurora Replica connects to the same storage volume
as the primary DB instance and supports only read
operations.

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A primary DB instance and up to 15 Aurora replicas make up an Aurora DB cluster.

 Aurora use cases

Enterprise applications Software as a service (SaaS) apps Online and mobile gaming

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Enterprise applications

Compared to commercial databases, Aurora can help cut down your database costs
by 90 percent or more while improving the database’s reliability and availability.

Software as a service (SaaS) applications

The Aurora managed database offering provides benefits to SaaS applications. SaaS
companies can focus on building high-quality applications without worrying about the
underlying database that powers the application.

Online and mobile gaming

Because web and mobile games are built to operate at very large scale, they require a
database with high throughput and massive storage scalability.

Aurora provides enough room for future growth.

 Checkpoint questions

What is one of the database engines that you can use in Amazon RDS?

What is Aurora?

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1. What is one of the database engines that you can use in Amazon RDS?

Amazon RDS supports the following databases types:

• MySQL
• Aurora
• Microsoft SQL Server
• PostgreSQL
• MariaDB
• Oracle Database

2. What is Aurora?

Aurora is a fully managed relational database engine that is compatible with

MySQL and PostgreSQL.
 Key takeaways
• Amazon RDS is a database service that makes it easy to set up,
operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud.
• Amazon RDS offers features for automated redundancy and backups.
• Amazon RDS supports an array of database engines, which includes
Aurora, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle Database, and
Microsoft SQL Server.
• Aurora is a database engine that is a highly available, performant,
and cost-effective managed relational database.

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Key takeaways from this module include the following:

• Amazon RDS is a database service that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale a
relational database in the cloud.
• Amazon RDS offers features for automated redundancy and backups.
• Amazon RDS supports an array of database engines, which includes Aurora,
PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle Database, and Microsoft SQL Server.
• Aurora is a database engine that is a highly available, performant, and cost-
effective managed relational database.
Thank you

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owners.

Thank you for completing this module.

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