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Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers several services tailored to hosting, managing, and integrating SQL Server
databases, each catering to different use cases, ranging from fully managed database services to more
customizable infrastructure setups.

Here's a detailed overview of the main AWS services related to SQL Server:

1. Amazon RDS for SQL Server

Type: Managed Database Service

Best for: Users who want to reduce operational overhead while using SQL Server.

Overview:

● Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) provides a managed SQL Server database solution where
AWS takes care of database administration tasks like provisioning, patching, backups, and recovery.
● It allows you to run SQL Server in a fully-managed environment without the need to manage underlying
hardware or operating systems.

Key Features:

● Multiple SQL Server Editions: AWS RDS supports SQL Server Express, Web, Standard, and Enterprise
editions.

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Automated Backups: RDS automates the backups of your databases and allows you to restore to any
point in time.
Monitoring and Scaling: RDS provides monitoring, automatic scaling, and allows you to easily modify
database instance sizes as your needs change.
● Multi-AZ Deployments: You can run SQL Server in Multi-AZ mode, which provides high availability and
automatic failover by replicating the database across multiple availability zones.
● Encryption: Support for AWS Key Management Service (KMS) to encrypt your data at rest and in
transit.
● Read Replicas: For read-heavy workloads, you can create read replicas to offload queries from the
primary database.

Limitations:

● Some features of SQL Server (e.g., SQL Server Agent in some editions) are limited or unavailable.
● Limited control over the database instance configuration compared to self-managed instances.

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2. Amazon EC2 with SQL Server

Type: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

Best for: Full control over SQL Server instances with high customization requirements.

Overview:

● With Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud), you can run a SQL Server database on a virtual machine
(VM) with complete control over the environment.
● You manage the entire SQL Server installation, configuration, patches, and updates.

Key Features:

● Full Control: You have full administrative access to the SQL Server environment, including all operating
system settings and configurations.
● Flexible Scaling: You can resize the EC2 instance based on the needs of your workload (both vertically
by upgrading the instance type or horizontally by adding more instances).
● Storage Options: You can attach Elastic Block Store (EBS) volumes to store your SQL Server data.
AWS EBS volumes can be provisioned for high IOPS (performance).
● Licensing Options: You can bring your own SQL Server license (BYOL) or use AWS License Included
(LI) options.
● Custom High Availability: You can configure your own high availability and disaster recovery solutions
using SQL Server Always On Availability Groups, Failover Clusters, or log shipping.

Use Cases:

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Complex SQL Server deployments requiring advanced customizations.
Environments where you need to integrate SQL Server with third-party applications on the same VM.
● Scenarios where you prefer to use self-managed licensing (BYOL).

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3. Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service)

Type: Object Storage Service

Best for: Storing SQL Server backups and offloading data.

Overview:

● Amazon S3 is an object storage service that can be used for storing large amounts of unstructured data,
including SQL Server database backups, log files, and other related resources.
● It’s commonly used for offloading SQL Server backup files (e.g., full backups, differential backups, or
transaction log backups) for disaster recovery and long-term retention.

Key Features:

● Durable Storage: Provides 99.999999999% (11 nines) of durability, ensuring that your backups and data
are safe.
● Cost-effective: S3 offers tiered storage options (e.g., S3 Standard, S3 Intelligent-Tiering, S3 Glacier)
that allow for cost optimization based on access frequency.
● S3 Lifecycle Policies: You can automate data movement across storage classes to manage costs
efficiently.
● Versioning and Replication: Protects against accidental deletions and offers cross-region replication for
additional redundancy.

Common Use Cases:

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Storing SQL Server backups.
Archiving old database data or log files for long-term storage.
Leveraging S3 as a backup target for disaster recovery.

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4. AWS DMS (Database Migration Service)

Type: Managed Database Migration Service

Best for: Migrating SQL Server databases to AWS with minimal downtime.

Overview:

● AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) helps you migrate your SQL Server databases to AWS with
minimal downtime. It supports both homogeneous migrations (SQL Server to SQL Server) and
heterogeneous migrations (SQL Server to other databases such as Amazon Aurora, MySQL, or
PostgreSQL).
● DMS also supports continuous data replication, ensuring that the source and target databases remain in
sync during migration.

Key Features:

● Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Migrations: Can migrate SQL Server to SQL Server (on EC2, RDS)
or to other AWS database services like Aurora.
● Change Data Capture (CDC): Enables continuous replication of data, making it possible to migrate
without taking the source database offline.
● Schema Conversion: If you’re moving from SQL Server to a different database engine, you can use AWS
Schema Conversion Tool (SCT) to automatically convert database schema and SQL code.
● Automated and Easy to Set Up: DMS automates much of the migration process and supports both
one-time and ongoing replication tasks.

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Common Use Cases:

● Migrating from on-premises SQL Server to AWS (RDS or EC2).

● Cross-region replication for disaster recovery or backup.
● Hybrid cloud scenarios where parts of your SQL Server databases remain on-prem while others are
hosted in AWS.

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5. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server

Type: Fully Managed Windows File System

Best for: Shared storage for SQL Server databases using file-based access.

Overview:

● Amazon FSx for Windows File Server provides a fully managed file storage solution that is built on
Windows Server and offers shared file systems for SQL Server deployments.
● It is often used with SQL Server workloads that require file-based storage for database backups, SQL
Server FILESTREAM, or other file system-based operations.

Key Features:

● Fully Managed: FSx takes care of administrative tasks like backups, replication, and updates.
● Native Windows Compatibility: Built on Windows Server, making it fully compatible with SQL Server
features that require Windows file systems (e.g., SQL Server FILESTREAM or SQL Server Failover
Cluster Instances (FCI)).
● Performance: Supports up to millions of IOPS with consistent low-latency file access.
● Backup and Restore: Integrates seamlessly with SQL Server backup/restore procedures by offering
native file-based access.
● Multi-AZ Availability: Supports deployment across multiple availability zones for high availability.

Common Use Cases:

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Storing large database files (e.g., SQL Server FILESTREAM data).
Setting up shared storage for SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances (FCI) on AWS.
Using it as a network share for SQL Server backup and restore.

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6. AWS Backup

Type: Centralized Backup Service

Best for: Automated and centralized backup management for SQL Server databases.

Overview:

● AWS Backup is a centralized backup service that allows you to automate backups for different AWS
services, including Amazon RDS for SQL Server, Amazon EC2 instances (with SQL Server installed),
Amazon EBS volumes, and more.
● It provides policy-based backup management, helping to ensure compliance and streamline
backup/restore processes across multiple AWS resources.

Key Features:

● Policy-Based Automation: Define backup policies that automatically schedule backups for SQL Server
databases (e.g., daily, weekly).
● Cross-Region and Cross-Account Backup: Backup copies can be stored in different AWS regions or
accounts for disaster recovery.
● Cost Optimization: Offers lifecycle policies that automatically move backups to lower-cost storage tiers
(e.g., S3 Glacier).

Common Use Cases:

● Centralized backup management for SQL Server running on EC2, RDS, or FSx.

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Managing compliance and retention requirements for SQL Server backups.
Implementing disaster recovery strategies across regions and accounts.

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7. AWS CloudWatch

Type: Monitoring Service

Best for: Monitoring SQL Server performance and alerting.

Overview:

● Amazon CloudWatch helps you monitor your SQL Server instances (whether on RDS or EC2) and track
key performance metrics such as CPU usage, disk I/O, memory utilization, and database connections.
● CloudWatch allows you to set up alarms and automated actions (like scaling or notifications) based on
performance thresholds.

Key Features:

● Custom Metrics: You can publish SQL Server-specific performance metrics (like transaction log usage,
queries per second) to CloudWatch.
● Dashboards and Alarms: Provides customizable dashboards for real-time monitoring and alerting.
● Logs: Use CloudWatch Logs to store SQL Server logs (e.g., error logs, audit logs) and analyze them for
performance and security issues.

Common Use Cases:

● Monitoring the health of SQL Server

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